Are there any JustinGuitar pictures or videos of the D chord finger placement looking down the neck of the guitar. I would like to better see the thumb, the curl of the fingers, the wrist and the space between the palm and the guitar.
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Hereâs my advice for what itâs worth. Do a basic exercise to visualize something first. Fold all the fingers of your left hand at the top two joints, with the base of the fingers pointing straight up, and touch the top of your palm with your finger tips. On the guitar go to the fret board an do the same while putting your index down on the the G (3rd) string. Focus on bending the 2nd and 3rd fingers in. Rotate your hand slightly clockwise until your third finger in on the B string (2nd). This will give you a feel for how far back your second finger must be pulled in to sit on the E (1st) . You have to make a concerted effort to draw that finger back and in to the first finger. You can practice that with just your hand. With fingers pointing up and bent at both joints practice moving the second finger back and forth independently of all others. I had to develop that stretch before I ever was able to move into a D position naturally and smoothly. This chord, for me, requires that I make an effort to present my hand so the fingers are all equally as close to the neck (palm face parallel to neck). With many other chords you hand is more open, and it can sometimes be required to be much more open. I consider this chord to be scrunch as opposed to a stretch. Donât give up. I think you are asked to start with this one because itâs demanding of focus at a time when a student is most eager to be focused.
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@Rcorso59 re: your request for pictures. I donât think Justin has any on the site butI have these:
Hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | Community Moderator, Official Guide, JustinGuitar Approved Teacher
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Hi Richard!
Thanks for the pictures. To be honest, I struggle a lot with this after the first week. Most of the time, my hand looks more like on the lower pictures, especially with the thumb more running parallel to the neck than pointing upwards.
I know Iâm probably rotating my hand âover the neckâ too far. But with only the A and D chords in the first module, I donât really know how to play them with the âcorrect placementâ as shown on the top pictures. Especially with the D chord, I donât really know how to get the 3rd finger on the 3rd fret without rotating the hand quite far (and with the A chord, how to get all three fingers on the 2nd fret without rotating the hand). How can this be âlearnedâ, especially since Iâm trying to play âblindâ (i.e. not looking at my hands).
But if Iâm looking at this picture of Justin, his hand is also rotated quite far (but still not as far as mine sometimes is 
):
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Hi Oliver,
Honestly, after a week I wouldnât be bothered about not being able to play âblindâ. Like, not even the slightest bit.
Try to place the knuckle of your thumb roughly on the midline of the neck âoppositeâ fingers 1 and 2, then place finger 3 on the B string. Unlike with the open C or barre chords, you donât need to rotate your fretting hand upwards very much to play the open D.
As for the screenshot from Justinâs video, you should bear in mind that educational videos like this are filmed from a certain angle for several reasons. Here, I think the emphasis was on which strings need to be fretted and how far the fingertips should be from the frets.
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Hi Jozsef,
thanks for your reply!
I have been playing the piano for 35 years. And there I donât have to look at the keys at all, regardless of what Iâm playing (well, almost 
). And I know that being able to play the piano âblindâ has opened up my playing to a completely new level. Thatâs why I tried to practice this with the guitar right from the beginning. So that I donât have to learn that from scratch at some later point.
And a second thing is that I have quite some problems with back and neck pain already. And sitting bent over the guitar all the time looking at my fingers is really not good for my back and neck. Thatâs why I also tried to avoid it.
Regarding the ârotatedâ hand: I didnât mean rotated upwards, but rotated sideways, with the fingers pointing more towards the guitar body. But then the thumb is still pointing more up the neck, in the opposite direction. Yeah, itâs really strange
Regards,
Oliver
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I just took some pictures while I was practicing. This way my D chord works quite well, actually. But the finger position is probably completely wrong 
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Hi Jozsef,
I tried this for quite some time now, and I notice that my wrist is angled pretty strongly when I try to do it the ârightâ way. I just canât lower my wrist below the neck without bending it. This simply seems to be anatomically impossible.
And this made my wrist hurt quite badly after some time. I tried it for 2 1/2 hours now (yes, I know, probably much too long ) but the D chord didnât really work. The only way I got it kind of right was to place the third finger before the second finger. If I take my time and check after each placed finger that all strings still sound clean, then after 10 seconds I have (most of the time) a clean D chord.
It just baffles me how long it takes to learn something as (musically) banal as one or two chords on the guitar. On the piano, I can teach you two chords in five minutes, even if youâve never sat in front of one.
Regards,
Oliver
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Hi Oliver based on photos I would suggest slightly pushing your wrist forward so tips of your fingers are pushing strings down to fretboard, this should also help make your chord less angled - at the moment there is a lot of tension in your wrist in this position hence you canât straight it out and your fingers are a bit flat so bottom of each fingertip might be blocking off the sound of string below especially the ring finger. Let me know if it works, focus on Perfect Chord excercise first until you get the D chord clear most of times. Only then jump to OMC 
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Hi and thanks for your reply!
On the photo my wrist was actually pretty straight and it felt quite ânaturalâ. Yesterday I tried to move the wrist forward, but then I have to angle it more, of course, to get the fingers anywhere near the fretboard.
Iâm not sure how to describe it better. But the more I tried to get into a âgoodâ position with the wrist more forward and more below the neck rather than behind it, the more I had to angle the wrist.
A colleague at work has been playing the guitar for quite a long time and she basically gave me the same tip. I tried around a bit yesterday (okay, âa bitâ means for about 2 1/2 hours ), and found out that it works better when I place the 3rd finger before I place the 2nd finger. As Justin usually places the fingers in the ânormalâ order (1st, 2nd, 3rd), I always did it this way. And this didnât really work at all.
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What if you try to place your thumb more in the middle of the neck at the back rather than at the top? This would push your wrist enough forward to allow you to fret with your fingertips, at the moment as per photo you attached your fingers are bit too flat and definitely the ring finger is muting your e string.
If you have a colleague who knows how to play perhaps a quick session with her to guide your wrist into appropriate position could be an option? As I am sure she will try to bring it forward a bit.
I would say donât do OM changes until you get this nailed down first as there is no point in changing chords if they donât ring out as they should. Perfect Chord Change is your friend at the moment, keep at it
Your fingers strength and fingertips not being tough enough yet is also a factor why it might not ring out. Patience and perseverance is key here
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Hello Oliver,
35 years of piano 
I also expect to see quite a bit of you on the guitar in the foreseeable future ⌠sorry, no pressure on my part, Iâm just a little jealous on such a background, but in a good way, 
I donât really see the problem if you first put your 3rd finger in front of your 2nd place, the joint memory of the 2nd is thus automatically tricked enough to jump into the right form quickly enough to do it at the same time or even earlier than your 3nd finger later on âŚbut I would love to be corrected by Richard, Lieven or someone else with much more experience / understanding,
Greetings and i wish you a lot of fun,
Rogier
Edit:
If you do such long sessions, take a break in between, ehâŚAnd if you practice perfectly with such days, itâs a matter of patience that it suddenly âgoes by itselfâ ⌠I promise you that
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Actually, thatâs what I tried. But the lower I move the thumb, the more I have to angle my wrist and the more âunnaturalâ it feels. If I just take the guitar out of the stand, the thumb ânaturallyâ goes more to the top of the neck.
Iâve also sent her the pictures yesterday and she tried to give me a lot of tips via WhatsApp. Iâve already asked her if it is okay if I just bring my guitar to her and we look at it in person some day â to which she agreed. But to be honest, at this stage Iâm far too embarrassed by my ânon-abilityâ for that. 
Yeah, would have been better, I know. At the end I noticed that I hadnât drunk a drop of water during the whole time.
Originally, I wanted to practice for half an hour. But every time I put the guitar into the stand I thought âWell, it canât be possible that this does not work!â and took it out of the stand again.
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Well, with this attitude and enough training work it is more a matter of days than weeks before this goes wellâŚbut take your day of of practice on this event quite in timeâŚpractice something else, maybe something more complicated and then come again back to thisâŚwho knowsâŚ
And as for embarrassment towards your colleague⌠DONâT ⌠Hey, we have to start somewhere, and the fastest learners are those who ask for explanations at the beginningâŚ
Have Fun,âŚ
Greetings
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I think getting help from your friend face to face will be a huge bonus, if I was learning you face to face I would try to navigate your fingers and hand around to make it workable. Nothing to be ashamed about we all have been there and so was your colleague, I am sure she will be a good help to your struggles
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To be honest, I feel as if with this attitude it is more a matter of days than weeks before I give up because it frustrates me too much
But I donât want to flood this thread only with my problems ⌠I will just give it a try again this evening and see how it goes.
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No no,âŚtake it easyâŚdrink a cup of teaâŚwill be fine , and it is ready for me here tooâŚ
roger out 
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It looks like you have long fingers and if playing the D chord feel natural then thatâs the way to
do it. You donât want your wrist bent and in the picture it looks nice and straight.
If you can play each note clean the way your doing it keep doing it.
The only drawback I can see is with your thumb at the angle that it is you wonât be strengthening
the it for playing barre chord latter on but thatâs not a big deal.
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Yes, I guess I have quite long fingers. My middle finger is about 9,5 centimeters, but I donât know how this compares to other middle fingers 
I noticed, though, that when I look at close-up photos or videos of the left hand of people playing the guitar, I often wonder âAhem, and whereâs the rest of your fingers? My hand looks completely different â thereâs much more of my fingersâ
Regarding just doing what works: I know from experience that it is pretty easy to teach yourself âwrongâ things. And that it is much harder to âunlearnâ those things again. Thatâs why I wanted to learn everything ârightâ from the beginning. On the piano, there are âgoodâ finger positions and âbadâ finger positions. And they are commonly considered âgoodâ and âbadâ for good reasons. I assume it is the same with the hand and finger positions on the guitar.
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