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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → help
Hi guys i joined chordie a few years a go when i bought myself a guitar to (TRY) & learn. My bigest problem is changing from open G to open C the 1st strum on C is dull or half muted, other chords are fine. Ive got more time now to practice but this is getting me down. Cant seem to go any further untill i solve this
As is always the case big mik, practice is the only way through it. It will come. Practice. And Welcome.
Big mik -
Start by getting the C chord. Take as long as you need to, but get it to ring cleanly on every string (except the low E of course, because that's not part of the chord). Now, let go of the guitar neck. Form the open C again, taking as long as you like. Let go. Form the open C again, taking as long as you like. Do that 100 times a night for a few nights.
Once you can get to the C chord reliably taking as long as you like, start getting there from the G chord. Again, take as long as you like. Strum the G, then the C, then the G, then the C. Don't worry about timing yet. Take as long as you like to form each one - but get it clean. Do that 100 times a night for a few nights, until you can do it pretty well.
When you can get the G and C pretty well, and do it cleanly, then start to worry about timing. If you have a metronome, set it. Do four down strums on the G, switch to the C and do four strums, and back to the G and do four strums, and back the C and do four strums, and continue to do this until it makes you sick. Get clean sound. Slow down the metronome as slow as you have to to be able to do this transition with a good clean sound. When you can do it cleanly most of the time (you'll still make blunders), then speed up the metronome a little bit. Keep speeding it up a little at a time until you can transition between the chords at the speed you need to for playing whatever song it is you have in mind.
You can do this with any combination of chords, any pattern. Metronomes are your friend. They just feel like your enemy.
Good luck. We've all been through this. Stick to it and you won't regret it. C is the first booger of a chord, then D, and then barre chords, and then B remains evil forever and always (despite some mutants who seem to be able to throw a B chord or variant at will). It won't be long before you're knocking out C and D and minors and sevenths and whatnot and you'll think back and wonder to yourself how it was ever a problem. It could take weeks, months, or even longer depending on how much time you can dedicate to practice and how fast your finger muscles learn the shapes and get the strength and toughness they need.
- Zurf
Hey Big Mik, As Bensonp says... practice is a must, and the way you practice is also important.Have you developed a habit
of grabbing the neck with your thumb along the side of the neck while playing open chords? Some people with larger
hands(long fingers) can ususally get away with this but us shorter fingered people need to focus on placing the "ball"
end of the thumb more under the back of the neck to allow your wrist to curve more upwards and kinda rotating back
toward you. This allows your fingers to be placed on the strings in a more perpendicular way to the fretboard and not
having a tendency to touch the adjacent strings causing the muting of strings like you are saying. This will most
likely be uncomfortable at first but keep at it and all will be well. Hope this helped, Mike
i will let you know how it works out. thanks very much guys
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → help
