@Archie, I roll my eyes at you with great pomp and annoyance. I was having internet issues, and in a car driving on the national road which looks like a swimming hole
Dreaded Barred F
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For a clean sound, donāt over muscle it; first finger distal phalanx pressure on low F/6th and proximal phalanx on C&F/1st and 2nd strings. Donāt try to hold anything else down with the first finger. And of course, get right behind the fret where stopping pressure is the lowest required. Capoing up as mentioned earlier is a great first step. Then practice and accept less than perfect for now.
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Perhaps this will help:
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Thank you Daniel. Iām really appreciating everyoneās feedback. Itās what makes this forum so great.
Appreciate it Ben. Very valuable.
Dragonslayer, please tell me you were a passenger in the car while you were posting this and not driving! Nothing is worth that!
Now getting to the F bar chord. Remember when we all were first learning our basic chords and how hard it was?.. and now they come natural? I believe it is because we play them over and over and over and over and over. At first these simple chords felt as hard as the bar chords but because of constant repetition our muscle memory has kicked in and now these chords come very easily. Most of us donāt use bar chords often, especially the F, therefore when we do, it feels like a chord still in the learning process. Play it, or them as much as our other chords weāve learned and it will slowly come and eventually will be as easy as the rest.
Also, make sure you bar as close to the fret as possible, especially the F. The closer you are to the nut, the more force you will need to fret.
Iāve come to terms with the E-shaped barre over the years. The A-shape still vexes me at times though. Iāve been trying to learn this Grateful Dead song thatās in the key of F major. The Bb chord comes up a lot. It is frustrating. That A-shape in first position is a bear.
I fought with that A barre myself. I finally realized that the first joint of my ring finger doesnāt bend backwards the way I saw others doing it. So I barre with my index and fret the āA notesā with my pinky finger.
Took a while to develop the dexterity for it, but it works for me.
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Donāt worry @jw11, I donāt have a license yet. I was passenging. Thatās also great advice about repetition, which explains why fingerstyle made me able to play them; cuz I have to use them everywhere. @Woodshed, there is a variation of the a shape that is really helpful, just YouTube search: licknriff the life changing chord no one ever showed you
Hey, thanks Mark! When I first read it I thought it was crazy talk. But it actually works really well. It works particularly well in the lower positions. I think the added distance between the index and the pinkie helps to keep the index where it should be. Once I get up to the third or fourth fret then it gets easier to switch back to the ring finger. Either way though it is still near impossible to get that first string to ring out cleanly. Thanks again. #gamechanger
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Thanks @Dragonslayer. Here is the video link for others. It looks like he is substituting the root note on the 5th string for a 6th string root. I think this would be a variation of a G-shape barre chord that ignores the 5th and 1st strings. It is an interesting alternate approach to a A-shape barre. Thanks.
Yep, youāre absolutely right, itās a G shape chord. I mentioned it cuz I substitute it for other bar chords regularly
woah - when I checked mine pushing the second fret, all my strings actually touch the first fret. Am I in big trouble here Mark or whatā¦ Even with them touching already I still canāt make the F chordā¦
If your strings touch the first fret when you push the string down between the 2nd and 3rd fret, thereās a good chance your strings buzz when being played open. If theyāre not buzzing, thank your lucky stars and just keep working on those barre chords. Youāre probably not going to get your guitar any better than it is.
@Jake may have some ideas about truss rod adjusting, but beyond that, I canāt think of anything else you could do.
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Cool. Thanks so much Mark. Thatās great information. And even better adviceā¦ 
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Dire Wolf?
Brokedown Palace. On my hand and knees, I will roll, roll, rollā¦
Jack, I learned this as a teenager on electric guitar. Obviously it is harder on an acoustic since the action is often heavier, but it did allow me a chance to learn where to put my fingers and to build the muscles slowly. Give it a try on an electric if you have one and then gradually learn to do it on acoustic. Hopefully that helps.
Thanks Brandonā¦Itās actually getting there. Iāve just played guitar very rarely the last several years because of wrist pain. All the tips on here have been tremendously helpful as well.
Tuning down a half step, and capoing up a fret helps a lot too. 