The Stuck 3&4 Chords

Justin as a great lesson on Free Falling. Grade 2 - perfect!

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Maybe on some simplified versions but the Tom Petty version is a little more advanced than that.

https://www.justinguitar.com/songs/tom-petty-free-fallin-chords-tabs-guitar-lesson-st-407

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Ah ok. I jumped the gun!

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Hi, can someone give me a tip on how to keep my pinky and ringfinger together ? The ringfinger is always following my middle finger and slip from the string. So the 2nd string sound bad and the third feels muted.
Thanks you

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Hi @DvlAnto, finger stretch exercises will help with this. It will take time and patience, but if you do them daily, just a couple of minutes as they are quite taxing on your hand and arm, you will slowly see improvement.

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/beginner-finger-stretches-b1-401

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Totally agreed. I took notes and saw the lesson 4 times and I sure I will see it a few more times. I really want to nail the moving root note chord changes Justin shows,

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Sorry i saw your answer 3 days ago and forgot to answer. In the meantime i put finger stretch exercise back in my routine and i already feel an improvement !
Thank you very much for the tip and have a great day :smiley:

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Does anyone know where to start of this issue I’m having? When practicing these cords, I can play all of them no problem and move between them with relative ease (as a beginner of course). However, as I progress, the indents on my 3 &4 fingers get deep enough where it starts to effect the sound coming off of those strings and they start getting either muted or ringing or I don’t even know. I genuinely don’t know what to do from here, are my fingers just not strong enough yet and I just have to practice? Is this a finger stretching issue? Would love to know if anyone else has this problem. I’m pretty confident that my fingers are in the right positions since I can play fine for a while but it really starts to effect the later songs I try and practice

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When you’re holding two strings down for a long time it natural for the grooves in your fingers to get deeper. Take a short break and rub the dents out or practice different chords using different spots on those fingers. As a beginner you’re probably pressing to hard as well. Try a lighter touch.

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Thank you for the response. Would you say some of those issues would also cause buzzing from the bottom two strings as well? I’m not sure why but it feels like everything that can go wrong is with these cords

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Hi Will,

There are four common ways to get buzzing strings. When you hear that during your practice, you can stop and see which it is and then correct and continue the practice.

  1. Finger too far behind a fret - this will generate buzzing if extreme, but will generate buzzing when lifting a finger off a ringing string if mild.
  2. Not pressing hard enough - beginners typically press too hard, so this is less likely unless maybe strength is a factor
  3. A string is vibrating against an adjacent finger - this is common for me. accurate finger placement, proper pressure, and fingertip hardening each help correct this
  4. High fret near fretted position or low neck relief - This takes some work on the guitar to correct. If none of the previous were the problem, this becomes likely.
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I’ve just started the paid lessons, and while I’m not having any trouble with the stuck 3&4 chords themselves, I wish there was a chart showing all of them together. Each new chord has a diagram, and then it’s gone when the next chord is explained. Is there a chart for this that doesn’t require that I know the name of the chord so I can look it up? Either that, or I’m going to have to write them down myself, seems like a simple thing to do once for everyone.

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I screenshot each chord as it’s presented then paste them all into a Word document. Has the advantage of allowing you to add your own comments to the chord sheet.

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Understandable.
As an aside, there is much learning value in actually writing out your own chord diagrams.
Applies to triads, arpeggios,scales, lyrics etc…

Cheers, Shane

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That’s a great idea, thanks. I did screenshot them, but it never occurred to me to put them together in a document.

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100% :slight_smile: :star_struck:

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Like what Shane @sclay said. There is great value in making your own chord sheets. I find it actually preferable than DLing a premade one to be honest. Then I can design it the way I want. I can do stuff like, leave off fingers numbers (good for beginners) and add the notes names themselves or even more advanced and better scale degrees (b7, 5th). Justin has great downloads for blank chord sheets in many options vert horizontal also with multiple number of chord boxes. Also tab sheets and tabs with SMN. Cheak it and use them when you need them.

Find them here in the resources tab.

I have guitar pro, the fancy computer program that does this. But I still use in the fast form when taking notes or trying to solve a riddle for a song, even now.

Here 2 recent examples using the downloaded chord sheets I linked to above.

This is for a difficult section of a song I was figuring out how to play.


This is for a cheat sheat trying to organize and learn the new chords.

Once you know and learn them. Then you can write them in tab form like I have below the chord sheet in the bottom photo. Hand writing notes is very helpfull and take no time and I am like super techy dude also.

Keep up the great work, you got this. Stuck on chords are really cool and there are a ton of songs that use them.

:victory_hand:t2::love_you_gesture:t2::sign_of_the_horns:t2:

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@Richard_close2u

Hi Richard, I’m looking through the Grade 2 module 8 with all the stuck 3 and 4 chords and have a question about D add11/F#

why is it referred to and add11/F# ,why not just write

D sus4/F# ie: as a slash chord

By the same token why not use the more technical notation for the earlier C/G, if indeed it has and add(somehthing lol)

Rachel.

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Good question @Libitina

The name ‘sus’ is an abbreviation of suspension. Chords have what I call a character. The main two types of character are ‘major’ and ‘minor’. What gives this character is the 3rd of the chord. The 3rd is the defining characteristic that sets them apart.

Major = 1,  3,  5
Minor = 1,  b3, 5

Seen like this, the singular difference is obvious. Remove the 3rd and the two chord types become identical. Basically Root & 5th, making them into power chords. Simply removing the 3rd is not what a sus chord does however. In those chords, the 3rd is removed and, crucially, replaced. The note that replaces the 3rd is one or other of the notes either side of it. Think of consecutive numbers 2, 3, 4. The 3rd can be replaced by the 2nd, giving a sus2, or it can be replaced by the 4th, giving a sus4.
The most important aspect here is that the 3rd is not present in the chord.

Now, looking at D major.

D = 1, 3, 5 = D, F#, A

The note F# is the 3rd of the D major chord. In a regular open position D-shape chord grip it is the highest note on the 1st string. It can also be found as a low bass note also at fret 2 of the 6th string - a slash chord D / F#.

The stuck 3&4 chord replaces the F# note (the 3rd) on the 1st string with the note G (the 4th). However, the 3rd is present on the 6th string. It has not been removed from the chord entirely. The chord is not suspended. It has had a note added to the basic triad. That note is G, the 4th scale degree. However, it is called 11 (4 + 7 = 11) because the numeric 4 is held in reserve for sus chords.

Diagrams may add further clarity.


For the C / G chord you ask about …

C = 1, 3, 5 = C, E, G

Placing an extra G in the bass to give the slash chord is not adding an additional note to the triad. G already exists within a C major chord. The ‘add’ notation is not required.

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Thank you , this really helped. Understand now, took me a few re-reads lol, but I got it. :slight_smile:

R.

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