[LAVA MAN]

I think playing chords smoothly from one to another. I wish i had long fingers!!

[gravitas]

It seems we're missing something on the poll. In my case, at least, just affording the guitar presents the most difficulty.

[Tyler Bingham]

My hardest thing is keeping time. By the time I get the chord/note position i my head and to my fingers I'm way behind on the time!

[nagukush]

Glad someone feels the same, but common mate , we'll just defeat our difficulties !!!

[nowhere-man]

Making time to practise is a problem for me, and it's a bigger problem now there's this great forum to try to keep up with!

[Canuck-Playa]

many that live desirve death. and some that die deserve life. can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. JRR Tolken

[nagukush]

very true !!! THIS IS A WONDERFUL PLACE

[micklen]

Definately getting my fingers to do what I tell them

[coldethyl]

I sometimes find difficulty with proper finger placement with chords when changing from one chord to another.

ie. when I go from Em to A, my finger placement on the A major chord ends up like this:
middle finger on E, index finger on A, ring finger on C#
which still works for me BUT.......

apparently the correct positioning is supposed to be this:
index on E, middle on A, and ring on C#

[gravitas]

There's not really such a thing is chord placement. Depending on what direction your going in, how many fingers you need for what the proceeding lick or progression will be, what part of the chord you're doing, what form of the chord you're doing, the size of your hands, whether you're barring or not... There are so many variables that it's almost impossible for anyone to tell you what the "correct" finger placement for a chord will be.

You might just have blessedly small, flexible hands, or monstrously huge ones like me. If it works and it works well, I say do it buddy.

[coldethyl]

Originally Posted by gravitas

There's not really such a thing is chord placement.

Maybe you misunderstood me.
What I meant was the finger placement (not chord placement) when playing a chord. When you go to a guitar teacher they show you the standard practice for where exactly your fingers should be placed to play a chord, eg C major.

[gravitas]

Well, if it helps you to learn the chords, by all means stick with it. However,

When I say chord placement I really mean finger placement. Maybe if you're playing open chords (ie, right up by the nut) your finger placement would be a bit more restricted, but once you get out of there, everything changes. Even by the nut, though, there are variations that you'll get into in the near future. Take the D major chord, for example. I think the first one I saw demonstrated went open D, 1A, 2D, and my third finger on the major third. But my hands are big enough that I can bar my fifth and my major third with my index finger and leave two fingers free for whatever I might need them for, or bar them with my middle finger if I want to inject some dissonance with my index. Or, I can bar my A with one finger and mute the high E string with it. Do you follow me?

And also, when you get out of that strict and formic spot (my guitar teacher likes to call it the "Room with three walls") and get your barring finger a little stronger your chords will go with much more fluidity, as you can change your finger placements as the direction of the song requires.

Anyway, this is just something to digest. I don't want you to get the impression that the finger placements you're learning are wrong, just that they can vary.

[coldethyl]

Thanks gravitas!

I guess I'm probably making more out of it than necessary because it doesn't really interfere with my playing too much, it's just I felt that I had developed a bad habit.

My father used to say to me "why worry if there's nothing to worry about" and I guess that's what I do sometimes.

[gravitas]

And that's the best philosophy.Well, aside from "Don't EVER poke a den of weasels with a gardening tool."

[joehere1]

hey gravitas
dont forget not to play with cats in the bathtub and dont ever try to take food from a badger lol
i feel that chord changing as a newbie is very hard, i keep looking on sites and i have a program ive paid for and its good so im not complaining at all
i do have a ? though , everywhere i look and go im told to arch the fingers and keep my thumb on the back of the neck ( in the middle some where ) well i find this really makes it difficult and hurts alot
so should i not worry so much about where my thumb is and enjoy the changes i can do or should i concentrate on keeping my thumb where it should be so later on i can reach what i aim for, im noticing that the more i learn the more i need to reach and streach ,its been said " i do not want to learn bad habbits "
i hope this doesnt sound stupid but its hard for me with small hands to keep my thumb on the back and play , seems to be really hard on my wrist and slows me down alot
anyways thanks in advance
joe