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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by johnwb
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Agree that Youtube is the best source. If its a popular song, try searching with song title, guira lesson
e.g. "fire and rain guitar lesson" and you may well find that someone has a lesson which allows you to see the pattern broken down. Some lessons are better than others though!
Good luck
All the advice you have had is good although it will vary a bit. Personally I wouldn't just play all day when you're a beginner, but break it down into a few shorter sessions. I've been playing a long time and have pretty good callouses but even now after a couple of hours it can hurt a bit!
Ref fingernail length, I much prefer to file my nails with an emery board rather than cut them; I do it every day or every other day to keep them short (fretting hand) and as I fingerpick, keeping them at just the right length on my picking hand every two days with an emery board helps to stop breakages.
As your callouses develop you'll probably find at first that they get hard and may crack a bit; and you may get 'ridges' where you practice the same few chord shapes; whatever you do don't pick at the hard bits!! I also use a light emery board on the callouses occasionally if they are a bit 'ridged' just to make them smooth but only a light rub.
To build up strength in your fingers you can buy a cheap finger stengthener; planet waves varygrip or gripmaster; about £10-12 in UK. Good when your tips are sore and also in the train, bus, at your desk, anywhere. It particularly helps to strenghten the fingers you use less as a beginner i.e. 4th and pinky.
Keep going; no pain, no gain
Standard educational theory is you that learn 3 times more 'watching' than 'listening'. I find youtube tremendously helpful when I'm struggling to get the precise rhthym or chord change timings. The majority of popular songs will have the original version plus numerous covers; some are rubbish but you'll usually find some that help; try keying in say "Guitar Acoustic 'song title' cover" and you'll find loads most times. If you also try 'Song Title Guitar Lesson' very helpful for a lot of songs. On good quality vidoes you can freeze at the right position to catch a chord variation etc.
Good luck and remember you're NEVER too old.
Hello Does anyone know: If i'm in open "D" tuning, how do I play a F#m.
or a Bm? Thank you mark996owl
Bm, played in Open D tuning is very easy without a barre shape (which I still struggle with after 20 years!); just use
Open
2
Open
Open
2
Open
It's a single finger change from the G chord that I use.
I find this is one of the good things about Open D in that you don't have to use a barre chord for Bm which is a main requirement in this key. A lot of other minor chords are trickier without a part barre, although Em without a barre is relatively straightforward as well.
I just love Open D; since I started using it 9 months ago I probably play more accompniment songs in this tuning than standard now; there are some lovely dischords you can get with little effort.
Sounds just like me. I have very stiff wrist and inflexible, shortish fingers. I also seem to have deeper 'grooves' in my fingers on the joints and holding a straight finger across all strings without at least 2 of them burring is difficult. My wrist stiffness means I'm always putting the finger across at an angle and not straight across the frets. I have practised and practised and just can't get there after many years. I agree, the lack of a barre chord Bm is a major problem with a lot of songs.
Like the previous answer I do find it a bit easier to change the guitar position; holding it more in the classical position and also resting it on my left knee instead of the right; it seems to make the wrist position less stressful.
On a few songs requiring Bm I find that using a simple D6 chord works quite well; not on all songs but some.
I've also tried practising with guitar tuned to an Open tuning (I use D) and that lets you use a straight barre up the fretboard to produce other open chords.
Good luck; I share your pain.
Go to www.chordfind.com
This is by far the best site I've found for this; very comprehensive and easy to use.They have variations on many of the chords so you can see which is the best for you and what's easiest within a chord prgression.
(They also have a very useful 'reverse chord finder' where you key in the finger positioins on the frets and it tells you what chord it is 9if of course it is one!).
Ah HA! That's why I've never been able to get Everybody's Talkin' to sound right. I've been meaning to try some open tunings on one of my guitars. Given that I think Everybody's Talkin' has just about the best line in an acoustic song I've every heard "I'm going where the weather suits my clothes", I'm going to check it out. Thanks a million johnwb.
- Zurf
Glad to be of a bit of help.
If you're playing this in standard tuning in D, then the first section just goes thru
D, Dmaj7, D6, Dmaj7 and back to D.
If you're in open D tuning, then the first section uses Open D, then simply fret the 2nd fret of the 5th string (which is now of course tuned to A), then the 4th fret, back to the 2nd fret then back to open D.
Its interesting to hear the difference between the 2 tunings. In standard tuning the change goes down then back up; in Open D it goes up and back down.
Hope this makes sense.
PS in Open D, the same opening section can be used for Buddy Holly's 'It doesn't matter any more'(different rhthym of course).
Sorry this is a reply to an old post but I've just started going through the threads on this forum.
I've only just started with open D. I would add, as songs that sound good in open D
Water is Wide
Everybody's talkin (Nillson)
Something in the Air
and of course some of Joni's, I particularly like Circle Game in open D
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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by johnwb
