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C Chord. Clearly invented by the devil any recommendations?
I’m in the first 30 days, week 2. The G chord didn’t give me any problems at all but I am not able to get anything resembling a pleasant sound out of the C chord. My fingers are small and I just can’t maneuver them into position to make it work. Any ideas?
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5 Replies
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Everyone struggles with the C chord. It will get better and over time your finger span will increase as your fingers loosen up. Daily stretching helps. Also you are only 2 weeks in. It took me 3 months before I could consistently do the C chord. So don’t fret about it too much (see what I did there, I crack me up 🙂 )
Here’s what I do when struggling to learn a new chord shape.
It takes time. Basically you want to move the finger positioning routine from your conscious to your subconscious mind or what some people call muscle memory.
There are practice steps you can do to accelerate the process. The brain creates these routines based upon the amount of the attention you apply when learning and the how often you repeat the process.
The secret for me is to do dedicated, isolated practice for 10 mins every day, for a little over a month.
My steps are
– position my fingers and pick each string, if I have a muted string then slightly reposition the offending finger and repeat the above until every string rings out clearly.
– keeping my hand positioned I will then press down hard on the strings and then release the pressure, but keep contact with the string. Repeat this 20 times
– I then lift the fingers off the strings about 1/4” and repeat step 1.
– once I am consistent with that I will place one finger at a time, starting with my index finger, then middle, then ring. Do that 10 times, then start with the middle finger, then index, then ring. The start with ring finger, middle, index. I go through all permutations of first and 2nd and 3rd finger down. Then I move to trying to place 2 fingers at once and then adding the 3rd. Go through all of those permutations. Then go for all fingers at once.
You should notice slight improvement each week and then one day suddenly all your fingers will go to the right position. It takes me a month of this daily practice to get where the chord is automatic.
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Wait till you get to the f chord. There is a reason they call it “f” chord!
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@blakethomas1msn-com Lol, like was mentioned before, most people have challenges with the C chord shape. Myself included. I dreaded the C chord. Funny thing is, that is the first chord I fret now when I pick up my guitar. It has become one of my best friends. I just over three years in. Keep at it, it will come.
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I hear ya…three months ago, I was 99%-not getting the right sound to 1% getting it right. Now, it is about 50-50. A few things that helped me were finger stretches, thumb placement on the back of the guitar neck (huge difference), and shorter fingernails. Also, practice going from an A-minor chord to a C-Chord and physically move the ring finger back and forth to help you. Exercise the ring finger and this little exercise might help you.
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Update on this…
I got a capo and moved it pretty far up the neck. This is allowing me to play the C chord in a different key on frets that are closer together. As I master the chord in a higher key, I am then able to move the capo down the neck and work on it on slightly wider frets. This is helping me quite a bit.
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