Thanks for sharing this tip Corine and welcome to the community
Yes, I noticed the same. Sometimes small adjustments on how I hold my guitar will have big effects on how good chords sound and on how well changes from certain chords to others can be made. I’m learning a song at the moment that includes a change from Em to Fmajor7 with a C bass (love the sound of that chord), and it’s just as you say… Things will go much more smoothly when I’m raising the neck just a little bit more.
If you have a moment, why don’t you introduce yourself here
I have been playing about 4 months, making progress in everything except the 3-fret Dm and C chords. I found these chords almost impossible to play with fingers 1, 2, and 3. (I could do them with excessive difficulty using fingers 1, 3, and 4.) But I just had a breakthrough. I tucked my fretting arm close to my body. That instantly enabled me to angle my hand and fingers. Voila! I could do the chords with fingers 1, 2, and 3.
Also try raising the neck up, mid chest to shoulder height. The fingers are then naturally angled across the strings from e to E and less parallel which means less stretching.
I am judging by the portion of you not in the photograph.
I think your elbow must be virtually digging into your midriff as your forearm is approaching the neck from such a sharply acute angle. Move your elbow somewhat away from your body. Lower your wrist marginally. rotate your wrist so your first finger approaches from a shallower angle. It needs to approach at an angle but your 2nd knuckle is over the guitar nut, it is too far back. That means your second and third fingers are having to reach from very far away too.
Try to allow your thumb to be flatter against the back of the neck. Currently, only the pad of your thumb is gripping the neck.
The guitar should be balanced and your neck not need anything to keep it upright.
Some guitars are neck heavy and neck-dive. That can be sorted by wearing a wide, suede backed strap and hanging some kind of weight on the body.
I folllowed this module, thanks anyway,the more I practice the less strings get muted. But for now I have to change strings, the high E snapped. When I have changed them I will practice C chord again this evening. Will get a nice chord someday and celebrate another victory. Playing the piano is a lot easier.
Can you describe the problems you are having with the chord or better still share a picture - you can cut and past an image into the text box when replying. If folks see what you are doing they may be offer some advice. Keep trying.
Started playing the C Chord for the first time today. It`s weird but I felt like the C grip is easier for me then the Dmin.
I have tons of problems changing to Dmin especially in Combination with Old Faithful. But its only my first impression.
Welcome to the forum Stefan. The Dmin Chord gives most people trouble in the beginning. I think the C grip is a more natural hand position. Good to hear you are using Old Faithful this early in your journey.
Welcome Stefan! Yeah, Dmin is a tough one. For me it’s stretchy and squishy at the same time. You’ll encounter plenty more chords - and changes - that come more easily.
If you’re up for it, head over here and tell us a bit about your guitar journey! Love your screen name btw.
Just landed on module 5 today. Fortunately I have big hands and long fingers, so the C is not such of a problem… but the changes are crazy because of the angulation needed to stretch the finger. I tried a few C ↔ D changes and my wrist have to do a lot o angulation to go almost form -45% (C) to 45% (D). I did the Module 4 in 6 days playing 1…2h a day but I think this one will take a few weeks also to consolidate the Dm (my index finger often lands in the low E or G instead of B string…).
Hi @curdius, I would recommend to check your wrist and hand position. There shouldn’t be much of a change in angle between C and D. Try to keep your wrist as straight as possible, some flex is ok, but too much flex might set you on the road to tendinitis.
Thank you for your answer. Yes you are right, after re-watching the videos my D chord was being done with a strange angulation that was delaying all my transitions to and from D.
Hi, hopefully this thread is till active. Anyway I just got to this chord after a while of being stuck on the D major and the chord itself (the finger stretching) feels really easy and natural to me - I’ve always had really long and stretchy fingers. The part I’m struggling to grasp is the muting of the 6th string by the tip of your ring finger. So far I’ve always been fretting the strings by the tips of my fingers (that’s where I already have callouses by now) so doing so for the 5th string on this chord feels really natural to me.
But then I struggle to grasp how to get the tip of the ring finger to mute the 6th string without needing to essentially fret the 5th string with the pad of that finger? I can get it to work like that with the 5th string not sounding too buzzy or muting the 4th unintentionally but fretting that way just feels unnatural/wrong. Anyways, any pointers or do I just get used to playing more with the pads on certain chords like this one?
