C & G Chord - How Long To Learn?

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by Whitey#1

You got it. All three. Fingering, sounding clean, changing quickly.

Having said this, I am a lot better than I was when I started 10 days ago. The other poster said about a week. I am thinking it will be at least a month before I get even halfway good at playing the C & G Chords correctly.

Yes everybody, you read that right - a month. Is that bad? Am I doomed?

No offense, but I believe you may have expectations that are completely unrealistic.

1. Progress in learning an instrument (especially guitar) is anything but linear. Most (maybe all) people who have played for decades will tell you about 'plateaus' where they felt they didn't advance at all for weeks or even months. Then, often without any warning, progress speeds up dramatically as all the practice work done seems to spontaneously 'come together.'

2. The struggles you are having right now are not in any way a determinant of where you will be a year from now. OTOH, how you RESPOND to this (giving up, getting discouraged, avoiding practice, or getting energized to overcome it) WILL have a significant bearing on how well you can play a year in the future.

3. 10 days of playing guitar is not enough for anyone to master clean C and G AND changing between them. I'm not sure where you got this idea but hanging on to it will only hinder your progress.

I started at 9 (in 1966) playing guitar. I dropped it in about a year because I didn't feel I was getting anywhere quickly enough. I then played saxophone for the next two years and that went faster (because keeping track of ONE note at a time was so much easier). At 12 I picked up guitar again and took off like a rocket. Why? I have no idea.

I tell people to take a longer view and think in terms of (at least) a year. Come up with some concrete goals for a year from now. Then track where you are at every 3-4 weeks. If you find you are 'behind' in some area (e.g. changing chords) then revise that goal AND take some action to address the difficulty (spend more time on it, ask your teacher for specific focus etc).

Oh, and the only person you should be comparing yourself to is YOU. It's OK to use a certain facility (changing chords smoothly) as a benchmark for your own progress, but NOT helpful to 'grade' yourself on your speed relative to others. That way lies a lot of heartache and anguish.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by slooky

Not doomed at all! You will get it, no matter if it takes a week or a month. Do not give up .

This is what I was thinking. You just have to keep working at it and give yourself the time to learn it. I think a quick learner might get the C to G or G to C changes down in a week when practicing 30-45 minutes per day, but many people might take a month to get there. Some might take longer. Keep working on it. If you are getting better after 10 days, then you are going to get there!

- Glenn

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

[size=2]
The first picture is a 4 finger G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - and Second picture is a 4 finger C

Strictly speaking that's a C9 but it's certainly good enough for Noel Gallagher.

@OP, the best advice I can offer is to learn to enjoy the process. It'll stop you counting the minutes and might end up being the difference between getting good and giving up. You may never be satisfied with your playing no matter how good you get but you can enjoy the music.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Whitey#1

My instructor, after covering some of the basics (which I pretty much already had down), has started me out learning the C & G Chords. My question is basically this:

How long would one normally expect it to take to get these two chords down to the point where one is good at it? I typically practice about 30-45 minutes a day. So, one week? one month? three months?

I am just trying to get an idea of where I am at here, and if indeed I am making progress.

r/Mike

You could learn to change the chords probably within a month if you practiced for an hour each day, maybe sooner. There's more to music than just changing chords though.

[SunnyDee]

Well, G and C really aren't the easiest chords if you're just beginning, so I think that's helpful to know. I first learned the 3-fingered G without the index finger and I remember making that shape with my fingers at odd moments, falling asleep, on the bus, to get my pinky and middle finger to make that stretch. I started on a very bad borrowed guitar and it took me a couple of months to go from my fingers hurt and it sounds like noise to I can play a simple song strumming 3-4 common open chords and people can tell it's a song. My goal was just not to be too embarrassed in the guitar store to buy something decent.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by shufflebeat

Strictly speaking that's a C9 but it's certainly good enough for Noel Gallagher.

Hi sb

Yup…it is technically a Cadd9…and if you move fingers 1-2 up another string, you get an F6 and if you play the four finger G and lift finger 2 you get a great sounding Em7.

It's a fun set of fingerings for newbies to play in key of G quickly…switching easily between chords. The D chord becomes the one to 'master'.

Or you can use the Cadd9 as the root chord, and play in Key of C (Cadd9-F2-G) as well. Forty years of teaching taught me that students and friends who are just starting out need successes and to play music, and the technical stuff is then tolerable.

I had tons of students in their 40s-50s who came to me for lessons who told me stories of their parents putting them in classical guitar classes as young kids, which they lost interest in after a matter of weeks. Amazingly these people made really good students in their 40s & 50s because we quit worrying about left-knee-drop-it-in-the-well and classical sitting position (neck angled nearly vertical) and started to play songs.

After the first 6 weeks we were playing a lot of songs and enjoying life! Actually after lesson 1 they were playing chords up and down the neck. And by lesson 3 they were freely switching chords, and playing finger picking patterns, and strumming in time. They were figuring simple songs out on their own without charts by then.

How we teachers structure our approach makes a huge difference…

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

[size=2]Hi sb

Yup…it is technically a C9…and if you move fingers 1-2 up another string, you get an F6 and if you play the four finger G and lift finger 2 you get a great sounding Em7.

It's a fun set of fingerings for newbies to play in key of G quickly…switching easily between chords. The D chord becomes the one to 'master'.

Speaking of easier fingerings. I find this makes more sense and that fingering for Em makes a slide into C and G much easier, too. Any teachers here see any problems with it?

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by shufflebeat

Strictly speaking that's a C9 but it's certainly good enough for Noel Gallagher.



@OP, the best advice I can offer is to learn to enjoy the process. It'll stop you counting the minutes and might end up being the difference between getting good and giving up. You may never be satisfied with your playing no matter how good you get but you can enjoy the music.

No, that’s a Cadd9, not a Cdom9 which is what C9 means. Add9 chords are a major triad, and you add the 9th interval. A dominant 9 chord, you have to flatten the 7th and add the 9th. So a C9 would look like x32333 or x32330.

[Whitey#1]

I've been trying about a month now and I am still not anywhere near there yet. I took Lesson #2 a couple of days ago and the instructor said until I can get to the point where I can quickly go from C to G to C to G etc, etc that we cant move on to the next step.

Its just very hard for me folks. To go from C to G to C to G etc, etc.

r/Mike

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Whitey#1

I've been trying about a month now and I am still not anywhere near there yet. I took Lesson #2 a couple of days ago and the instructor said until I can get to the point where I can quickly go from C to G to C to G etc, etc that we cant move on to the next step.

Its just very hard for me folks. To go from C to G to C to G etc, etc.

r/Mike

Should not take that long even for a beginner. Different approach with more analysis and less pure repetition. As I said prior, decent guitar setup necessary. Has your teacher played your guitar and found it's action to be good?

[1neeto]

To change from G to C or vice versus, I highly encourage you to learn the 234 fingering for the G chord.

[Whitey#1]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Should not take that long even for a beginner. Different approach with more analysis and less pure repetition. As I said prior, decent guitar setup necessary. Has your teacher played your guitar and found it's action to be good?

Yes, my instructor has checked out the guitar. He doesn't seem to have a problem playing it. Plus I've had it worked on too.

[Whitey#1]

Originally Posted by 1neeto

To change from G to C or vice versus, I highly encourage you to learn the 234 fingering for the G chord.

Its the C Chord that's the big problem for me, not the G.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by Whitey#1

Its the C Chord that's the big problem for me, not the G.

You said your problem is transitioning to and from G to C. The 234 fingering of the G leaves your index finger free, and makes it much easier to hit the C right after. But perhaps what you need is more time practicing the C shape.

[Riverwolf]

Another thing that seemed to really help me was to add a strumming pattern.
Instead of just back and forth:

G- D DU UDU
C- D DU UDU

(or any other pattern)

This at least makes the repetitious practice sound musical