The dreaded chord...

[Bern]

I've thought this might be interesting and possibly amusing. Which chord has always given you trouble ? Believe it or not and considering I can play most complex chords, the one which gives me most trouble is actually a very simple one...G7 > E3 A2 D3 G0 B0 E3. My ring finger misses the the F on the D string most of the time and ends up on the Bb on the G string. I guess, I must have mental block with this one and wouldn't bet my life hitting it 100% each time.

[tdrake]

B or Bm in "first position" because, obviously, it doesn't exist.

Not so bad when it's the I, but it's dang hard to hit a bar chord in passing, I find, esp. that sucka as a major.

(and I'll admit I only play G7 as a bar, as well)
td

[Bob1131]

When I was first learning guitar, a full F chord (barred) was the most difficult for me to play. Today (45 years later), none are difficult for me. Oh, I'm sure someone could invent some finger-contorting twister that might make me pause for a moment, but I would nail it and be able to play it smoothly with 10-20 minutes of practice. I think that once your hands have developed the muscle and flexibility to play, learning new riffs, chords, and fragments becomes much easier...physically, that is! Remembering chords, well, that's a whole different story!

[godinfan]

To me, the level of difficulty of the chord depends as much on what chord I'm switching to it from as anything. Maybe not the answer you're soliciting . If I had to choose one, it would be that "F#/D" chord in Stairway to Heaven:

-2-
-3-
-2-
-4-
---
---

But then again, it might be influenced by the fact that you have to switch from this C chord:

-8-
-5-
-5-
-5-
---
---

[Guit Hacker]

The E13 (Emaj7add6, whatever it's called) at the beginning of SRV's "Lenny". I have always had trouble playing it clean.

[rick-slo]

Most annoying frequently used finger combo is derived from the C chord when in combination with pinky fretting the second string fourth fret. It is just a bit of a stretch and depending on how much I am concentrating and how fast I am playing it can be a challenge to alternate the pinky between the first and second strings cleanly. These sort of little left hand stretch annoyances are almost enough to make me consider taking up flatpicking.


---0--------0-------0---3-----------0---------0---------------
---1------------4-------------------------4---------1----------
---0------------------------------------------------------------
---2---------------------------3----------------------------3----
---3--------3------------------------3------------------------
---3-----------------------3---------------------------3--------

[tdrake]

Originally Posted by godinfan

To me, the level of difficulty of the chord depends as much on what chord I'm switching to it from as anything. Maybe not the answer you're soliciting . If I had to choose one, it would be that "F#/D" chord in Stairway to Heaven

Ah, how many of our 13 year old dreams of rock stardom were shot down by this very chord?

...when I think of my little hands grappling with some terribly set up, cheap acoustic, trying to work on chord changes vastly more difficult than anything I play these day...I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

td

[Turtle]

First position A, up the neck. Like x24442, a B chord.

[meredith]

Any stretch of 4 frets or more- I have dinky little pinkies. For the same reason, almost any chord where the pinky has to stand on its own.

[Mr Fixit eh]

I've been playing for 2 years now - it took nearly a whole year for me to master the E-shaped barre chord (F etc). It took about 6 months to master the Am-shaped barre chords (Bm etc) - and I play 2 hours a day most days. When I say 'master', I mean being able to hit the chord clearly and cleanly in the course of a song playing at-tempo 99 percent of the time.

TWo chords have been annoying the heck out of me lately -
1. A - shaped barre chords (B etc) - when I use fingers 3,4,5, I often don't get a clean, crisp sound. I've tried to do the finger gymnastics of using the 4th finger to bar the 2, 3, 4th strings, but so far to no avail. Growl. Tips anyone?

2. Dm. I have real problems getting to this chord quickly. I often substitue Dm7 where possible because I can achieve this one more instinctively.

Steve

[Bern]

Originally Posted by Mr Fixit eh

TWo chords have been annoying the heck out of me lately -
1. A - shaped barre chords (B etc) - when I use fingers 3,4,5, I often don't get a clean, crisp sound. I've tried to do the finger gymnastics of using the 4th finger to bar the 2, 3, 4th strings, but so far to no avail. Growl. Tips anyone?

2. Dm. I have real problems getting to this chord quickly. I often substitue Dm7 where possible because I can achieve this one more instinctively.

Steve

1. Depending of how you use the chord there are different ways to play it. You could simply barre across the three strings (4th, 3rd & 2nd) with your ring finger by omitting the note on the high E string, although, it possible to play it this way and getting the high E string note (the 5th of the chord), which takes a lot of practice and depends on the flexibility of your finger joint. Another way is to barre the 4th & 3rd string with your ring finger and fret the 2nd string with your 4th finger. This way you can still play a sus4 chord.
2. The Dmin7 chord is usually acceptable in most instances. Why don't you try to play the open Dmin7 and fret the D on the 2nd string with your 4th finger, which is very simple, actually.