Help with chord fingerings (?)

Any suggestions besides practice, practice, practice? :)

sorry to say it...but no :shock:

as long as you are holding the guitar correctly there really is no answer other than your own 8)

Just keep practicing.I had the hardest time with the "F" chord.I avoided it like the plauge.But once I got around to practice how to finger it,it became easy after a while.Just keep working on it and don't give up,it'll come to you after a while.

Start by playing fewer strings. You can do each chord easily on four strings:

C: xx2010
G7: xx0001

Then start to develop the reach of your ring finger by playing the G7 this way: 3x0001

Beyond that, it's practice - but make sure you don't have any fundamental problems that affect your ability to arch the hand. Common problems I see in beginning students are:

1. They tip the guitar so they can see where their fingers are going on the fretboard. That forces you to cock the wrist, limiting finger reach.

2. They don't hold the peghead up. Having the neck parallel to the floor, or angling downward, severely limits your reach.

3. Keep your elbow loose. Some beginners plant the fretting arm elbow against thei side - that rotates the wrist, changing finger angles and making it much harder to arch the fingertips.

Ah thanks NoteBoat! I do have it tipped a bit to see and parallel to the floor somewhat... :roll: I will make these adjustments and start with the fingerings you have and try to progress from there.

Eirraca, I have no sage advice to add to the great things already said, just encouragement.

We've all been where you are. When you do get the C and G7 chords down, it'll just be new chords that are a struggle, until you practice them enough to get them down pat, too.

One day you'll look back and remember when the C and G7 were challenging, and you can be proud of your progress.

Margaret

Yup, no secrets, no shortcuts. Just keep plugging away and one day you will have them down.

allakazaam!!!!

there that should have done it.

let me know how it worked out for you

allakazaam!!!!

there that should have done it.

let me know how it worked out for you
Uh-oh ...... I think you alakazaamed my G9 away!!!!!!!!! :D

hey bro i had the same problem when i frirst started only thing i can say is to practice and sooner or later it becomes natural to you

I'm starting to learn chords now after learning notes and I am finding that the C chord and the G7 chord are practically impossible for me to play. Trying to arch my fingers and still reach everything without touching other strings.../sigh. I've tried to see if I could do different fingerings but I'm not coming up with anything. The other chords I can manage fairly fine...its the ones that require 3 fingers spread out over the whole fretboard I'm troubled with...mostly the two above. Any suggestions besides practice, practice, practice? :)

Yes - put a capo on the second fret. Play that way for awhile. After a month or so you'll be able to make the stretch with no capo.

BJ

Bear with me if I'm a bit dense here, what will putting a capo on do for me? Do I try to play the same finger positions with the capo on, ie, perhaps making them stretch...? :oops:

Eirrica,

I think they telling you to do that because the frets are alittle closer as you go toward the bridge making the stretch a little easier.

So you'd be playing in a different key but the chord shapes would be the same and for the purpose of practicing that should be fine.

Ah I see...thanks very much :) So I'll pretend the capo is the nut then, and do everything the same as I've learned so far?

Exactly if you put the capo at the 5th fret you would still practice the chord fingerings the same way as you have been only the stretch will be less.

You may want to put it down around the 7th fret to start and work your way up gradually.