When i play chords (especially C) am i supposed to press really hard? If i dont the string usually doesnt ring. But then my fingers are starting to hurt from playing especially my index/pointer finger when i try to play the B in the C chord.

Also I cant change chords fast enough. I constantly have to look at the frets, and which strings im playing.

Is this all normal? Please tell me it'll get better.

What should I do?

this is all completely normal!

you haven't been playing the guitar for long right? because everything you described is supposed to happen - so don't worry :)

things you can do to fix the problems are:

1) play more - this will make your fingers stronger and the pain will go away eventually

2) memorize the positions of each chord instead of finding each individual note (like...remember the shape of your hand when you play a C chord and just make your hand into that shape when you need to shift)

3) just play the chord! i've seen lots of people who just stay there and nudge their fingers around before they strum the chord - this is a REALLY slow way to learn...what i like to do is just play it...doesn't matter if it doesn't sound the first couple of times because gradually you'll get it

good luck! :lol:

Practice. Practice. Practice. :guitar

hanguknamja,

If you have never played any string-type of instruments (even violin, etc) before, you are bound to have difficulties with the fingers at first. Your fingers should press hard enough that the string touches the fret.

Make sure you don't "palm" the back of the neck. By lifting the palm off the neck, you actually get more strength into your fingers to press down on the strings instead of using the strength from your palm.

What I suggest is pick a song that you like that has simple chords. The less barre chords (e.g. B and F chords) in the song, the better. YUI's songs would be Tokyo, I remember you. English songs, you might want to try Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).

Just pick one of them first, then look at the chords being used for that song, position your fingers properly for each chord with finger tips, then do a slow down-strum so that you can make sure you hear each and every string vibrate in the right tone. Repeat slowly for each of the other chords being used in that song. Take your time and don't rush. Make sure they sound right.

Once you have feel comfortable enough with the fingering of some of the chords, then you can try doing slow chord switching for a particular short section of a song (e.g. the intro). Keep on repeat the switching of those 3 or 4 chords (e.g. in the intro) and practice enough so your fingers start to memorize there they are suppose to go.

Good suggestions by Snake. Or you could try the chorus of Happy line first too, other than G and Cadd9, all of the rest of the chords only need 2 fingers.. only need to fret 2 strings.

When I just started, I played till my hands hurts once I touch the strings... And I practiced changing from one chord to another for hours... just going G-C-G-C... And I'm still doing that for new chords...

I'm pretty comfortable with the basic chords now... I still screw up at times...

I did what Flare did... Learning chords by chords... Only I did it the insane way... I practice by changing 4 chords at a time... G|Em|C|D... I practiced it for about 6 hours a day and totally neglected school work... Thats why I flunked my exams... Don't ever follow my way by neglcting school...

HAHA Sonic!!! >__< I'm never going to get off the hammering list am I? XD

I admit that after a week of getting my guitar, I just stopped playing with it because I didn't really have the motivation. After I knew YUI and YL, I'd found that motivation. From my guitar lessons last term in school, it is a good method to learn the chords how Flare said it, and then move on to sonic's method, without flunking exams of course. haha.

Well I've got the practicing till my hands hurt down. It gets harder to practice though. I play 1 C chord and I've gotta press down pretty hard, then my fingers start to hurt.


Does the pain go away after you get better?

After a while of playing (depends how often you play), your fingers WILL harden and it won't hurt as much as it did before. C just comes naturally to me. I remember I used to have trouble with it too, but there's not effort involved now...its just automatic.

Does not really hurts now unless i play for 8 hours straight... (which is very rare nowadays...) Cherii... You can forget about getting out of the list... But have not been playing very regularly thesedays...

haha it only took me 1day for my fingers to harden...i kept on puching myself

som1 told me eventually i'll get calluses(spelling?) if i keep playing. What are those? Are they bad?

callus(or callous) toughened area of skin which has become relatively thick and hard as a response to repeated contact or pressure

String instrument players develop calluses where their fingers make contact with the strings, but these calluses are often desirable as they help alleviate the pain from the tension of the strings and make playing easier.

no its not harmful..don't worry :)

yup... callous are desirable for any string players... But it has a down side though...

The area where the fingers press on the strings will become rough... So you might want your bf/gf/husband/wife to hold your right hand cos the fingers on your left hand are rough... :P

And you should fret or push down the string at the position a little before the fret, there, you don't need as much strength to prevent the string from buzzing... and save your fingers a little pain...

Thanks for the advice everyone. Im still having trouble switching from G to C. Its been 2 days!! :bash

Well... Its only 2 days... Don't worry... You'll get it... Don't Rush... More Haste... Less Speed... :lol:

These things can't be rushed. Maybe you do want to learn quicker, but you should take it a bit easy too so that your fingers don't die from exhaustion or something. ^^"

Heh I had the same problem but I've improved since. I had my guitar for a week or so but I don't consistently use it(I hope this changes). There is a neat trick in learning the transition from G major to C major or any other transition. You shouldn't rush it at all. A friend of mine kept telling me "dude you gotta do it mad freaking slow and accurately to the point where your fingers can move without even thinking." And he was so right! Rushing things will only develop bad habits and bad habits are even more difficult to lose. Hope this helps you out. Remember "slow and steady wins the race."

Im trying to play the F chord in Its Happy Line. On the sheet im looking at it says F is this:
F

e -x-|---|---|---|---|
B -x-|---|---|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|---|-x-|---|---|
A ---|---|-x-|---|---|
E -x-|---|---|---|---|

Ive seen a couple different F chords online. Is this the right one? And I tried playing it but couldnt even get my fingers on all of the right frets.

^ YUI likes to play the F chord above btw lol XD

They say that the one with barring 2 strings is easier though.

This variation of F chord is a barre chord, meaning you should have your index finger flat (and tilted towards the thumb) on the first fret on all strings, middle finger on 2nd fret of G, ring finger on 3rd fret of A, and pinky on 3rd fret of D.

Your index finger needs to press hard on all strings so that the three 1st-fret notes are played clearly.

Watch of videos of YUI and you'll see how it should be fingered and played.

it is normal..

at first...you would definitely get callouses and this is a good thing for you...(but some think that it is bad and ewwww)'cause once you have one...these callouses would prevent you from hurting your fingers...

and as for chord switching...just practice that's all...

for about 2-3 months of playing the guitar..you would feel less pain or not feeling any pain...just be cool...

:guitar :thumbsup:

Ahh so I'm supposed to have my index finger on ALL strings. Ok now it makes more sense. The way i was thinking was pretty hard. :lol:

hehe, everyone starts off guitar the same way huh? =)

And oh yea, about the F chord, I play my own F chord.......but I was always wondering if it's okay. Here it is:-

e ---|---|---|---|---|
B -x-|---|---|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|---|-x-|---|---|
A ---|---|-x-|---|---|
E ---|---|---|---|---|

It's like the barre version, but....without the barre. Is this legal? >.<

This chord you're playing is called an Fmajor7.
It's an F chord with an additional 7th note by playing the 1st string open.

And with this you shouldn't be playing the 6th string because it's an E bass. You're playing an F.

oooooooooooooooooooooohhhhh. I see! XD

Wow, I've been playing a chord I don't even know. Thanks for the heads up!

Are you sure? I've tried looking up Fmaj7 and can't find this fingering.

You probably can, but it would be difficult to strum as you will need to omit or mute the low E and high e strings..

If you want to cheat the barre chord of F, you can do this:

e -x-|---|---|---|---|
B -x-|---|---|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|---|-x-|---|---|
A ---|---|-x-|---|---|
E ---|---|---|---|---|

Yes it is an Fmajor7. If you understand how chords are constructed then you will understand. There can be a lot of ways to fret a chord. The open 1st string gives an E note.. which is the 7th note on the F major scale. By adding a 7th note to any basic chord you will get a major7 chord.

A major chord consist of a root(bass), 3rd and 5th note from the major scale. Adding an additional 7th note will give u a major7 chord.

So this

e ---|---|---|---|---|
B -x-|---|---|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|---|-x-|---|---|
X ---|---|---|---|---|
X ---|---|---|---|---|

And this

e ---|---|---|---|---|
B -x-|---|---|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|---|-x-|---|---|
A ---|---|-x-|---|---|
E ---|---|---|---|---|

are Fmaj7???

Yes. Remember the latter has to ommit playing the 6th string.

i can change chords pretty easily now after been playing the guitar for about 3 months now.... but still having trouble changing from an open chord to a barre chord :swt

btw, im seeing 2 versions of G chord, the G chord that i play is

e ---|---|-x-|---|---|
B ---|---|-x-|---|---|
G ---|---|---|---|---|
D ---|---|---|---|---|
A ---|-x-|---|---|---|
E ---|---|-x-|---|---|

but there's another version of the G chord, which is more 'popular' as far as i know..... which i suppose is the correct ones :unsure:

e ---|---|-x-|---|---|
B ---|---|---|---|---|
G ---|---|---|---|---|
D ---|---|---|---|---|
A ---|-x-|---|---|---|
E ---|---|-x-|---|---|

which G chord is the one that im suppose to play??

I don't think they actually make a difference right...

I mean... Both sound about the same...

I'm using the same G as you... :lol:

ah, both of the Gs are the same in the sense but from what I heard, this one,

e ---|---|-x-|---|---|
B ---|---|-x-|---|---|
G ---|---|---|---|---|
D ---|---|---|---|---|
A ---|-x-|---|---|---|
E ---|---|-x-|---|---|

is called a Full G? Or something like that. But I prefer using this G too. It reduces the open string noises and sounds better for me. I also fret the two bottom strings when playing my Cadd9.

e ---|---|-x-|---|---|
B ---|---|---|---|---|
G ---|---|---|---|---|
D ---|---|---|---|---|
A ---|-x-|---|---|---|
E ---|---|-x-|---|---|

this is what they usually show in books huh? I guess it's the base style of a G chord.

But it seems that these two styles are played according to the song?

Both are correct, don't worry hahaha.

Oh thanks for clearing up the Fmaj7 mystery :D Can I ask more questions lol. Regarding power chords.

Since I'm such a copy cat,



In this picture I think she's playing a B power chord, index finger on 2nd fret A string, pinky on 4th fret D string.

But from what I've read normally power chords use the top 3 strings?? YUI plays those chords using 2 strings only most of the time. If those are major chords, what about Bm, B7, Bm7???

Wait, or should it be she's playing 7th chords lol.

I'm confused :swt because there's a YUI cover song thingy going on for the song LIFE. YUI told those who cannot play barre chords play it using 2 strings. Means power chord?? How are we supposed to play C#add9 or Fm using 2 strings?? Hmm....*runs away*

Thanks in advance lol.

Power chords can be top 2 strings or top 3 strings of the barre chords.

And unfortunately while using power chords you cannot have fancy stuff like Cadd9 or 7s. You can't even differentiate between a major or a minor chord while u're using power chords. Power chords have too little notes to have fancy variations. Power chords essentially bring out the bass and the 5th note of the key.

And yes, in that video YUI is playing a B power chord.

Guess YUI's a fan of 2 strings power chord then XD

Thanks for clearing up another 'mystery' :D It sounds weird without all the fancy chords, just plain major ones :swt

Arigatou, tsunvun-sensei. Maybe you should start a thread that reads "Ask tsunvun-sensei". I'm sure lots of us guitar newbies have lots of questions regarding chords.

:swt I'm not so sure sbout that....
Still a long way ahead for me. :blush
I'm just helping from my experience. :P
But I'll gladly answer any questions if i have the answer. :)
I'm actually learning myself when I try to help you guys. So thanks so much! :biggrin