Help on chords

Discussion in 'Beginner's Q&A Forum' started by thumbikkai, Nov 13, 2003.

  1. thumbikkai

    thumbikkai New Member

    Guys

    I am a beginner to playing guitar. Its been couple of months that I have been working on the chords . I would like to practice some songs based on simple chords. I went through the forum I did find a few but I am not sure what sort of time gap is required between 2 chords and the number of strums (up or down etc).

    If its possible could you guys help me with a simple song with chords & an explanation of how many strums(up/down) .

    Thanks in advance
     
  2. lord_neo

    lord_neo Guest

    Practise makes perfect: This is something you will have to figure out yourself. The best way to do so is to develop your ear by listening to basic strumming again and again and again.

    This has happened to all of us including me....i couldnt figure out what the timming was supposed to be or how to strum the guitar for a paticular song...after months of practise i got the hang of it. So shall you, in time. :beer:


    Theard moved to appropriate forum...

    ADMIN
     
  3. esgallindeion

    esgallindeion Minstrel Knight

    Most people make the mistake of wanting to play songs from such an early phase (me included).

    Ideally, you should first perfect your ear for the sound of chords and that can only be done by practising daily. And being able to play bar chords will be a bonus for you as well. Most ppl after abt 2 months usually play open chords. And imo, bar chords always have a definite edge over open chords.
     
  4. alli

    alli The Best Ever

    damn..i made the same mistake too.... so im not alone ...

    learning to play songs be4 ur sure bout chords and good with them..is da worst mistake...

    esgalli.... and neo r bang on right bout the whole deal.

    merci.
     
  5. rsumit

    rsumit New Member

    I was also making the same mistake :shock:

    However if people in the list could give a short tutorial about playing bar chords it would be great. I am never able to press more than one string with a single finger. Is there any site or something for this.

    Thanks
    Sumit
     
  6. esgallindeion

    esgallindeion Minstrel Knight

    There have to be many sites, but they wont be any real help.

    Have you got a teacher? If you have, and he/she's good then you don't need any other help.

    Practise placing ur index finger on the same fret of all strings and moving it along the fretboard like..

    -1-----4--4-----7------6------5--3--1------------------------
    -1-----4--4-----7------6------5--3--1-----------------------
    -1-----4--4-----7------6------5--3--1------------------------
    -1-----4--4-----7------6------5--3--1------------------------
    -1-----4--4-----7------6------5--3--1------------------------
    -1-----4--4-----7------6------5--3--1------------------------

    It wont sound good at all, but once u get ur index finger moving fluently, the rest becomes easier.
     
  7. alli

    alli The Best Ever

    just wht i was gonna type... (thumbs up) ....

    also if u need anymore assistance... online... go to www.wholenote.com

    and search the beginner's guitar lesson bit.. - its pretty good with all the bar chords en stuff.
     
  8. praywin

    praywin New Member

    Just my 2 cents.

    I tried playing bar chords for a long time but just couldn't play them all together. Heck I couldn't even play the F chord properly.
    Then one day I just retuned my guitar. I loosened all the strings as much as I could and then tried playing the bar chords. Voila! They started sounding good. Off course you need to practice a lot to switch between them :)
     
  9. NuageOutlaw

    NuageOutlaw New Member

    But when u loose the strings u dont get the correct sound....:confused:
     
  10. praywin

    praywin New Member

    well I guess I wasn't clear. You can't loosen them too much. But if you are having problems playing two strings at a time, check if the strings are too tight. It worked in my case :D .
     
  11. esgallindeion

    esgallindeion Minstrel Knight

    *tries to make things clear* *i hope...*


    Praywin, I guess ur tuning ur guitar respective to other strings, right? The open note of 1st string = 5th fret of 2nd string and so on? That's only fine if u are just practising a bit. But with time u'll see the different sounds... There is only 1 "e" which will sound perfect and if u loosen it or tighten it, u'll lose that perfect sounds as well and though ur strings will be tuned with respect to each other and will sound correct when u play, there is no scope for u to use this practice when playing in a band or with anyone else unless they match ur tuning.


    The best thing for u to do is... if ur "e" is very tight is to restring ur guitar and this time keep it a bit loose... You can use better quality strings as well (I recommend Ernie Ball's Extra Slinky... tho a bit expensive, they'll never let u down)... Another effective way of handling the situation is to make a "dropped d" tuning...
     
  12. scot_hacker

    scot_hacker New Member

    Barré and tuning

    Hey folks.

    Actually a barré is a barré regardless of tuning? Anyway it IS much easier to play comfortably if strings aren't too tight to hold down.

    In fact if the bridge is adjustable the height of the strings above the frets should be adjusted to minimum (making sure they don't buzz) which helps reduce the amount of pressure required. Also the MOST important thing is to stay relaxed while playing and not press down upon the strings as if you'd be praying for your life ;-) (happens).

    Next up always support the thumb BELOW the fretboard (what we call the neck). Don't curl it around the board too much (unless you use it for a chord?). Don't support the thumb on its tip. For Barré chords use the thumb to assist the index finger in pressing (lay the index finger flat on the strings) and hold the fretboard tight using the thumb.

    That helps in starting out. Then try playing something like F (133211).

    Sushant
     

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