The Stuck 3&4 Chords

That looks fine.
Having your wrist not perfectly straight isn’t that major a concern.
The big thing is that you’re not tilting the guitar up/leaning over the guitar so you can see the fretboard easier, which will result in your wrist being excessively bent.

If you’re unsure if you’re tilting the guitar or not, try standing up with the guitar on a strap. It usually takes a lot more effort to tilt the guitar when stood up, so you’ll soon notice if you have been tilting the guitar.

Good advice. I noticed when I kept the neck horizontal instead of leaning it so I could see the frets it was all a bit easier. Not perfect yet, but certainly much closer to getting a clean chord.

1 Like

Thanks.

1 Like

Started the lesson a view days ago, the first time I played these chords I felt for the first time in my life a had a top on my pinky. Man it hurts.

1 Like

This is happening because you need to work on “finger independence”. Every guitar player has to fight this problem, since moving one finger while keeping all other fingers absolutely still is not something we are born with.

As usual, the fix for this is slow, purposeful practice. SLOWLY move your index and middle finger while FOCUSING your attention on not moving your ring or pinky at all. Don’t strum at all; just focus on your fretting hand finger motions. For the first few weeks, this will seem almost impossible, but after a few months of practicing this for 5 minutes a day, you’ll be doing this easily.

When you get to the point of practicing scales, you’ll use this same kind of exercise to eliminate what many call the “flying pinky”.

Here’s Justin’s lesson on fixing the “flying pinky”. What I described above is simply an adaptation of this exercise for your sticking point.

4 Likes

Thanks, Eddie! It’s gotten a lot better since I made that post, but the exercise you linked will probably get me to the next level way faster.

1 Like

Agree, I felt a bit overwhelmed after as you said only learning 1 chord per lesson.

1 Like

Does anyone have a handy dandy cheat sheet with just the stuck chords, PDF, Word doc, whatever. Danka

1 Like

All of the chord diagrams are on the lesson page. If no one has already done it for you, I suggest copying them and pasting them into your favorite word processor (MSWord, etc.).

Here’s the lesson link: https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/the-stuck-3-4-chords-b2-801

This is also a good way to make your own chord book, if you have a need for one.

YMMV

2 Likes

Love this lesson and chords, they sound amazing! Here’s a lil tidbit I figured out on my own, as switching between guitars. If some strings don’t ring out clearly on electric guitar you may be pressing to hard. I did this lesson on both electric and acoustic guitars and found that I have to press much harder. I carried that habit over to the electric and had quite a bit of trouble, until I pressed much easier on the strings.

1 Like

This stage is so exciting.

1 Like

isn’t “F 6/9 Chord” named wrong? shouldn’t it be " F 6add9 "?

1 Like

This may have already been addressed, but how do you feel about Nutshell by Alice in Chains for stuck 3/4? Unless i’m hearing it wrong.

the most difficult is D add11

1 Like

A post was split to a new topic: Thanks for teaching me Justin

they just actually sound alike bro that’s it

1 Like

Nice Job Boss,I just joined and watched it through I think this about where I want to be,I knew all of those Chords as played except the one at the end and I think it sounded familiar from an old song but I have never seen it played. Thank you and I will see you tomorrow. Or tonight “I am night shift!”

1 Like

After finishing Grade 1 I was feeling pretty good, but these new chords put me in my place! Something about them (the Big G and C Add 9, specifically) really gave me a hard time as I struggled to get each string to ring clear. They’re a lot of fun in the Wish You Were Here riff though!

3 Likes

Hey ghostbunny,

Keep at them, they’ll definitely come. Make sure you’re practicing consistently and picking though all the notes in each chord to ensure all the notes are ringing out. :blush::ok_hand:

2 Likes

Good question.
I think it is prompted by thinking of slash chords and seeing a slash between 6 and 9 in this chord name.

For slash chords, a specific note name using a letter is used.

Examples: D/F#, C/E

For chord names where two notes are ‘added’ the slash symbol can also be used. These are recognisiable because numbers, not letters are used.

F6/9 = F6 add 9 = F6(add9)

:slight_smile:

There’s a Tom Petty song called Free Falling which I’m pretty sure uses those first stuck 3&4 chords we learned: Big G, C add 9, D sus 4.

1 Like