I just want to say, C can be a tricky one! I’ve been using it for, well, months, and while I’ve made a lot of improvement, it’s still one of my slowest chord changes. It’s not so much that my fingers can’t make the reach, I just think it’s because the fingers are so spread out, there’s a lot more room for error? When the fingers are closer together, it seems easier to see them as a single cluster than as separate fingers. That’s my own motor learning theory at least, as someone who took motor learning in college. 
In that respect, I think the drills (e.g. minute changes, air changes) help, it just takes time.
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Took me well over 6 months to get it close, and get the changes OK. Just keep practicing. You’ll get there.
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I can get it clear once in a while. my ring finger doesn’t get close enough to the fret most of the time. I have acrually used my right hand to pull my ring finger close enough to the to make it work. It just seems the ring finger and middle finger stay close together. Yes it is beginner one mudulr 4.
Thank You everyone for the help. I really appreciate it.
tbh get someone to take a couple photos of your hand on the fret and thumb
or post a video
Its worth getting someone to look at your hand/thumb position before you hurt yourself or go through a lot more frustration
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The person who said to share photos is right.
Anyway I found it impossible to stretch my fingers like Justin does in the videos in my first 30 - 40 hours, and played C with my 2nd and 3rd fingers in the middle of their frets. So if you can achieve that, I don’t think there’s a need to go for perfection right now. Also don’t play with the middle tip of your index finger, play it tilted slightly side-ways/ towards the thumb to get an extra inch or so.
The beginner finger independence warm up exercise along with more practice improved my dexterity over time. Just continue to go slow (less than 60bpm) until you’re familiar with it.
I injured my fretting hand recently after gaining the thrill of chord switching at 120bpm+ and doing so without getting the basic wrist and finger postures right for new chords, while over practising at the same time (3hrs a day in 1 hour+ blocks). The pain only comes 1 day later so be careful!
This sounds odd to me to be honest, I’m only 5’4 and can manage this with no stretching ever having been done , my hand span is just 8 inches. ! Are you sure you have your hand/arm ORIENTATION correct. ? When i look at my left palm whilce playing C ,the neck of the guitar is at 45degrees across my palm from index finger to inside of wrist (almost)
The easiest change for this chord is Amin to C as you only need to move your ring finger. If you can do Amin then you can do C.
Double check your hand position and give some more info if poss ok.
R,
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The C chord… my worst enemy right now.
My brain knows what it wants to do but my fingers have other plans entirely.
So I feel your pain and your frustration.
I can just about stretch my fingers into place but getting the muscle memory to do it on demand is just not possible right now.
To be fair, I’ve only been using it for a couple of months but it’s nowhere near as intuitive as the other beginner chords.
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Definitely an anatomical issue IMO which is why some people struggle more than others… I am still struggling to stretch my third finger across so i passed the guitar to my wife who has never played and she played a C with no problem-weird.
Guess we are all built differently. I am 6ft 1in and normal size hands and my wife is not much bigger than 5 ft with small hands.
C chord perfect for me… great…
Changing to it from any other cord… impossible no matter how much I practice…lol
C chord is REALLY holding me back from making progres…lol
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Freakin’ masochist invented this chord! Okay, yeah, I only tried it for the first time tonight, two 3 minute chord perfect (NOT!) practices. About all I can say is, I think I’ve got the B string ringing out okay. Anything else? heh, heh, heh. I watched the video for a 3rd time though and noted Justin said to put your thumb halfway down behind the neck, I think mine was up too high, maybe that will help.
I hope I’ll be able to eventually mute the 6th string, too, my strumming is very sloppy!
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It is the first really stretchy one Rebecca. Practice will continue to work out, fear not!
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I didn’t watch the whole video, so I didn’t hear Justin say that, but if you watch his hand position, he certainly isn’t playing with this thumb behind the neck. He generally plays with his thumb visible above the neck. In fact, when he demonstrates the wrong way to play (at around 0:45 of the video), he drops his thumb behind the neck. Try to position your hand the way Justin has it.
I would say that if you angle your fingers correctly, it’s not that stretchy. Again, he talks about finger angle at 0:45 of the video. If you don’t angle the fingers, it is indeed stretchy (which Justin mentions).
That’s not to say that it’s easy! Getting enough curl in your fingers to not mute the other strings takes experimentation and practice.
One other tip: make sure your nails are cut short, especially on the index finger. If I have even the smallest nail protruding, I can’t get the tip of my index finger straight enough to prevent the high-E string getting muted.
Good luck!
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If you’re beginner, you definitely should keep your thumb around the midline of the neck to build muscle strength for barre chords.
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In a lot of his videos, he mentions his thumb being visible but doesn’t recommend that for beginners. I guess he uses it to mute this 6th string on occasion. I’ll check the video where you mentioned it, thanks.
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Yeah, I understand Justin teaches this, but I never understood the logic of it. Some chords are just a lot easier if you let the thumb rest higher on the back of the neck: C and mini-barre F come to mind. It seems odd to learn a chord in a non-optimal way to achieve a completely different and unconnected goal: building hand strength.
I suppose there are other reasons for having beginners play with a low thumb. Maybe some teacher in the community (even Justin?) could weigh in.
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Well, what is optimal is subjective. Like, I don’t understand how the mini barre F would be easier with the thumb higher up. Personally, I learned thumb placement in the way it was recommended in the lessons and I don’t think it made progress any more difficult.
Also, why would hand strength be unconnected to playing chords?
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I’ve gotten into the habit using my little finger on the A string instead of my third finger…much easier stretch for me and really smooths out my chord changes
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This is not a good idea (using pinky instead of ring finger on C chord). You will eventually want to use the pinky to fret other notes. E.g. C7 (pinky on 3rd fret, G string) Cadd9 (3rd fret, B string) and the variation of C where you add the high G note (3rd fret high-E).
The C chord can be tough, but you should keep at it with the standard grip. Good luck!
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My (somewhat unpopular) opinion is that if using a non-standard technique or chord grip lets you play a song you like now, instead of some time in the indefinite future, you should do it and enjoy playing the song.
However, you should realize that there’s usually a reason for the standard way of doing things, and you will probably find your way limiting at some point, and you’ll have to learn the standard way. (Muting the thick E string in a C chord is probably easier with the ring finger, for example).
But learning new grips for the same chord is part of the learning process (for G and A, especially) so it’s not a big deal if you have to relearn C as well.
My advice would be to spend some time doing Justin’s finger stretching exercises, and come back to the standard grip for the C chord later.
In the meantime, enjoy playing your songs!
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I would strongly encourage you to break that habit and use fingers 1, 2, 3.
There are many variations of C chord that need you to have the 1, 2, 3 fingering.
C7
Csus4
Cadd9
C with a high G note on fret 3 of the 1st string
C/G
C/B (especially as a link between C and Am)
Plus other chords fall in a similar overall finger pattern:
G7
G/B (especially as a link chord between, for example, Am and C)
Fmaj7
Fmaj7/G
You will need the fingering for embellishments, walking bass notes and much more as you develop.
It really is not / should not be such a struggle that you are searching for a short-term fix that will have profound long-term drawbacks.
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