I had a really busy week so didn’t have much time for photos, but here they finally are.
Both these were taken during my chord change practice. The angles is sometimes a bit more, sometimes less, but it doesn’t deviate that much I think.
I had a really busy week so didn’t have much time for photos, but here they finally are.
Both these were taken during my chord change practice. The angles is sometimes a bit more, sometimes less, but it doesn’t deviate that much I think.
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.
If there’s no pain, it’s probably not a concern at this stage. As you play more and play standing up you’ll naturally adjust.
how do i memorize the names of all these chords?
Hi Juan! Welcome to the Community.
Disclaimer: I’m a beginner, also currently working on Grade 2 Module 11, so you might get differing advice from more veteran players.
With that: If you go to the Beginner Sus Chords lesson on the website, scroll down and you’ll see a text description that supplements the video. The section “What Are Sus Chords On Guitar” provides some music theory that explains sus2 vs sus4 (and probably explains other subtle things that I don’t understand!). That helped me learn the names. I suppose another way to approach this as a beginner is simply to know how to make the cool sounds, and use them when it sounds good! I’m confident that we’ll learn more theory, in more depth, as we continue this journey.
Judi
Play them and say them… you’ll soon remember the names as you remember the fingerings.
I’m having trouble muting the thickest string in Cadd9, I can’t do it first try or sometimes I’m muting the 5th string lol. Can’t I just avoid playing the thickest string?
I know that Justin has recommended muting the 6th string with the tip of you ring finger when you play a C or Cadd9 chord and that is a great recommendation. Note however it’s a bit of a “Cheat”, in an ideal world you just don’t hit the 6th with your pick.
This with come with lots of practice, it can take quite a while to develop enough pick control to consistently miss the string. So to your question, Yes avoid hitting the thickest string, but until you can do it consistently you can try to use you ring finger to mute it.
Glen
Hi Aris, I consider myself pretty good with the stuck3&4 courtesy of my Oasis obsession ![]()
From what you describe, muting the 5th string, it sounds like your second finger is too high, ie you’re excessively touching the 6th string. Do you have the same problem with a normal C chord? I appreciate that’s using a different finger to do the muting but the principle’s the same. That’s basically what you’re trying to replicate with the Cadd9
By all means I suppose you can try to avoid playing the thickest string, but it’s yet another thing to concentrate on. For me, especially in hard or fast strumming songs I’m nowhere near accurate enough to consistently miss the 6th string.
As a suggestion, try doing some one minute change exercises between “Big” G and Cadd9, it’s a small movement but might help with consistency with some dedicated practice.
All the best!
When practicing, I’ve been avoiding strings that doesn’t need to be played. Though sometimes when playing a song, I just let it happen if I ever didn’t avoid the string. I actually didn’t know that you should mute the strings. I thought you should just always try to miss the string and let it ring if you accidentaly picked it. So I just kept playing the C chord sometimes not hitting the 6th or sometimes hitting it. So thank you guys.
Also for more context, when I’m trying to play the Cadd9, I can’t mute it first try. Sometimes I try too much that makes my finger too high and it’ll mute the 5th string and play the 6th. But when I’m only putting a tip of my finger near the 6th string, I’m able to mute it! Maybe more practice for me!
Thank you guys!!
Whether you can get away with letting a string ring or not, largely depends on the chord, and the situation.
With a C chord, letting the E ring out isn’t really a problem, as E is part of the chord construction (the major C consists of C,E&G). The only issue is it means you’re not playing the root note on the first string you hit, which is what you typically aim for with chords on a guitar.
The same also applies to the D major for the 5th string, as A is part of the chord construction.
Hello Aris, while I’m able to mute the 6th string when playing the Cadd9 chord, I’ve got exactly the same problem as you describe it, when playing the C chord. Muting the 6th string is impossible without muting the 5th string simultaniously
. But I keep on trying, and additionally I focus on not strumming the low E - just like you
.
WRT to missing the thick strings and/or muting with the ring finger…I was never able to get either of these techniques to work - despite weeks of trying.
For me, the answer was thumb muting (which is covered later in the course, IIRC). This has the added benefit of muting the E string for the A and D chords as well.
Something to consider if other approaches don’t work for you - though it took me weeks to make that shift as well.
I have completed module 8 and am wanting to move onto the next module but I have not confidently memorized all of the new stuck 3&4 chords. Because they were introduced all at once, I got a bit flustered. I can play them and maneuver my fingers fine. It is just that I don’t instantly know where to place my fingers for D ADD 11/F# like I know D, for instance. It just isn’t as easy to remember that alphabet soup for me.
How imperative do you all feel it is to have memorized these chords before moving to the next lesson? I feel like I am stagnating on this part but don’t want to move too fast either.
Thanks!
Richard @Rqualls
I am sure Justin says somewhere in the lesson near the end that you only really need to concentrate and play them proficiently when you need to use them in a song. At least that’s how I approached it.
I am learning George Ezra’s Green Green Grass, chords G Em C D with a lot of changes half way through a bar, so works well getting used to stuck chords.
Michael
That’s been my approach as well. I just used them in Wish You Were Here, (and dabbled with Wonderwall a bit as well).
Didn’t memorize the alphabet soup proper chord names either…just think of them as “G stuck34”, etc.
Hasn’t hurt my progress in any way, as far as I can tell.
Ok, sounds like I am off to the next module then. Thank you so much for helping!
If you can play the Wonderwall chord progression 10 times to a metronome running at least 70bpm, I’d say you’re fine. There is no need to remember the full chord names unless you want to.
Remembering the chord shapes is important. As long as you remember which one is a G, C, D variation, you’re good ![]()
Cool. Thank you
All those songs you learned with some or all of G, Em, C, D … go back to revisit them with a stuck 3&4 approach. They can be part of your song repertoire practice as your lesson learning progresses.