Excellent advice on the ‘Classical’ and ‘Rock’ position grip.
You also (in the rock mode) use the thumb as a fretting digit.
And from my limited ‘Classical’ school time knowledge, the right hand (string plucking hand unless you are 1bassleft) the little finger is not used?
might be my old guitar teacher telling me porkies.. or pinkies in this case, but thats what i was told. 😆

One thing I neglected to mention was the virtues of the classical hand position. While I suspect that you do not intend to play classical music, the position of the hand in this technique allows your fingers to move freely and get up and over the fret board to fret the strings with your finger tips.
Classical position
http://user156177.websitewizard.com/images/left_hand_position.png

If you’ll notice, most accomplished guitarists, even Rock and metal guitarists), alternate between the Classical position and the rock position.
The Rock positions has the neck sitting in the crook of the hand formed by the thumb and palm. This position is good for bending strings and creating vibrato.
Rock position
http://www.guitarprinciples.com/images/ctrain2.jpg

Finally, if you must look at your frets… try placing yourself in front of a full length mirror and look at the mirror instead of down at your hand. You might see some positioning issues you need to work on.

🙂

Welcome in, doggy. I never liked D-G much, myself, when I played guitar and, while acknowledging Lee and Sylvia’s good advice, I was struck by Tim’s words:

[quote]Another thing I find is anatomy can make a difference I have quite long fingers but they’re pretty fat at the end…some chords are much harder than others just because I struggle to press one string at a time; A-major, for example, took me weeks to get clean, especially on my electric which has closer string spacings[/quote]

That is exactly the same description of my pinkies and my Amaj (I now scuff it by holding the three strings with two fingerpads) that got me picking up a bass instead. Never looked back. I’m not advocating you drop guitar, but it might just be that you’re one of nature’s bass players and there’s nothing wrong with that 🙂

Hi.

This seems to be a big problem for beginner guitarists. The problem is most beginners are so tense and for the most part perform a sort of death grip when fretting a chord.

Relax!

Next…

New guitarists tend to place their fingers in the following order: Pinky or Ring finger, middle then finally the index finger. Try reversing that order to: index (the root note of your chord) , middle and finally the ring finger. This way it gives your other fingers a chance to catch up while you begin your strum on the lower notes of the chord.

Finally,… try doing your chords while in a dark room or with your eyes closed. You’ll probably be surprised at how often you hit the chords without looking.

Good luck
S

are you using the right finger on the right strings?

index finger is 1st
longest finger 2nd
wedding ring finger 3rd
little finger 4th

thin string is 1st string
up to the fattest string which is the 6th

D shape
1st string – 2nd fret – 2nd finger
2nd string – 3rd fret – 3rd finger
3rd string – 2nd fret – 1st finger
4th string open
5th string – not played
6th string – not played

G shape
i play G shape 2 ways, i find this way easier.
1st string – 3rd fret – 4th finger
2nd string – 3rd fret – 3rd finger
3rd string – open
4th string – open
5th string – 2nd fret – 1st finger
6th string – 3rd fret – 2nd finger

if you notice the 3rd finger stays in place on the change, it doesnt move,
which acts as you anchor and makes the change easier, try it out.

I’m about same place as you with chords but I’ve been playing bass for years and one thing I have found with both is progress seems to come in fits and starts, you’ll pick it up one day and find your over that hurdle…then a bit later you’ll hit the next stumbling block where you’ll stick for a while…and so on…

Just keep at it basically. 😀

Another thing I find is anatomy can make a difference I have quite long fingers but they’re pretty fat at the end…some chords are much harder than others just because I struggle to press one string at a time; A-major, for example, took me weeks to get clean, especially on my electric which has closer string spacings.

Good luck tho, and keep us updated!

Tim.

I never had trouble with those chords. I found both shapes quite easy to play. The killer for me was always B.

I dunno what to suggest – just keep trying. Try to use the chords in a song situation and get the timing right.