As others have said, people make guitar playing look easy, and to some extent it is (the campfire chord stuff) but only after a lot of time and effort!
Guitar is all about tiny marginal differences and small, precise, quick movements and generally peoples fretting hands are not used to that
This thread brought back a memory from my first months of playing. Once I could form chords my eyes were glued to the fret board to make sure my fingers were going in the right place. We went to a winery for lunch and a local musician was doing an acoustic set. I was amazed to see he wasnât looking at the fret board at all while playing. WTF??? I couldnât imagine that. Yet within about a year or so of playing I found I was able to do that with some chords.
I realized I needed to do it when I did my first open mic and didnât have the vocal mic pointed very well (they are directional) and when I turned my head to look at the fretboard I could hear my voice fading.
Now I play almost all of my songs without looking at the fretboard and itâs effortless. Yet in the beginning it wasnât even imaginable.
You are on a journey, it might seem slow at first, heck, it is slow at first. Soon youâll be bounding along at whatâs now an unimaginable pace.
This
Everything builds on the foundations of the basic open chords which are a hard start
But they are the hammer and screwdriver in your tool chest. Youâll add more tools later but youâll rely on these all the time.
Are you keeping the pad of your thumb centered in the back of the neck, pointed mostly up (toward you)? If youâre wrapping your thumb over the top of the neck, or laying it along the neck pointing toward the head stock, your fretting fingers will flatten out and touch strings you donât want to touch.
Youâll be amazed at how well you can play those chords in a few weeks/months. I know it seems impossible, but you will experience this if you just keep working at it.
Iâve started many hard (for me) songs/lessons, thinking thereâs no way I can play this - 2-4 months later, I impress myself with my abilities 
Donât give up and it will come to you.
@tweim1 You and I are at the same point, I got as far as learning the D and A chords and transitioning between the two. Tomorrow Iâm going to spend some time doing the 1 minute chord changes and attempt to change with out looking at the fretboard (might be a bit ambitious) but damn my sausage fingers are in the way of each other and my hand does not want to move freely!
@grabhorn @mathsjunky @markr31 @RobDickinson @judi @CATMAN62 Thanks everyone. Your support is much appreciated
@GenePoolReject Think Iâll work on trying to get my hands and fingers in a position that doesnât mute the strings that arenât being fretted in the A and D chords
FWIW, and plenty in the comments above for you to digest, about 4yrs ago it took me several weeks to achieve simple chord transitions, until I joined JG and used his exercises.
Youâre in the right place to achieve the possible but as ever, the âimpossibleâ might take a little longer ⌠
Keep going; practise with purpose and you will make it happen ⌠
A better day today. I practiced forming the D chord 10 times. Managed to do that mixed in with some failed attempts.
Found the A chord harder. Managed to do 5 (ish) before it got painful 
. Found clearing the 1st / E string to prevent buzzing / muting difficult.
Is it advisable to practice chord changes even if you arenât consistently playing the chords as they are intended? The fast changes exercise looks to be more about building muscle memory than playing a âgoodâ chord, so would add some variety while Iâm developing the technique on the chords.
The last thing you want to do is build sloppy chord changes into your muscle memory. You play like you practice. If you practice sloppy chord changes you play sloppy chord changes. Get the chord perfect exercise down before you start OMC. Your chords donât need to be perfect but they shouldnât be sloppy.
Itâs a lot easier to learn it right the first time than have to try and break bad habits later.
Another thing most beginners do is press way to hard on the strings. Take any note in a chord and gently place your finger on it. Pluck the string and gently press harder until the string rings out cleanly. That is all the pressure you need to fret the strings.
When you press to hard you flatten your finger tips out which in turn mutes the string next to it. It will get easier when your calluses start to form.
@stitch great advice. Thank you. Iâll stick with getting better at the A and D chords.
Been struggling to see how Iâm muting the strings but too much pressure might be one of the factors contributing to it.
Haha truth be told, I was exactly the same! (Or perhaps worse.) Before picking up the guitar, I actually had a rather low opinion of people who only strummed chords on the guitar (as opposed to lead or fancy / improvised rhythm parts). As far as musician-ship was concerned, I rated them below that of the alto recorder. Like, how hard can it be to repetitively strum a bunch of chords? How much more boring can you possibly get?
That was, until I picked up the guitar for the first time 2.5 months ago. Like you, I immediately wondered, how does anyone manage to learn to play the guitar at all? How many years did they take to be able to fluently deploy the D chord?
The good news is, youâll surprise yourself how fast you can get used to the mechanics of strumming chords (and other aspects of guitar playing). It feels to me a bit like watching a kettle boil; each individual practice session doesnât seem to push you much further ahead, but in a few weeks time youâll be surprised at how far youâve come.
Have fun!
Welcome. Good for you for taking that scary first step and taking up the guitar. Take your time, enjoy the experience and build a solid foundation. Remember that all guitarists started where you are and have likely felt the same frustrations. I watch the Nitsuj videos and see that learning this new skill IS challenging.
Justin is a fabulous teacher. You will learn a lot following his lessons.
@barny I find the physicality of forming the hand and finger shapes required to be the most difficult. Fingers tips are painful but I can live with that
Tony,
One of Justinâs sayings is "Practice makes PERMANENTâŚ
If you consistently practice chords (or anything I suppose) in a manner that is âwrongâ it will stick & become a habit that youâll have to break eventually.
That being said, in Grade 1, Justing also emphasizes that weâre all physically different & sometimes you may have to âmodifyâ the technique heâs demonstrating a bit to what works for you.
Your first chords are very difficult to get âunder the fingersâ but theyâll come eventually - A & D arenât particularly hard chords - but theyâre new to you & your fretting hand. What you say about muscle memory is true, the more you place your fingers in certain places, the easier doing it next time becomes. Again, this is why âPerfect Practiceâ is critically important, especially at your stage.
Good luck!
Tod
