Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 What in the hell is a C chord, and will it give me sl00shtone? No, you just need a big hat for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 No, you just need a big hat for that! Make sure you get the right Big Hat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Make sure you get the right Big Hat Absolutely, the wrong hat can wreak havock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnastynebr Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 You idiots. There is no C chord on a guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 You idiots. There is no C chord on a guitar. Eh? Has someone nicked your C chord? Perhaps your Gibson's a fake, mine definitely came with a C chord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Okay, back to a bit of seriousness... <grin> I think I find the C pretty easy 'cuz I started playing guitar with folkie stuff. So... I'm guessing you might want to change the positioning of your thumb on the back of the neck. Frankly I have no real problem - and I have small hands too - playing a root C chord with my thumb on the bass E and my pinkie on the treble E - or playing that "C" barred at the fifth fret as an "F" chord. But then... I've been doin' it for a long time. Some guitar shapes and necks seem to me to make it more difficult, but that's largely due to the geometry of the hand mechanism reaching to the nut, then getting the proper geometry of the hand itself onto the neck. So there are two things you might wanna try: put a capo up a couple of frets and see if it seems an awfully lot easier, or completely change how you're holding your guitar and consider if it'll get into a traditional classical guitarist's "pose." As for the string thing... I use 8-38 on the SG type and no problems if I position the body and left hand position correctly. Mess up that geometry and yeah, you surely can pull strings out of line. One problem to me of starting with "rock" is there's a tendency to start playing up the neck a lot and that geometry is a lot less likely to pull strings out of shape. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Jazzer Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I have small hands and have always had trouble using my pinky. I'll give it a shot though, thanks. I've always had this personal thought, "if you don't use your pinky, you're diminishing your playability by 25%." I recommend you play a lot of scales to develop some strength. Try droping your thumb a little lower on the neck to give more roundness to the shape if your fingers. Unintentional string pulling us usually caused by your finger being to "flat". Try to play your solos and chords with the "tips" of your fingers. I'm a self taught jazz player and have used all my fingers from the beginning and find it quite easy. Work on what I've stated above and you'll find your notes to be more defined and clear. Always in tune. Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesrob Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I can play open C but I'm not a big fan of it, so I usually play a barre chord with the A shape. Well, I play blues mostly so it's an A7 for me, so it would be a C7. close enough! And it will make your C chord sound a little different, which is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreslauer Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I can play open C but I'm not a big fan of it, so I usually play a barre chord with the A shape. Well, I play blues mostly so it's an A7 for me, so it would be a C7. close enough! And it will make your C chord sound a little different, which is good. speaking of barres, a good exercise is to play the basic open chord forms without using your index finger at all. i'll bet we all do this easily when we barre the E and A forms, but try the D and C forms using just your middle, ring and little fingers. Up the neck a bit (as the frets spacing gets smaller) this makes for some really colorful chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnastynebr Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Eh? Has someone nicked your C chord? Perhaps your Gibson's a fake, mine definitely came with a C chord. I special ordered a Gibson USA from China. Custom job without the C chord. It was really cheap, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witmer Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Providing the guitar you're playing isn't fighting with you, I love the open C for how many melody-type notes you can add, and very easily, from that finger position. Also providing you don't mind using your pinkie, as some of the other guys have said. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S t e v e Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 when can we start the "rocky4 can't play guitar" jokes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 when can we start the "rocky4 can't play guitar" jokes? You just did! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S t e v e Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 You just did! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I have small hands, so I don't want to hear any "Small Hands" excuses. I can't tell you how many times I've heard it, compared hands, and watch them search for some other excuse why they can't play like Roy Clark or Marty Friedman after a year and a half of playing. (I mean I have really small hands, like girls hands with a little extra pinky muscle) Dexterity is the key to comfort, PERIOD. Hand size does come into play, but it's not a Handicap at all. In fact a Big Hand with no dexterity is going to have a much harder time in the beginning than a Small Hand with no dexterity. Straight and simple fact is, once you've overcome the dexterity issue your hands become your friends and working partners, size is not important! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I know the style is different, but there's a Youtube vid of Segovia teaching a master class (Bach Chaconne) and a very good lady guitarist was doing something odd that Segovia didn't care for. She blamed her hand size for what she was doing and Segovia stated that his wife had smaller hands and she had no problems... It's hand positioning 90 percent of the time. Yeah, a guy with very long fingers can do certain things more easily but - some things with more difficulty. I'll never forget a reeeeally good ragtime 5-string banjo picker from the radio era that I got to know a bit nearly 50 years ago. He had fingers that seemed as if they were about the size and shape of the average big toe on your foot. Yet those little fingers just flew. In retrospect, he also had the appropriate geometry, fingers, thumb, wrist and arm angles... just as Segovia was telling the young lady guitarist. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Milo- I went looking for that video but got caught up watching his lessons. I like his line about "Delicate Respect for the rhythm" (at least I think he said rhythm, his accent's pretty thick). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Yeah, those Segovia classes offer an awful lot for anyone of any style. As you note, the accent can be a little off-putting, but... I think watching the general geometry of his hands vis a vis the guitar is especially important to anyone playing in any style. I've watched lots of good pickers of lots of styles, and I've a theory that most of the best, even if they're "immoral" from classical guitar style and use their thumb on the bass "E," <grin> they still are essentially getting the same geometry. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky4 Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 I always assumed hand size meant hand strength. Hendrix and Page have huge hands. There has to be an advantage......right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I always assumed hand size meant hand strength. Hendrix and Page have huge hands. There has to be an advantage......right? The advantage is in Reach, but smaller hands grab complicated chords easier. Strength isn't that important. Besides, finger strength is in the forearm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 finger strength is in the forearm. Good point, Iused to use a power ball on the advice of others. I'd forgotten that. They are great for strengthening fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Also a lot has to do with geometry. Seriously. Figure the "engineering" involved to get thumb and fingers exerting appropriate pressure to strings with minimum effort. The thumb probably should be placed at opposing point of the center of effort for the three/four fingers involved in forming the chord. Funny thing is how similar concepts are used in certain aikido techniques that make incredibly strong techniques "happen" with almost no effort whatsoever. Also, hand flexibility is yet another factor. I have quite small hands but can get roughly a straight line from the end of the thumb to the end of the pinkie. I couldn't when I started playing guitar, btw. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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