How to play the Fm chord in all CAGED shapes
If you’ve watched all previous videos about how to build all CAGED guitar chords, you know that the Fm chord can be played in any of the CAGED shapes.
The first shape is an Em shape, we take an Em chord and move it up one fret.
This is very difficult to play, but that’s OK, we solve this by not playing the full shape, instead, we play fractions of this Em shape, for example, string 1-4, or even 2-4.
Here’s a Dm shape, start on fret 3 here and we have another Fm chord.
Here you can play the full shape or just strings 1-3.
Move that Fm up to a starting point of fret 8, and play it on strings 3-5 and you have a Cm shape.
Or even better, ignore that and play strings 2-4, my favourite chord shape, the Cm shape, here as an Fm chord.
Next, we have the Am shape, really easy.
We can play strings 1-5, 2-5, 1-3, or even 2-4. All those fractions of the Fm chord are complete chords,
they all have all the intervals needed.
Finally, the Gm shape, starting at fret 13, is a bit tricky.
Bit awkward, but that’s what it is and that’s what you need to visualize if you want to build an Fm7 chord, an Fm7 arpeggio, the F Minor Pentatonic, or any mode by adding the intervals.
Fm chord summary
That was all the Fm chords. We had the Em shape, Dm shape, Cm shape, Am shape, and Gm shape.
Next time you see an Fm chord, you know there are five starting points for you to play it in.
To get help moving to and from it, using picking, strumming, and fingerpicking, you need real songs.
When you sign up for my guitar courses, I will help you play an Fm as well as all other chords, all over the neck, at the same time as you learn famous songs.
The Fm Chord | Related Pages
Guitar chords
You can learn how to build all minor and major guitar chords using the so-called CAGED system.
This is the foundation upon which we learn to extend chords and build arpeggios and modes as well.
The F chord
Without a doubt, all beginner guitar players’ greatest nemesis is the terrifying and painful F chord.
How long does it take to build up the strength to play this mighty chord? Perhaps the answer is to simply avoid it.
Intermediate Acoustic
Most intermediate acoustic tunes can’t be played using just basic open-position chords. We have to move up the fretboard and play CAGED barre chords as well.
We incorporate bass lines, add licks, extend chords, and play vocal melodies. Most importantly, we’ll invent second guitar parts and play these songs together.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about the Fm chord in all CAGED shapes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
