The Dreaded F-Chord

Someone posted on an online forum that they were having trouble learning the F-chord and this was my answer to them:

Here's some things that really helped me:

1) If you aren't using them at the moment, try putting light strings on your guitar. It will make it easier while you are practicing.

2) Rather than practice at the end of the neck, try doing the F-chord shape further up the neck (like at fret 5, which is actually an 'A' chord.) You'll find it a lot easier to do the F-chord shape there.

3) By making it easier to practice the barre chord, the more you'll do it. The more you do it, the sooner your hand will a) do it properly, and b) you'll get faster at getting your fingers into the right position.

4) A great song to practice with is Psycho Killer (Talking Heads) but play the A and G chords as barre chords up the neck (A is an F chord shape at fifth fret and G is an F chord shape at third fret, and the first part of the song is A-G-F!) There's Bm further on, but don't worry about that!

And don't be surprised if it takes you a few months to really get good at it...that's what it takes!