Ultimate Guide – Learn The Easy Fm Chord on Guitar

Learn The Easy Fm Chord on Guitar

In this guitar lesson we take a quick, in-depth look at how to play the Fm chord (aka. F minor chord) WITHOUT using a barre!

Easy F Minor Chord Diagram

Not sure what this chord diagram means? Learn how to read guitar chord diagrams!

Tips For Making The F Minor Guitar Chord Easy

Of all the “easy” barre chords, this one is definitely the trickiest – and you only get 3 strings to boot! I really wish there was a better way, but all the other simply ways to play F fall short when it comes to strumming. Pressing the top 3 strings at the first fret might seem like a good idea at first, but when you go to strum it in a song, it’s useless.

This shape is a compromise. Either make one of those really easy Fm shapes that you can’t use with strumming, or try to play the full barre chord, which is among the toughest.

Either way, I recommend doing some quick & easy warmup exercises that’ll help build up your strength and reach. To help with that, here’s a page with some great guitar warm up exercises for beginners (and beyond!)

Switching Between Fm and Other Basic Guitar Chords

You should start with easy F to Fm. In that switch, you can leave your ring and pinky (3rd and 4th) fingers down, and focus on the muting involved in the easy Fm shape.

There are two steps to making any switch comfortable:

1. Silent switching – just make each shape, without strumming
2. The chord switching game – I teach this in my free eBook and my beginner course. It’s my biggest guitar “hack” (I don’t use those clickbait words lightly… it really helps more than anything).

Easy Songs Containing The Fm Chord

The best way to find songs that contain Fm, mixed in with other shapes is through the song finder, here on my website.

F, Fm, C

• Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis)

If you’re looking for a complete path, that will transform you from an absolute beginner into a confident guitarist, check out my Beginner’s Course. It’ll teach you all the fundamentals of guitar: rhythm, dexterity, accuracy, all while learning real songs that you can enjoy playing at home, or with your family and friends.