Like so many others have posted, I have experienced lots of problems with the F to Fm transition in Greensleeves and getting a good tone. I had problems with my classical guitar, acoustics and both electrics. I finally gave up and tuned my main acoustic down a whole tone from EADGBE to DGCFAD and put a capo on the second fret and checked the tuning. Then I was able to lift to finger to go from F to Fm and not experience tone problems. I don’t have problems with the F#m, but the Fm gives me problems. Perhaps someday I will master this too.
UPDATE: I thought more about this. I am not actually playing the Fm chord, just lifting the finger on the 4th string E note of the F barre chord to form the Fm barre chord shape while playing one note - the D# note. Another way to approach this would be to release the F barre chord and slide the barre fingertip from the 6th to the 4th string to play the D#. I have a classic guitar version of this that only uses a two note implied F chord and plays the D# as part of a single line harmonized melody. So there are different ways to approach this.
EDITED UPDATE: (Cleaning up my sloppy post, thanks to @jjw). I thought more about this. I am not actually playing the Fm chord, just lifting the finger on the 3rd string A note of the F barre chord to form the Fm barre chord shape while playing one note - the G# note. Another way to approach this would be to release the F barre chord and slide the barre fingertip from the 6th to the 3rd string to play the G#. But on second thought that is a little awkward movement. I have a classic guitar version of this that only uses a two note implied F chord and plays the G# as part of a single line harmonized melody. So there are different ways to approach this.
In bar 7, beat 1 is the F chord, then you play a G# note, followed by an A note. If you play an F barre chord, you lift your middle finger on the G string, to play the G#. This is the Fm that people are struggling with.
I would actually recommend trying to play with the thumb over grip, as Justin does in the video. Note, you needn’t get the whole F chord, you can omit the 1st and 5th strings. See if you can manage that F triad (strings 2, 3 and 4) and add the thumb on string 6. It takes a bit of work, but it’s doable. It’s also the best F to play for fingerstyle.
John, you are absolutely right. Wow, I really was sloppy and careless on that post. That is what I get for typing on the go without having the guitar in my hand or checking what I posted against my actual chords or the TAB
I was thinking all morning how I could have made such a careless error, since I have played the F chord 1000s of times. I think my brain was on autopilot and thought E shape - fingers 1 2 and 3; F chord E shape pattern with fingers 2 3 4, so move up one string, which of course is totally wrong. Also I am in PMT grade 4 and the E note for the F major should have been another obvious error.
I know better and if I had double checked I would have seen my error. Thanks for checking so that I didn’t confuse others. I will edit my post (I would have made my edit more concise, but I couldn’t find a strike-through function in the edit window).
Thanks for the thumb over tip. I will give that a try.
Wonderful lesson, thanks Justin! Had a lot of fun with this one. I like when the tabs are included on the screen while playing, it allows me to keep playing while listening to the explanation which helps hammer it in better.
Well, if you’ve followed Justin’s course from the beginning up to this Grade 3 lesson, you’re not a beginner anymore. And, you’ve probably noticed that these more complex techniques take longer to master than the ones in Grades 1 & 2.
That being said, I feel your pain. The Happy Birthday Fingerstyle lesson previous to this was a real ball-buster too!
This is the most challenging lesson for me so far, in a good way though. I am finding it hard but I will get it ;). Personally, though, I think the techniques required for this module, especially the rolling method, are way more complicated than barre chords. I think it would make more sense to move barre chords to grade 3, and things like this should be moved to grade 4 intermediate level. I always thought barre chords was a beginner thing. I learned them years ago and I found them a lot easier than this. I’m finding it a bit frustrating waiting for the lessons where I can practice my barre chords, and get back into it.
Once you have the main open chords down I think it makes sense to move straight on to barre chords, instead of learning compromised open chords that can be played up and down the neck, as a poor mans replacement for barre chords (including those capo chords). Once you learn barre chords, all of those fancy chords will become redundant anyway and you’ll probably never need to use them again. Most of the time you won’t be using a capo, you’ll just use the regular open chords and barre chords. You’ll only be using a capo to change key, not as a replacement for barre chords. Just my 2 cents.
There is no law against you adding barre chords practice to your routine. You should adapt your lesson plan to your needs as a returning player as opposed to someone with no previous guitar knowledge or skills.
Justin refers to people working through Grade 3 as “advanced beginners” in many of the Grade 3 lesson videos, jus’ sayin’
Many thanks for your reply. I am still working on Greensleeves. I really like the song anyway, and I think it will really help with finger coordination. Justin’s course is fantastic, so I don’t want anyone to think I am criticising it. The beginner grade 1 and 2 courses have really helped me to dust off the rust, and I’m really enjoying my playing again. I was just getting a bit frustrated because I was hoping to practice barre chords much earlier.
With hindsight, I think the pace of the course makes sense. I’ve been playing on and off for many years, so I can already play a lot of things in the beginner course, plus barre chords like I mentioned, and some more advanced scale patterns that we haven’t covered yet. But, I have never really made it beyone what I would consider beginner level, or maybe advanced beginner level. I think the reason is because there are holes in my playing, with things that are missing because I probably skipped them earlier in my learning phase years ago. I decided to watch the “consolidation” video for grade 3, and it makes sense what Justin is talking about. I agree that it’s important to really concentrate on the foundations in the beginning, before moving on to more complicated stuff. There are still a couple of things in the beginner level grade courses that I need to improve before moving on.
