How to Play Greensleeves on the Guitar

[BC2001]

I came to the comments specifically because I was also trying to figure out the key - your response and linked page explained it perfectly. Thanks!

[Nadya]

Yeah, got stuck on F part, when I lift my second finger it’s just muted no matter what. And I was thinking, that my F chord became quite decent(

[judi]

Hi Nadya, welcome to the Community! I’ve been working on Greensleeves for about 6 weeks now, and know exactly what you’re talking about. I can’t describe it clearly, but I found that rolling my barre finger a bit (consciously thinking of depressing the third string) when I lift that second finger helped me hit that note more clearly. Everyone is a bit different, but keep at it patiently and you’ll figure out what works for you. Now I get a clean note about 70% of the time anyway! Here’s the thing: technically when you lift that finger you’re playing an Fmin chord. So when you come across that in a song, you’ll be ready!

If you’re up for it, head over to the Introduce Yourself topic and tell us a bit about your guitar journey.

[southpaw6]

This lesson is super challenging (especially the rolling, particularly the F), but after a couple weeks, I finally feel like I’m starting to make a little headway! The usual timeboxing Justin advocates is paying off, like it normally does with patience (here I’m doing 3 min rolling chords, 3 min Greensleeves most practice days)

[angelakis]

That song is very hard! I am on the 4th week of trying and I can’t even play it on the half speed with the metronome. I am little bit disappointed. Some suggestions please to make it happen? (Basically not some suggestions… many suggestions cause it’s soooo hard for me )

Thanks a lot.

[judi]

Hi Angelos @angelakis, I’ve had the same experience with Greensleeves. It took me about two months to be able to play it through, and still not very fast. When I hit a plateau like this, I set the thing aside for a time (sometimes a couple of weeks, sometimes longer, depending on how excited I am to nail it) then come back to it. It’s like a reset, and I find the progress starts from that higher plateau, and is quicker again.

[angelakis]

Thanks @judi

This was the most helpful advice. Cause i really need a short break from the song. I was very stubborn to play it. I 'll follow your advice and i 'll give it “some air to breathe”. Thanks a lot!

[judi]

Please let me know how it goes when you pick it up again after a rest!

[angelakis]

Of course i will send you!

[Nadya]

Thank you for encouragement Judi! Yeah, I know that some patience will get me there. I practiced F chord in different combinations in exercises and songs for may be half of year until I really got it. Now it’s good enough to use it in real life) So this Fmin will be the same story for sure. But to be honest, concept of basic barre F chord itself was hard enough, and that fact that with new bare chords you should do some tweaking to make them sound right… Well it’s kinda scary

[jacksprat]

@Nadya

So this Fmin will be the same story for sure.

Hi Nadya,
there is no F minor chord in Greensleeves. Or did you mean ‘mini’ F chord?

[Nadya]

Yep, there’s no F min in chords, but when you left your second finger in F to pick up string individually you def end up with Fmin fingering)