Eric, don’t set yourself under pressure. A lot of fellow students have problems with a certain chord. @judi gave a lot of good advice. An other aspect I want to add is that your callouses get harder with time, so your fingertips won’t spread out as much as in the beginning while pressing the strings down and won’t mute other strings. Give yourself time. Relax, move on, learn something new, keep it on your schedule and you will see, suddenly it works!
2 Likes
When I started learning to play the guitar (I haven’t played any music before that), for 3 days I was wondering if the guitar or my hand was not constructed properly. Then the D chord just started to sound good, without a lot of conscious effort on my part apart from following Justin’s suggestions.
You may have to make even more efforts when you get to the open C or “the” F chord.
2 Likes
i cant seem to figure out how to position my index finger close to the fret above my middle finger which is also supposed to be close to the fret its like they dont have enough room or im not coming in at the right angle
any advice?
1 Like
Hi Sean, welcome to the community! Could you share a photo of your positioning? I wonder if it might be down to your wrist angle but it’s difficult to comment without seeing. Ideally you want to be quite square on with your wrist and therefore fingers.
1 Like
Hey Sean, I sure hope you haven’t quit. I’m actually giving myself remedial training in the D chord. After posting my video of Three Little Birds, a couple people pointed out that my wrist was pretty severely bent at a 45 degree angle. So I went back to watching a few of Justin’s videos focusing on his wrist position and after experimenting a few times I’m rotating my wrist toward the guitar body slightly keeping my wrist straighter and it’s helping a little with finger placement.
2 Likes
Hey Sean! Yes, the D chord is a tough one. I just finished this module last week and am still struggling to get a clean sound from D. I think my wrist is a little contorted as I try to get the fingers set properly. I re-watched the video a couple of times and am now working on a less angled wrist. I think a lot of it is also related to building enough hand and finger strength.
Keep at it, take your time and it will start to improve.
3 Likes
I have no idea if there’s anyone still reading these, but for some reason, when I press down on G string 2nd fret and strum it, it just makes a weird buzzing sound. But when I press down on the same string on the 2nd fret LINE (I think that’s what you call them anyways) it sounds fine. Any idea what’s going on, anyone?
1 Like
Welcome to the forum Sreejith.
Sound like your getting fret buzz. You should be pressing as close to the fret (wire) as possible when playing chords. Are you playing an acoustic or elrctric guitar?
1 Like
Hi stitch, I’m using an acoustic guitar.
1 Like
I wont lie, illbe honest, I took a very long hiatus but now im back and relearning. When I first started I was having trouble with sliding my 3rd finger (also continued the course with that bad habit) now ill fix the habit AND continue.
1 Like
Okay other problems im noticing is seeing the strings im pressing down also while strumming them. (trying not to crane my neck far too.)
I guess I have to feel with the force? XD
1 Like
When should I move on to the next chord, should I follow a certain criteria?
1 Like
Alright yep its harder without seeing what your right hand is doing I keep getting the A string with my D, but then im trying to maintain my posture already having an iffy neck.
1 Like
Hey gang,
Happy Christmas to you all. As of this morning Ihave become a Tele owner and started the beginners course. That D chord is a tough nut to crack, any tips greatly appreciated. Thanks.
1 Like
Welcome to the forum Damien and Happy NGD !
If you have literally just started the course, the biggest tip I can give you is to take things very slowly. Your asking your fingers to do things they’ve never done before and go places they ain’t been to yet.
And it all takes time, lots of time. You may nail a chord in a day. Some may take a week others could take you months, The thing to bear in mind is this is not a race, there will be a lot of ups and downs but take your time and enjoy the journey. Its a marathon not a sprint.
Enjoy the ride.
wfc4ever 
1 Like
Hello, all. I’m currently on Module 11, but I tend to keep working on things from previous modules that I think have room for improvement. The “first finger A chord” is one of those. In working on it, though, it occurred to me: Why don’t we just bar the first three strings at the second fret to do the D chord? So I started doing it, and I find that it makes changes between the full F chord and D much easier. There’s far less of a wrist-flip involved.
Is this mini-bar D chord taught at some point? Is there a reason not to do it? For me, it seems very straightforward, much easier than the one-finger A and the mini F.
2 Likes
You could barre to do a D, I guess. But why?
D is super easy and you lose the ability to easily do chord decorations/ melody around D eg with sus chords.
4 Likes
I wondered if that might be a reason. Why wouldn’t that also apply to the A?
2 Likes
Yeah. That’s why I don’t do the one-finger mini barre on the A. Can’t easily go to A7 or Asus2.
3 Likes
That makes sense. Thank you both.
3 Likes