G major: A pain in the arse

bluejourneyman

Anyone got some hot tips on playing the G major cord. My fingers do not want to cooperate:(

moster78

bluejourneyman wrote:

Anyone got some hot tips on playing the G major cord. My fingers do not want to cooperate:(

We talking a barre chord, or a simple open G? For the open, I play it like this

E - 3 (pinky)
B - 3 (ring)
G - 0
D - 0
A - 2 (index)
E - 3 (middle)

It makes switching to a D pretty easy, as your ring finger is already where its supposed to go. Hope this helps.

J.D.

A more traditional open G is like this:

E - 3 (pinky)
B - 0
G - 0
D - 0
A - 2 (middle)
E - 3 (ring)


Although I tend to use the form moster78 posted, but this one makes switching to a C chord real easy.

moster78

J.D. wrote:

A more traditional open G is like this:

E - 3 (pinky)
B - 0
G - 0
D - 0
A - 2 (middle)
E - 3 (ring)


Although I tend to use the form moster78 posted, but this one makes switching to a C chord real easy.

Yeah, thats a good one too, it frees up your index finger to add some color to it on the B string. You can also go this route:

E - 3
B - 3
G - 0
D - 0
A - X
E - 3

HailHailVitalogy

G chord is probably the most used open chord

you can play the G bar chord which i dont like but i dont know if thats better for you

e - 3
b - 3
g - 4
d - 5
a - 5
e - 3

All Those Yesterdays

I'd assume he is probably having problems with the bar chord. Some of us with skinny short fingers avoid the majority of bar chords,

bluejourneyman

J.D. wrote:

A more traditional open G is like this:

E - 3 (pinky)
B - 0
G - 0
D - 0
A - 2 (middle)
E - 3 (ring)


Although I tend to use the form moster78 posted, but this one makes switching to a C chord real easy.

This is the one I'm have trouble with. It is hard for me to stretch my pinky finger, so as to press E-3 down firmly. Thanks

bluejourneyman

HailHailVitalogy wrote:

G chord is probably the most used open chord

you can play the G bar chord which i dont like but i dont know if thats better for you

e - 3
b - 3
g - 4
d - 5
a - 5
e - 3

I apologize for my learning curve. However, I do not understand what I just quoted.

keeponrockin

It shows what fret you press on what string. So on the low E you press fret 3 and so on.

bluejourneyman

I can dig that. My problem is on one of the posts' it showed all six of the cords/frets. I didn't understand that part.

elstongunn

bluejourneyman wrote:

This is the one I'm have trouble with. It is hard for me to stretch my pinky finger, so as to press E-3 down firmly. Thanks

slant your fingers. angling a bit can help....

All Those Yesterdays

bluejourneyman wrote:

This is the one I'm have trouble with. It is hard for me to stretch my pinky finger, so as to press E-3 down firmly. Thanks

Extremely small hands by chance? You still young? Please don't be offended, just curious.

I can't remember that far back for me and where I was struggleing, I remember the times where every chord shape seemed like a struggle. Then that wasn't a problem, then it was how do I switch between chords, but that was 11 or 12 years ago maybe

jeff's_the_man

bluejourneyman wrote:

I apologize for my learning curve. However, I do not understand what I just quoted.

this is a barr chord. you wack your index finger accross the third fret (from E to E) and then use your pinky, middle and ring fingers to hold down the other notes. these chords can be played anywhere on the fretboard with the same pattern. tho i would suggest learning your open chords (like the G you are learning) first.

good luck. and practice will strengthen and strech out your fingers which will make it easier for you to reach these tricky chords.

BinFrog

You just need to keep practicing it, and try working out your forearm muscles.

Get G down pat, then work on getting to it from C and D and A and E. Eventually it will just stick.

bluejourneyman

You people are great! Thanks, I will continue to practice
and keep you up to date on my progress.

Rhyno

I'm a beginner too and have to say that this board is great. As the others have said, stick with it. With enough practice...things start to click. The one piece of advice I would give is to try and practice at least a half hour every day...more if you have the time. I've been trying to play an hour a day (more on the weekends) and have noticed improvement...

bluejourneyman

Rhyno wrote:

I'm a beginner too and have to say that this board is great. As the others have said, stick with it. With enough practice...things start to click. The one piece of advice I would give is to try and practice at least a half hour every day...more if you have the time. I've been trying to play an hour a day (more on the weekends) and have noticed improvement...

Thanks for the tip. I have been practicing a lot. . . Only taking brakes when my fingers are raw; things are getting interesting, I love it

gobrowns19

If you're having trouble switching chords, use this little technique that I've always used when I had problems, and it always works out.

Switching from a G to an E

G

---

E

E - 3 (pinky)

---

E - 0
B - 3 (ring)

---

B - 0
G - 0

---

G - 1 (Index)
D - 0

---

D - 2 (Ring)
A - 2 (index)

---

A - 2 (Middle)
E - 3 (middle)

---

E - 0


If you're having trouble switching from a G to an E, for example, practice moving just one finger at a time, so it gets use to it.

G

---

E

E

---

E-
B

---

B-
G

---

G-
D

---

D-
A

---

A- 2 (Middle)
E - 3 (middle)----E-

And go back and forth until your middle finger is used to what it's supposed to do, and do the same technique with your other fingers. It always works for me, and hope it does for you too.

Pappas

i have been playing about a year now so just starting to get out of newbie phase

i can play chords and know the basics about scales and pentatonic scales, but what i find difficult is barre chords and switching from 1 barre chrod to another or a chord to a barre chord quickly. because it always takes me a second or two to get the other 3 fingers in place once i make the barre

Anon

I've been playing for about 2 years now, have all the open chords down, plus barre chords and some scales..... It took a little while to be able to get from open to barre chords quickly, but once I got it I was off and running and really noticed some rapid improvement, especially in my strumming/picking. The best piece of advice I have to give, besides practice a lot, is to get a steel string acoustic.... this really seems to help with your finger strength, and makes going back to play an electric seem a lot simpler, if that makes sense. Good luck, and rock on!!!

Vedderlution_Baby

If you want a song that's easy to learn but very satisfying. Its got some simple picking in the beginning and some pretty easy chord changes. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Listen, whenever you look up the tabs, only play the FIRST guitar part. The second guitar part will frustrate you. Anyway, you will have some problems with it at first but just keep with it. Also, hopefully you have the cd so you can listen to the timing.

he still stands

I have been playing for literally one week... a couple hours a day. This is where I am at: I have learned the G, C, D and Em chords and can progress decently between all of them. (by the way I thought the G was the easiest)...

So for all you experts, where do I go next? I have a basic beginning book but I think it sucks. What beginner guitar books are the best?