Ok. I hope your C and G chord are coming along nicely by now.
However, if they are not I want you to hang with this lesson a little bit longer because near to the end I will be going through what I'll call a
trouble shooting section and we'll also take a look at some simpler versions of the chords.
This will be a good idea for maybe younger players with smaller hands if you need to start in smaller bites than what we're dealing with now,
I will show you that before the end of this lesson so hang in there if you are having trouble
If you've got this smooth and going good, great, because we're going to throw another chord at you right now.
What we've done is we've got two so far and they are related but we really need one more because most songs are made up out of three chords
and the truth so we need one more and what we're going to do is we are going to add the D chord and it looks like this.
It sounds like that.
This is the smallest chord we've learned actually in terms of numbers of strings.
In this one I am only playing the four strings that are the highest or the smallest.
One, two, three, four.
You could get away with the fifth string but ringing all together it almost doesn't make sense for what we're doing right now, we'll get to that later.
Four strings and pay attention to the shape.
Again, if this helps you get completely away from the guitar, get your fingers in that shape and just learn to think like this.
You should be able to put a D shape on a spoon if you want to.
It's a picture to get in your mind and now I'll break it down for you in detail of who's playing where.
On the third string, second fret is the first finger. Now I told you we were going to break that rule before very long didn't I?
First finger plays in the first fret, second in the second and third and so on and we're already breaking that rule.
First finger has to go here because the second finger is also in the second fret.
They are just on different strings.
This is on the third string, this is on the first string. Both in the second fret.
Then the third finger is back in his home position on the third fret, on the second string.
You can see on the chord chart what this looks like and this is the picture that you'll get used to seeing in your mind when you want a D chord.
Now let's talk about where those root notes are, this open string that we're ringing is the D string, that's the fourth string.
So that's the root note.
Then there's another D right here, that's what your third fingers playing.
Again, we have snuck in two occurrences of the root note. The D note in the D chord.
So here we go, it sounds like this.
Again, there may be some stretches going on between your fingers that you are not used to doing
and what I find and what most beginning students find is that usually the trouble involves these two fingers right here.
Whether you're trying to ask this one to play down and this one to play up or trying to get them to spread a little bit.
These just aren't real nimble fingers, so again, let's fret it one note at a time.
Get those two down first just like we learned it and then this might feel uncomfortable right here
but this finger is trying to push past this joint right here and get that D down.
If that doesn't help you go the other way.
Get this one first and maybe this one next a little two finger version and then make your stretch.
Look how that turns your wrist by the way. Roll up over the top of that.
I encourage you to try that on any chord that you are having trouble with rather than trying to grab the whole thing all at once do it one finger at
once and usually from either one to three or try it in reverse and see if that doesn't help you get into the chord.
Here we are. This is actually one of the easier chords to do.
Probably because it's smaller and involving fewer strings and I think
because of the natural curvature of your hand because they're all in a similar location here and the curve stays about the same.
Usually I don't find many people having too much trouble fretting these without buzzing.
If there is going to be a problem it will most likely be the third finger laying down on top of this note and killing it.
You just need to get that curve, get it perpendicular and again, don't press too hard.
Don't press until this hurts.
If it's hurting either on your fingertips or if you're cramping, stop.
You're not going to learn anything and it's not going to help you play through pain or discomfort.
Now let's talk about why we learned this chord next.
We started with C, then we learned the G, now we're learning the D.
I'm going to play them for you in a little different order and I want you to listen for the beginning of what might start to sound like music to you.
Start with a G chord, C, D and then back to G again.
I hope that makes some musical sense to you. It sounds like we took a little trip and ended up back at home.
G, C, D, G.
What we have done is we just played the three major chords in the key of G
and that's why we started with these chords because they are in the first position, lots of open strings, they are relatively easy and they go together.
Remember with each chord it changes how many strings you are playing with that right hand so let me give you a tip to help you remember that.
Starting with G you are playing them all starting with that G note on the G chord
and that's something you want to make stick in your mind also, that's a G note.
When you see that shape and you see that third finger right there your mind needs to say G.
That's a G chord, it's one of your best friends so make a lot of money with that chord.
Then C is next.
We went the other way now and dropped these two, this guy went to a C note by the way.
This is the A string. A, B, C. C, alright.
By the way we were talking about this is a six string chord well this is now a five string chord and then you remember what the D is.
D is only a four string chord.
What you can tell your right hand to worry about is the first chord, play them all.
Second chord only play five and on the last chord only play four.
Right in order. Base note here, base note here, base note here.
Spend some time thinking about that because what we are trying to do is make this hands job as easy as possible
so that you can focus over here for a while.
Alright now it's time to take some time working on the transition between those chords and connecting it with playing the right amount of strings.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
If that's too fast for you do it at half speed.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
Now take some time, work on those transitions and always remember to watch for where your fingers are moving from and to.
Remember for the first transition these two drop down. This one lets go and this one goes down.
So if you look far enough back here you don't see movement at all it just looks like these little guys are hiding but they've dropped down.
Very little movement there.
The D is a little bit more of a change but this guy is staying in his zone here, dropping down to there.
That may be something for you to try.
Just go back and forth between those two.
This is a principle for you to use really when you're learning any new technique, new song, especially when you get into a new arrangement.
You're trying to learn something that's difficult maybe it's a big run, maybe it's a chord transition.
Don't fall into the trap of trying to learn a whole song or the whole version all at once.
If you identify a spot that's giving you trouble slow down and just break it down into a little loop of the troubled area and work back and forth.
I'm going to talk to you about something more than once in phase one and that's something called muscle memory.
What you're trying to do right now is teach your fingers how to ride a bicycle.
You need to get to the point to where when I think G chord
and my mind knows what that picture looks like my fingers know how to get there without stopping and thinking.
That's not as far away as you think but it is several repetitions away so practice in between these transitions.
It's teaching your muscles where your fingers should go so that your muscles can do it in theory without your brain.
Muscles have memory of their own they know where to go so that your brain can send the command not the instruction manual.
It's a lot faster that way when your fingers know where to go.
So take a little time. One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
Any of those transitions that give you trouble in that little loop work back and forth between those two.
Or maybe it's here.
You're learning what the shapes look like, your muscles are learning the road map between those two chords until it's automatic.
Take some time to do that now and we'll come back and do something fun with this.