If I quit blame the D Chord!

I'd say live with it. Theres alot of song I play that have D in it. Fact, one of my favorite song goes D - A - E almost the whole song. 25% of the time I blow the D chord and more than that I still blow the A. But if I quit I will never get the song, and if I dont quit I know that someday I will get it. Its just a matter of time.

Some people are perfectionist, my girlfriend is that way, but I'm just suggesting that you just play your best and dont sweat that small stuff on the guitar. Do what you can to make yourself happy playing it. So that it will get you to the next day still playing it. Cause in time as long as you are playing it, then you will get the D chord.

You, being a teacher (I think I remember that you are a teacher) would never tell your students, "Ahh you cant get it, just give up on it". Sorry, not sure what subject you teach so I cant give a better example. Hopefully, you get my point.

You sound awsome on everything you've recorded for us. You sound a heck of alot better than I do on Dead or Alive.

You'll get it. I imagine its alot like you said. If you didnt have the other stuff going on in life right now then the D would be such a big deal. But everyone works out in the end. Just keep on pluckin.

Geoo

If I could say anything, ... this is a joke. In my opinion. It's interesting to see you progress, your postings and such and we all do it. From newbies to guys playing for 30+ years we're all posting things we're trying to do and work on, etc;. That's a main function of this group. We all have a common interest and we can all appreciate each other's success, share in each's mistakes and obstacles, and enjoy playing music.

It just seems foolish for this constant posting of I quit, this is too much, etc; etc;. It's not life or death. It's playing guitar. (Hey, relax, I live for this, believe me.) But this is a bit much. Sorry to hear of your recent troubles but if you can't take solace in the fact that - 1.) you're trying your best, period, 2.) it happens, and 3.) it's a challenge - then I don't know what to tell you.

No one gets everything perfect, especially first starting out. You've been playing a nanosecond of the time of some of the other guys on this board and you want to complain about a D chord that is gonna make you quit? If that's so then you probably didn't really want to play guitar in the first place. Someone may vouch for that.

I dig ya got some other things going on in your life but hey, that's your life. Exactly that. Keep it there. Guitar playing is something you should be able to goto in order to keep that other stuff at bay. Instead it looks like all has overlapped and some chaos has inevitably occured.

Keep your head up. You'll look back at this and laugh.

If I could say anything, ... this is a joke. In my opinion. It's interesting to see you progress, your postings and such and we all do it. From newbies to guys playing for 30+ years we're all posting things we're trying to do and work on, etc;. That's a main function of this group. We all have a common interest and we can all appreciate each other's success, share in each's mistakes and obstacles, and enjoy playing music.

It just seems foolish for this constant posting of I quit, this is too much, etc; etc;. It's not life or death. It's playing guitar. (Hey, relax, I live for this, believe me.) But this is a bit much. Sorry to hear of your recent troubles but if you can't take solace in the fact that - 1.) you're trying your best, period, 2.) it happens, and 3.) it's a challenge - then I don't know what to tell you.

No one gets everything perfect, especially first starting out. You've been playing a nanosecond of the time of some of the other guys on this board and you want to complain about a D chord that is gonna make you quit? If that's so then you probably didn't really want to play guitar in the first place. Someone may vouch for that.

I dig ya got some other things going on in your life but hey, that's your life. Exactly that. Keep it there. Guitar playing is something you should be able to goto in order to keep that other stuff at bay. Instead it looks like all has overlapped and some chaos has inevitably occured.

Keep your head up. You'll look back at this and laugh.
Re-Read his original post and the heading of this thread.
He meant it as a joke. Not really a joke but sort of a pun. He clearly has no intention of actually quiting. He said it in a joking manor but he did intend to bring attention to his trouble with D chords and solicit any help that may come from this thread.
Not only for him but for any of our other members that are struggling with this same problem.

Hi Mike

as Eagles would say "take it easy"! I mean everyone had troubles with some chords. I remember that C was quite hard to learn for me (don't talk about F!) and I do not remember how I made it to play but now it is one of my favourite chords. In any case I would say choose a pattern you like that includes D chord (i.e. C_G_A-D) and play it WITHOUT metronome! I do not use metronome but I think it is not the best tool to use when you learn chord shaping. A friend of mine who plays almost professionaly told me that metronome has to be used when you want to build a solid foundation of rhythms (like before you have to record in studio) or when you're praticsing solos not when you learn chords! If you want to see if you're able to play a steady rhythm it is enough to play alongside with a cd: if you reply their pattern and change the chords with the song you're playing on time!

So at the end of the day try it again and don't discourage if it does not sound good: it is more important to play a steady rhythm so go ahead with the pattern even if your D chord sounded bad. There will be a day when it sound good

Matteo

I'd leave it for a day or two, I seem to make as much progress on the days I don't play as the days I do....strange but true.

And when I say don't play, I mean I try and pick the Star Spangled Banner, or Blowing in the Wind some days and then do chords/strumming other days and I find the rest days in between seem to improve my playing on the opposite thing, if you see what I mean.

Wow what a thread this is!

Here's a massive tip. Don't try sooo hard!

Next time you play, tell yourself you will just "plonk" your fingers down and not try to be so precise. Try it. You might surprise yourself.

To me, the guaranteed way to screw something up, is to try really hard to NOT screw it up. Its a certaintly!

Chill out, just relax, it will come, the less you try, the quicker it will come too!

Cheers

Matt

Mike, if you quit, I'll hunt you down! Too many people start on a guitar and quit. Nothing happens overnight. You don't wake up one day playing a Abdim(b9) do ya? You practice at it for quite some time and it sounds aweful for awhile and eventually it sounds a bit better and you can do it a bit quicker.

I've been playing over 3 years and I still suck at the open Dm chord. I seldom play that chord at all. Often I'll use the barred form because it's easier for me. I guarantee you'll get it through very slow practice and analysis of your movements and finger placements over time. You've come this far to throw it all away? We're all here for you.

Also, many players do what they do best. Many can't play barre chords and stick to open chords. Some play the open F like a FM7 but mute the high E string so as not to have to barre. Let us know how thing are coming along over the next couple of months.

My uncle tried to learn and gave up because he couldn't do it perfectly fast enough. I promise you, I can play better than him :P

Thaks again everyone for your support. It means more than you'll ever know!

I never do anything perfectly, but I'm trying

I just read all four pages of this and the thing that kept coming to mind is "he's trying too hard". You want that D chord so badly that you are probably over thinking it. Before you've even fretted the chord you're probably already worrying about messing it up. One thing I try to do to help with thinking too much (I analyze everything to death) is instead of thinking about where my fingers go, I think about what it sounds like. So if you are going from say E to D, as you're strumming the E think about how that next chord sounds and just let your hand move on its own. You've played that D chord so many times your fingers know where to go now (trust me) but something else is getting in the way. Music is tones, so forget the complex things and focus on the simple things like how it sounds.

That probably makes no sense, but that's one thing I try to do when I'm over analyzing my playing.

Mike, this is going to sound like I'm making a joke, but I'm really not.

Do you drink at all? If not, I'm certainly not advocating starting, but I find that a couple of adult beverages relaxes me enough so that my playing is much smoother. It lends creedance to the argument about overthinking and being too tense.

Obviously, there's a fine line between being relaxed, and being too plowed to play right. Then again, if you get to that point, you probably won't care whether you sound awful, right? :D

"Obviously, there's a fine line between being relaxed, and being too plowed to play right." Yea, there is a before, middle, and after. Before is when you are just beginning to mellow while playing. Middle is "in the zone" where you're relaxed but still have the sense and coordination to make the physical movements. After, well, is after you've had too much and the alcohol has dulled the motor reflexes too much. I hate it when you get to the after part because you have to hang the guitar on the wall and call it a night. :(

This is probably a stupid newbie idea. But if you're having trouble with the fingering of a chord, couldn't you use another fingering to play it since a chord can be played more than one way. Or is that a bad idea?

This is probably a stupid newbie idea. But if you're having trouble with the fingering of a chord, couldn't you use another fingering to play it since a chord can be played more than one way. Or is that a bad idea?
In alot of cases you would be correct, but in the case of the D chord: getting used to standard fingering is a very valuable tool and neccessary if you ever want to play D, Dsus4, Dsus2 progressions which are comonly used in alot of songs.