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Session 5 - Basic Open Chords


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@Triple-o  Thanks!  Ill give that a shot during my practice this week and see where it leads.  

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Hi again, I have made progress in session 5, but seem to have hit a plateau.  Started dabbling in session 6 to see if that helps me out.  Was wondering if anyone had any tips on changing chords after an upstroke?  This is what is getting me on "Turkey in the Straw" in the bonus exercises, and I know it comes later in many songs.  Is it just a matter of making my fretting hand move that fast?  This and C7 are the big things holding me back right now.  

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2 hours ago, costancr said:

Hi again, I have made progress in session 5, but seem to have hit a plateau.  Started dabbling in session 6 to see if that helps me out.  Was wondering if anyone had any tips on changing chords after an upstroke?  This is what is getting me on "Turkey in the Straw" in the bonus exercises, and I know it comes later in many songs.  Is it just a matter of making my fretting hand move that fast?  This and C7 are the big things holding me back right now.  

@costancr Changing chords quickly and smoothly comes with much practice and time. If you're having difficulty here, I suggest 2 things. Practice the chord shapes and changes "dry" muting the strings with your strumming hand. Change back and  forth between 2 chords then 3 and so on as in the song, until youve developed the muscle memory to make the changes smoothly quickly and confidently. Then work on the strumming muting the strings with the fretting hand. Start with all downstrokes then add upstrokes at a slow steady tempo, using a metronome gradually increasing tempo. 

Then you can play 1 chord up to tempo with the correct rythm. Gradually then add 1 chord change back and forth , then two, three etc until you ca play the changes  smoothly at tempo. Before long you'll be breezing through the song from memory. 

All the Best; Neil

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Session 5 and 6 are a parallel pair of lessons 

As well you'll find session 7 and 8 work well with each other.

So yes practice S5 and S6 together 

Cord speed,  just go back and forth and and forth between cords

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Hi guys, I just started the basic open chords chapter. When changing between chords Steve K said on the lesson video that there shouldn't be any em11 type sounds in-between changes at all. It should all be very clean. All the people on youtube are saying the opposite, and say that the open strings sounding a bit is fine to a small degree in order to get quick changes. They even call it the nothing chord. One old book i have says it's even fine to change during the last upstroke of the previous chord, resulting in a slight muffle. I'm not convinced by them, as a lot of them put their thumb over the neck too which i found trained all the wrong muscles and caused a lot of tension on my hand, it took my months to undo and train properly. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Cheers Steve T

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Some can play with their thumb over the neck, and over time I find my thumb has crept up and over depending on the chord.

Steve sticks to the thumb behind the middle of the neck for finger access, which is good practice for beginners which helps makes the chords.

In a fast chord change you won't hear an Em11, as you release while not strumming the strings.  Remake the next chord in mid-air before the strumming had returns to hit the strings.

I have some songs that are a chord a beat, which could be an up stroke as well.  These are fast changes.

As a beginner you probably can't get the chord formed before your strumming hand has returned, causing an Em11.

Listen to Steve's example on the video, you'll hear how Em11 is not right sound.

Remember slow and steady before speed

 

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@SteveT  Remember that YouTube is full of wannabe guitar teachers, and contradictory and misleading advice is easily found.  Steve K is a professional educator (and professor of music).. Stick to the advice in his course; you won't go wrong there. N

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Thanks @NeilES335 and @Eracer_Team-DougH for the advice. I'm sticking with Steve K's technique all the way and my changes are getting pretty clean already after a week. Cheers Guys

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I can't be the only person working on Session 5...can I? (Maybe I am just the only one checking in?) Anyway, I started over the weekend and am having fun with it.  I'd learned a few chords before this, but it's great to have more of a "menu" to choose from. Some are trickier than others, but I have seen some improvement in a short time.

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1 hour ago, Linders said:

I can't be the only person working on Session 5...can I? (Maybe I am just the only one checking in?) Anyway, I started over the weekend and am having fun with it.  I'd learned a few chords before this, but it's great to have more of a "menu" to choose from. Some are trickier than others, but I have seen some improvement in a short time.

Excellent!

Also - congrats on the Furch OM - I have heard good things about them.

Dave

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@DaveWhite - Thank you! The Furch was delivered just before the weekend. I am impressed with the craftsmanship and the warm tone of the cedar and mahogany. I think I'm really going to enjoy it.

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You are not alone. I'm in the 5-8 zone myself. The chords are a matter of repetition. It's interesting which ones are getting second nature. It seems that most people lurk. I was looking at some parlor guitars a month or so ago. I am intrigued. Congrats on your collection.

Rock On!

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@pkotof  I agree about some chord shapes "sticking" more easily than others. There is a lot of material in Session 5 but this is going to really broaden the horizons. (Until I get to barre chords, that is.) RE: Parlor guitars, I think the OM is as small as I personally want to go.  My Grand Auditorium is a nice size for me and the OM just a little more compact overall.  That said, the Furch OM-CM has a great tone and should open up nicely over time.  It was a leap of faith as I hadn't played it, but I am quite pleased with it. The Yamaha is not a huge dread, but large enough for me to know that wasn't the direction I wanted to go in.

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It's fun when the changes start coming quicker. I love chords. What an amazing sound out of this small instrument. I hear you on the parlor. A dread fits me fine. I've been watching for a jumbo twelve string. I'm going to start playing every twelve string I can find. As soon as I get each one in tune. I was surprised at being interested in the smaller bodies. I'll have to check out the Furch!

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I'm happy to report that I am almost ready to move on to Session 6.  My L & M Course set included the Bonus Workshops and that went quite well  yesterday.  I typically go through everything at least twice.  There are a couple chords - like C7  and Dm - that need more polish in the tone department, but am pleased that each day I see others that "suddenly" behave.  Tried doing 'A' alternately as a barre chord and was amazed that I could. (No illusions about the other barre chords being that triumphant, however!)

I kept confusing the shapes for Dm and D7, then developed a memory trick for myself: "Dm is the weird-shaped one." Thankfully, no one hears me talking myself through the process when I practice...

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Great job @Linders!  Thanks for reporting your progress.

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Hy.

I've reached session 5 and I have 2 questions about chords:

1 - chord A. I've attached an image with a different method of forming the A chord. It seems easier for me. What do you think about it? Do you see any problems if I learn it this way?

2 - chord G. I've found a simplified version of forming a G chord. With just 2 fingers. I've attached an image. The second finger presses the String 6 and also mutes the String 5. It is a lot easier and the sound is not that different from the normal 3 fingers G chord. What would be the downsides if I learn this simplified version of G?

 

 

 

G_Chord.png

A_Chord.png

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@Ionut with the A chord, you'll find when you get to Session 8, you're going to need the first finger free for the bar chords,

Now I finger A either 1,2,3 or 2,3,4 depending,  but I would normally play it 2,3,4, since playing a Barre B, C, D etc will require 1st finger

G chord,  2 fingers might be easier and create a different vocing, 

There is a 4 finger G chord as well  as the standard 3 finger.

 

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@Ionut let me think on the G chord and get back to you.  Hopefully, someone more qualified than I will get back to you in the meantime. 

Regarding the A chord, I have seen it played so many different ways that I have come to the conclusion that if it works for you, Great! In fact, for any chord, I think a lot of people agree that if it rings out clearly and the fingering works for you, that is the perfect way to play it!   My philosophy has become, "If it works and doesn't spook the horses, perfect!"

My own journey with the A chord is somewhat illustrative.  I started out fingering the chord with my 1, 2, 3 fingers.  I played it for a while as such.  But then I started L&MG and saw where Steve taught it fingering 2,3,4 and especially with my chubby, little fingers that worked so much better. But then I went to my weekly jam and one of the guys suggested, "Have you ever played the A as a barre?"  He wasn't talking about the full barre chords you are going to learn in sessions 7 and 8. He played it with a "mini-barre" barring the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings with his 3rd finger.  And I did that for a while.

I'm a blues guy (or wannabe).  Blues uses a lot of 7th chords.  And you have learned the A7 open chord. But I recently learned an A7 using that mini-barre A chord with my 1st finger and then adding the 3rd finger on the 3rd fret to make it a 7 chord:

A7MiniBarre.thumb.jpg.1e40cf6833869eba3eb284bdcae7575c.jpg

A fun little quick A7 chord and now when just playing the A I use the mini barre and play the 1st string open.

 

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Thanks for the answers.
Regarding the A chord, I also agree with the idea that if someone uses different fingers to form a chord, because it is easier for them should be ok. But, having said that, the reason I asked is because I'm a beginner and I try to avoid learning stuff in a way that may have some disadvantages later.

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The A chord is an interesting dilemma for me. There are multiple ways to finger and I play them all at times. My problem, personally is that I tend to be heavy handed with my fretting hand, primarily due to  my history of thumb surgeries and the difficulty for consistent ideal thumb placement on the neck. I have to get sloppy at times with no gapping in the palm. because of thumb pain.  The result is that sometimes I pull the G string sharp with the 1,2,3 and 2,3,4 fingerings of the A, but do not with the barre . I compensate by by getting wound G strings (seemingly more resistant to bending sharp with my technique) or a thicker G string.  Or I just barre. My advise is to consider practicing multiple fingerings to prepare for the flexibility is gives as you become more advanced with chord knowledge and skill. Eventually all will become familiar enough and will as Eraser says give you the ability to use finger 1 ( or 4) for other movements. The same advise goes for the G chord.

Greg

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@Ionut Steve teaches you these forms for many reasons. One of the most important reasons is the ease of moving from one form to another. The A chord is an excellent example of this. You can easily change from A to A2 to Asus to Am to AMaj7 to A7 not to mention the other chords. Many self taught guitar players use fingers 1, 2 and 3 to form the A chord, but that puts your hand way out of position and ease of motion is not great. Don't fight what Steve is trying to teach you. Don't be afraid of learning chord forms because they are a huge part of being a guitar player. With practice you will play the A chord and many others with your eyes closed. I do, and you can too! Yeah, stop staring at your hands all the time because it is slowing you down. I know because I was where you are 12 years ago. You will have bigger challenges if you persist, but if you start looking for shortcuts now you will not go far.   

Edited by Randy120
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Good advices. Thank you.

Another question. When changing chords, if you need to do an up strum right before you need to change to the second chord, do you need to keep the first chord pressed during this up strum? Or can you release the first chord after the last down strum and do the up strum with no strings pressed (thus having a little more time to change to the second chord) ? I do not think Steve mentioned how this should be done.

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@Ionut Steve does talk about all open strings , and its pretty much a "no-no"

So no, don't strum all open strings 

You would be playing an Eminor11 chord and it would not be in the key you're playing the song in.

 

Chord changes come quicker with time, 

There are times where you might "sacrifice " the last beat of a measure to get to the next chord. But not normally. 

 

Edited by Eracer_Team-DougH
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Thank you. But just to be clear, I've attached an image with an example exercise. My question is: should I keep holding the Dm chord when doing the last Up strum (the one circled in the image)?

To do this example exercise at 60 bmp, you should be able to change between Dm and G at 120 bmp. And I don't think I'll do this very soon.
 
Steve does say that you should not release the chord on the last Down strum, but does not say anything about the Up strums.

ExampleExercise.jpg

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