How To Play The D Chord

She is just trying to be your rhythm section. Just improvise over the dog butt in the bass.

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My hands are not much flexible. I am unable to extend my third finger to play the D chord. Are there any technics on his website to stretch the fingers/ hands? I could not see anything.

Thanks for the help!

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Hi Simon, yes Justin provides us with several different finger stretching exercises .

If you go to the main site and search for finger stretching you’ll find a more advanced one or two.

My experience… take it slow and do it daily. It’s frustrating but it works.

Also not sure how you came to post in this area. Perhaps the grade 1 section would give you better answer from a moderator. But I help as best I can. Good luck

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Be sure to take it very slowly. It takes weeks for your hands to overcome doing something different and in cases where you have an old injury, a little longer. This will just take some patience.

Also, be sure to use the forum search. This topic has been handled in a few threads for various stubborn fingers.

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I’m brand new to the guitar. I notice when I first start to practice, I can play clean D and A chords without a problem, but as I continue to practice, I struggle to form the D chord properly. Assuming, this is just fatigue and as I play more the muscles in my hand/fingers will continue to develop making it easier?

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Physical and mental fatigue can play a part. I know when I play a while, I get sloppy, and it is not that my hand feels tired, but my mind is not paying attention as well as it needs.

In both cases, once you build up stamina (mental and physical) and also don’t need to think in a detailed way (familiarity) about what you are doing, you will be able to play longer without those mistakes.

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@sequences Thanks!

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Hi @ChrisMI, to add to the answer of @sequences, fatigue will certainly play a role. Another thing is that, as a beginner, you don’t have any calluses yet on your fingertips. This means that your fingertips are still weak, and after playing for a bit, the strings will create a groove in them. As a consequence of this, it gets harder to fret the string properly, and the pad of your fingertip will spread out more, with an increased risk of muting other strings. This will all get better when you build calluses, so no need to despair!

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I’d like to know how to get my fingers to stop sliding up or down the string to spots I don’t want them. They don’t stay put. Are there such a thing as finger exercises? These are 64-year-old first time playing guitar fingers and they aren’t particularly cooperative.

EDIT: I just found the finger stretches video! Maybe there’s hope. =D

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yes - look up in the thread a bit. :slight_smile:

be patient with your fingers - you are likely making them do something different and it takes the body weeks to adjust to that.

Also, do a search on the forums here. there are several discussions about fingers not reaching and there are stretching things there as well.

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Welcome to the community Simon and also Divan it is always good to see new faces here so join in and enjoy cheers Hec

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Hit one year of playing today. Wanted to come back here to play module 1 to celebrate. Wouldn’t have made it here without the site.

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Awesome job! Glad you’re enjoying the site and welcome to the Community :smiling_face_with_sunglasses::guitar:

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Hi! I’ve been practicing the D chord for a week and recently I’ve been able to play it more often than not! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: I still don’t feel completely comfortable with my finger placement, especially the ring finger and thumb, but I think I’m getting there.
I was wondering how I should approach these lessons. When should I move on to the next one? After some set amount of time, once I’ve perfected the chord, or even if I’m still struggling a bit with the current one?

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Welcome to the forum Dominik

You can do the D, A and E lessons all at the same time. It will keep things more interesting and help develop your calluses so you don’t end up with grooves from playing the same chord all the time.

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hey everyone!! am a total newbie to guitar…So I started with justin’s course cuz it was full of good reviews…

I just got a (i suppose big doubt) small worry, That is my wrist positioning N finger placement correct or not?? I viewed the lesson twice but i cant really make how my wrist and fingers are supposed to be??!!
Hoping someone would help!

Thank yah Justin and team for this free nice course!!!

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Also, When we play (actually show someone) D chord, do we strum all string While pressing on ??

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Hi Vaanya! You’ve found a great place to learn guitar. You’ll have lots of questions as a beginner (I sure did!) so keep asking

Regarding your wrist and finger placement for the D chord: please take a photo of your hand making the D chord and post it here. Folks will provide feedback based on what they see. :smiling_face:

As for which strings to play for the D chord: I’m pretty sure Justin covers this, but you play the thinnest four strings.

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This is my open D. I have no idea if these photos will help you.

A couple of notes:

I should be up on that 3rd fret with my ring finger more, better tone and less cance of buzz.

I know Justin like beginners to keep their thumbs behing the neck to strengthen their thumbs.

He is right, keep them back and be aware of them location get those muscles worked out with you stretching and one min chord changes. It takes time and hands get tired. But before you know it you will be landing it just fine. Keep working and you can do it. Good luck.


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I have started to practice the D chord for some time now, but the third finger is still close to the other fingers and not close to the fret but rather somewhere in the middle… is this a huge problem, when the chord does ring out well?

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