F is Dead

Well, Gentle Readers, I have just confirmed it. Despite what I wrote on Sean McCann's blog, where I am known as Whitewater, about the power of Yes and moving from can't to can, I am afraid I have found something I cannot do. And not for lack of trying, by the way!

But it is impossible, at least, I'm pretty sure it is. I have tried a number of different methods and I run into the same problem.

I cannot play an open F major chord on my acoustic dreadnought guitar. Please note how specific I am, when I say this. For all I know, maybe a 3/4 classical guitar or an electric guitar would work just fine. I am hoping that a mandolin's chords will be different enough for me to do it on that.


But on Babe? Forget it.

The trouble I'm having is that my hand and fingers simply aren't big/long enough to barre the 1st fret, as required, while *also* pressing the individual strings. I can barre the frets. I can do the individual strings. But I can't do that all at the same time. My right hand just isn't big enough.

Every time I barre *and* go for the other strings, I lose the barre. The more strings I try to get to, the more I have to stretch. And the more I stretch, the more my first finger slips. It's an ergonomic thing, based on the way fingers just naturally work.

If anybody out there has had this problem and knows how to solve it, feel free to comment. There's a lot of music that I won't be able to play on the guitar if I can't get this straightened out.