[Aunkster]

Before I begin I want you to know I am dedicated ,I do take lessons and practice allot,I have just ended up with a problem So I know this is a good place to ask,

When I started playing I used the baseball bat style hold on the neck and began practicing notes and scales,I did well..

I then began practicing chords and I struggled allot.

I would go from e to e minor ..then d to a

and then try mixing it up,,I I told my instructor and and he told me to try traditional hold on the neck ,so I did,,I tried for 2 solid weeks,,it was very uncomfortable and I even struggled worse..

Im now back to the baseball style and it seems like its getting better.
Are there any good practical exercises
I can do for chord changing??
I really struggle with the d ,I always end up with a buzz on my e string ,I see that my finger always ends up on the fret and thats causing the buzz,so I do know what Im doing wrong.
Maybe this is just a slow process..

I just did so well with scales that it was a huge disappointment to see me struggle with chords.

Am I the only one ??

Thanks

[pastorbob]

Aunkster, it's not unusual at all. When we play the scales, we are fingering one string at a time, while chords require us to finger three strings at once. It just takes time for you fingers to get that muscle memory.

[Aunkster]

i would think by now I would be getting allot smoother with chord transitions..

[allthumbs]

It sounds like you have been at it for only weeks. Think more in terms of months. You will get less frustrated that way.

[Maddog54]

I think I read on here somewhere, and I started doing it(works great)

pick 2 chords, and practice changing between them several times(I go 20), then throw in a third chord and basically start over.

I started with D chord to A, then G, D, A(and actually I had to practice D to A, then A to G, then G to D to complete the cycle).

What also helped me was I took a 3 chord song and played it over and over (the one I did was Country Boy Can Survive, which is the above chords).

Right now I'm playing Lynyrd Skynyrd's All I Can Do Is Write About It(which goes G to D to Em to C).


The biggest deal in all of this is to get a clean chord out of all of them through repetition. Hope that helps you

[Aunkster]

oh ya that will help..thank you

[pastorbob]

Aunkster, I struggled with cords for a bout 6 months, then all of a sudden, everything just started to fall into place. But then, I had older fingers! LOL

[carol m]

I have been practicing with Kirk's True Beginners Lesson which is based on G D Am Am G D C C. Its a tune you will recognise, and there are several vids that take you through, but the best thing is the backing track which has a metronome included and it goes through about 5 repeats. I just keep plugging away and am gradually improving.

I also put it through Audacity and slowed it down so I can play along at the speed I can manage and will increase speed as I improve.

The link is here

[79Lespaul]

Jimi hendrix held the guitar neck that way ! "Hooking" the neck is a bad habit, but heh , if jimi did it ...can't be all bad!!!

[onefadedfan]

i this is a grip question...i switch from the baseball to traditional to whatever else i use for everything. maybe im developing a bad habit?? but it works i guess. i do a more traditional grip for the D and a baseball for the C so i can mute the low E string with my thumb for example. i guess what im saying is piggy backing on the whole "if it worked for Jimi" thing. not ALL great players followed the rules lol.

[mitchel123847]

i cant play any thing this is my first day im to poor to get the real lessons plz help!!

[Nutty]

Hi Mitchel,

Welcome to the forum. Don't fret. There are lots of free lessons here too. At the bottom of this link are the "True Beginners" lessons.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...nners-lessons/

You may want to introduce yourself in a new thread ln this forum http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...duce-yourself/. Then members can welcome you and offer any advice you may need.

Nutty

[karcey]

You haven't told us why you use the baseball bat grip. For me it was because the neck wouldn't stay still when I changed chords. Is that your situation too? To be able to relax your grip to become more traditional requires the confidence that the neck is going to stay in the same place ... just something else to consider.

[cshude]

I would try to wean yourself off the "baseball bat" grip ASAP for a couple reasons- first, it would be more likely to lead to wrestling with the instrument rather than playing it. One of the things that all players, especially beginners, struggle with, is playing without a lot of tension. If you're already gripping the thing like you're at the plate, it'll only get worse when you're playing. Also, I could see it leading to pains in the hand down the road- remember that, unfortunately, we haven't been able to see what would have happened to Jimi (RIP) after 30+ years of playing like that.
Another key thing to think about is that trying to switch back and forth from the baseball bat grip to a more traditional thumb to the middle grip is a lot of wasted movement when playing songs that have both chords and single note riffs. You're much better off just going with a traditional style.
One exercise I test myself on every once in a while to make sure I'm not throttling too hard on the neck is to play a bunch of chords without even using my thumb at all, just using the tension produced by the entire left arm/shoulder to play.