-
The whole key is finding that “Sweet spot” on your index finger’s fret placement on fret 1. That finger placement, for me seems to depend on how many strings I need to cover with the index finger. If you are picking a full 6 string F chord my index finger is stretched almost a finger nail width above the 6th bass string fret board But playing the 4 and 5 finger F chord it usually tops out some where on the 3rd fret area. I was doing my exercises this morning and it was one of those days where the finger sweet spot kept moving and I needed more index finger crossing the fret board than normal.
Something that has helped with the 4 string finger barre position is that I have always barred the E and B string when I use the D minor chord fingering in my progressions and it is one of my favorite chords so I use it a lot.