When I am using my thumb to mute the 6th string a tiny part of my palm just below my index finger does gently touch the guitar neck. This seems pretty unavoidable with the C and D chords. When playing regularly with the thumb on the back of the neck no contact occurs. Maybe your thumb is riding too high at the back?
I find myself gravitating to a position where I have reall very solid contact between palm and neck when playing the C and also to a degree the D minor.
When I spot it I try and conciously correct it, but then i consider what justin says about finding a position that is comfortable and relaxed. Maybe Im stroing up trouble for the future.
But you’re not alone OP.
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I don’t believe it’s a major issue. The main reason Justin is teaching a good thumb position on the neck is to improve the strength in the thumb muscle to cope with barre chords later on. After that there are things like thumb muting where it all goes out the window lol.
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Thank you, all, for the excellent discussion and feedback! Lots of good food for thought.
- Martin, so far my thumb or fleshy lower palm hasn’t been touching the neck–just the part of my hand where my index finger meets the palm. I have reflected on your reply and suspect that my fingertips are part of the issue. They may lack some strength, causing me to support myself using the neck. So far I have just been attempting pop playing and my chords are clean (at least for a beginner!) so I am reassured to hear that there is some leeway!
- Andy, your comment was very enlightening, as well. I bet that my lack of wrist motion has something to do with it as well and is contributing to some of the straining that I mentioned.
- Soggy and Dave, glad to hear that I am not alone and that staying relaxed is the key!
Wish I had come to this forum for advice earlier–I bet I would be loads better at guitar by now!
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Hiya , I can get my C chord clean but my changes are way behind , so I thought I’d concentrate on setting up a 1 , 2 mins change practice with a metronome , but struggling to think of a sequence are some chords more common on a C change than others to start me off
any suggestions greatly welcomed thanks
G C D. That’s the 1 4 5 in the key of G
G Em C D that’s the 1 6 4 5 in G
If you know the F chord
C F G 1 4 5 in the key of C
C Am F G that’s the 1 6 4 5 in C
These are common Chord Progression in thousands of song using the C chord.
You can practice using any one these chords with C or practice the chord progression
and see what song you come up with.
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Thanks stitch that’s a great help I’m not up to the F chord yet figured it’s best to wait get my chord and changes improved before moving up
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Just leave the F chord out you can still Am and G with the C chord and be that much
closer to playing songs in the key of C
If you go to the song section on the website and in the chord filter check off C Am and G
I’m sure Justin will have a few song you could practice when the OMC gets boring
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hi, Jasemac’s post caught my eye, i’ve not gotten to the C chord in the modules yet, but could you enlighten me please to what you mean by 1 4 5 in the key of C and so on, whats the 1 4 5 relating to? i’m about to start learning a bit of theory, my Boss has just given me one of Justins books to have a look at, and i’m going to start learning the pentatonic scale, but your comment Stitch has left me quite puzzled. 
@chubbyfingers Every key has 7 note and they are called intervals.
In the Key of C they are C D E F G A B and back to C. These intervals are numbered
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 every interval has a chord that goes with it. Without getting into to much
Theory these Chord in the Key of C are C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.
If you match each chord to it’s interval number you will see the C is 1 F is 4 and G is 5.
Making a 1 4 5 progression.
In the key of G the 1 4 5 intervals are G is 1 C is 4 and D is 5. making the G C and D chords
the 1 4 5
Every Key has 7 different notes. The note and chord change with the Key but the intervals
stay the same
Scales are the same they are made from the intervals of each key.
The Major pentatonic scale uses the intervals of 1 2 3 5 6 of the 7 intervals of the major scale.
The minor pentatonic scale uses the 1 b3 4 5 b7 of the major scale.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand any of this. You will learn all of this in the theory course
and as you work through Justin’s courses.
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ahhh, thanks Stitch, and no, i don’t understand it just yet but now i remember watching a youtube vid about this, may’ve been Guitar Academy or something, left me completely baffled, and as you say, i put it down to that it’d make sense as i progress through.
thanks for your reply.
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HI. Been working through these courses since February. About two weeks per module. I am finding the song practice for this module particularly hard. I am sure the best advice is just keep pressing through. Took from Sunday until today to get the C Chord reliably sounding good. The changes in the songs are just very fast. Might be sticking around this module for some time.
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How long did it take you to play the c chord perfect. I’m on module 5 and know the fretting but can’t get it perfect every time. Do I need to play it perfect to move on to module 6?
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I don’t necessarily think you have to perfect it to move on, but it’ll steadily get better and better with practice. There’s a lot of Module 6 songs that employ the C chord while you’re picking up the G (the last big chord in Grade 1…and a fairly easy one at that), so there’s no shortage of practice ahead to hone it. 
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No, and Justin says as much. If you want to get an idea what’s needed to move on, watch the Nitsuj practice videos (Justin learning left handed). Even when he passed on to Grade 2, his chords and changes weren’t spot on.
I agree with @Lefteris. Practice songs with the C chord. I’m still not great on the C chord but playing it in songs has helped.
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Thank you all for your help