G and F are 2 shapes some novice players sometimes have difficulties with.
I teach my students to use the C shape as a reference to move to the G and F chord.
Once you can play the C chord very well (see also : Less struggle to learn the C chord.) it is relative easy to move to G or F as your fingers are almost not moving.
G - chord
step 1 : play C and leave your fingers as they are
step 2 : move your middle and ring finger 1 string up
step 3 : move your wrist a little down so your pinky comes above the E string on fret 3
step 4 : place your pinky
step 5 : lift your indexfinger
step 6 : Exercise this by repeating, | C | G | C | G |....
F - chord
step 1 : play C and leave your fingers as they are
step 2 : move your middle and ring finger 1 string down
step 3 : move your wrist a little up
step 4 : flatten your index finger (which is still on string 2 in fret 1) so the high string gets covered also.
step 5 : Exercise this by repeating, | C | F | C | F |....
I know many youtube tutorials say that the G chord needs to be played with other fingers but I teach it this way because this shape is more usefull once you start playing chords like G7 or other variations of the G chord.
NEW !! :
Learning chords - Part 1 - Beginner level
Learning chords - Part 2 - Intermediate level
See also:
written by Peter Bos