D Shape Explorer Lesson

Tired of playing that same old D Chord? Learn how to turn one chord into many - no diagrams required. :)


View the full lesson at D Shape Explorer | JustinGuitar

Okay - here goes! My favorite discoveries in the D Shape Explorer lesson.
I like moving my first finger up the 2nd fret. Iā€™m sure these chords have names.

Chord one: 1st finger on 4th string, 2nd fret / 3rd string open / 2nd string, 3rd fret / 1st string, 2nd fret.

Chord two: 5th string, 2nd fret / 4th string muted / 3rd string open / 2nd string, 3rd fret / 1st string, 2nd fret

Chord three: 5th string, 2nd fret / 4th open, 3rd open / 2nd string, 3rd fret / 1st string, 2nd fret.

I think those chords are beautiful.

Iā€™m sure thereā€™s a better way to notate this too! lol.

Vinnie

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Completed your chord explorer course bcouple months ago. It will be nice to refresh.

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Good move, in my opinion, to take each chord individually.

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I really do hope you develop that riff.

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Hi VinnieV08 - youā€™re right - that does sound really nice! Especially the first one. I am no expert but wonder is that a D/E? I am just thinking that the root note (D) switches to E? Just an idea. Thanks - I enjoyed playing that - also sounds good fingerstyle rather than strummed.

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Those are all really nice chords. Thanks VInnie.

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I guess I could look it upā€¦ or :roll_eyes: learn the notes on the fretboard. uhhh, itā€™s time. :slight_smile:

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Great D chord summary on how to be creative. Love it! Saved this article/video to try later in-depth.
Thx.

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Justin; regarding your ā€œDā€ seminar, greatā€¦have you seen the way James Taylor plays D? He swaps his first and second fingersā€¦sounds and feels awkward!, but very easy to throw his first finger around the fretboard; he uses it a lot in many of his songs. Difficult to do quickly using the fegular fingering formatā€¦jusā€™ sayin"!

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Instantly, the intro screams ā€œNorwegian woodā€

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Hereā€™s one: 0-3-2-4-4-x (from first to sixth string)

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that one around 12 minutes mark was so nicely Wishbone Ashy! I hope weā€™ll also get some lesson for some WA songs now that Justin realized how this sounds great
:slight_smile:

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Hi Vinnie ā€¦ Like this?


Notation in type would be:

XX2032 then X20032 then X2X032

Cheers :blush:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

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Oh ohā€¦ yes of course! Thanks so much! I just had to see it. What a world. :slight_smile:

Vinnie

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Feeling a little frustrated with this one. Iā€™m trying to really take my time with the lessons and be a perfectionist of sorts (for better of worse) apart from sus2/sus4 variations of the chord, I keep unintentionally muting strings, particularly when I go wandering with the little finger on the fourth fret. How much time have other people put into exploring this lesson? All the best.

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Love this lesson, playing riffs around D already.

Some feedback for Justin (well, he asked for feedback in the grade 3 intro video) and anyone else that might be finding some of this a challenge.

I followed the lesson well with the D shape up until the Dm shape exploring. The fingering used for Dm explorer (3rd finger in 3rd fret instead of pinky) is not one that has been introduced yet, and just that is a challenge! Never mind exploring yet, itā€™s surprisingly challenging just to fret it. Before exploring Iā€™m going to need to practice that fingering a lot.

I imagine others that have done Grade 1 & 2 and just started Grade 3 without previous experience might find similar?

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Really helpful lesson. The other lesson I found incredibly helpful was playing without looking, which improved my playing of songs I could already play, but now I started to play them better, and keeping my eyes closed I began to ā€˜pictureā€™ where my fingers were and where they had to move to and the shape formed. Really really helpful.
Thanks Justin
James

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Iā€™m trying to figure out how Justin strums in this lesson, playing individual strings then strumming and back and forth. Has this been covered already in a previous lesson or is there a future lesson on this?

Thanks a lot for your help!

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Thanks Vinnie for the chords shapes. These are lovely to finger pick in any combo also.

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