do you really need all 3 chords?

[DOA]

y'know, when you buy one of those simple beginner guitars it comes with a book that tells you the basic 3 chords used in many great songs.

well, i can't do the D7 chord. G and C are fine, but my hands just ain't flexible enough for the D7. and it's frustrating 'cause i feel i'll never be able to properly learn the guitar without learning the 3 basic chords.

so what do i do? stick with what i know, use the tony iommi method and cut off some of my fingers and use prosthetics, or use the robin gutherie method and bury everything in effects (seriously, i read an interview with him where he said that's what he did up until like "four calender cafe".)

:eek:

[clifford]

you're having trouble with d7? isn't it just xx0212 ?
put your middle finger on the 2nd fret, 3rd string from the bottom(little string), your pointer finger on 1st fret 2nd string, and ring finger 2nd fret 1st string. it's kinda like a G except sqooshed. just wait till you get to the '/' chords..


stick with it man.. learn your basics. we all play skip to my lou and smoke on the water man... you HAFTA start somewhere... and dont buy a pedal until you AT LEAST have the basics.. i suggest wait till youve consistently played a year (like at least 30 minutes a day for a year)

[i_finlayson37]

D7 is really easy to do. It's just D moved up a fret and your fingers are kind of back to front if you know what I mean.

[Clayton38]

Dude, I think the problem is that your'e just starting out man. Chords get easier, just stick with it man. I remember going "Wow, I could never do that!". No biggie bro, practice!

[idm13]

Yep...you just need to practice. And yes...you need all those chords. But I don't teach 7th's until I talk about what is different about them. I would say flip through your little book...and work on G Major...C Major...and D Major. That way you can get cracking at some basic songs. You are just experiencing some normal everyday frustration. Your hands are balking...they don't want to do what doesn't come naturally. Like I said...play some G, C, D...hit a tab site...pull down some lead sheets..and play along. You'll be fine. Just don't punk out this early in the game over a D7 chord. :D

Trust me...in a little while you will say you are glad you stood your ground on D7, cause an F barre chord will look like the Debil...and those crazy Ab-7flat5sharp11 chords from a jazz book will be satan incarnate. :D

Good luck...and stick with it.

[LesPaulStrat]

Make an effort to learn how to do it, it's satisfying and plus if you get a good practise ethic early on then your playing will improve in leaps and bounds.

D7
come on man you can do that

[Welladjusted]

honestly, theory is overrated. i know one scale and a few chords. i get compliments on my playing from my GRANDFATHER. that says a lot. just play what you can and have fun. and learn the blues scale. it's fun to play

[bloodyvalentine]

Theory is not overrated.
It's a great tool if you want to make songs fast.

I could not stick with just three chords, that would just be half the first verse......

[LesPaulStrat]

Saying theory is overrated to me is the ultimate cop-out a musician can make. I believe it is important to know what you're doing when you're making songs or playing an improvised solo,chord progression. Without theory music isn't really music.

Having said that I don't believe you need to study theory 13 hours a day, I just think that it's important to know how to read,write music which will help you in all aspects of music, be that sitting in for a jazz group, writing a song or whatever.

[diagnosisgtr]

I took some theory classes and it really has helped my songwriting a lot. If you even know just some basic theory, then you can whip together a well structured song pretty fast. Try this.
Pick a scale you want your song to be based on.(I'll use C major to make it easy). Label it from low to high 1-7(CDEFGAB). C would be considered the root G would be considered the fifth and so on. Try different combinations of the intervals to make a song. For instance 1,4,5 would be a C chord to a G chord to an F chord. That is very basic but is the easiest I could put it. Try using the above method when looking at tabs of songs. You will find some common chord movements. That is how certain people sound like they do. Check out theory it will make you a better songwriter.

[theviper1001]

a piece of advice: DON'T cut off any of your fingers. I learned this from experience. i lost the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. the d7 isnt much harder than the C major. just take the finger on the d string and put it on the same fret on the g string, then move your 3rd finger on the high e on the third fret. its pretty simple if you can think of it that way.

[Matt]

Hey once you learn D major, C major, and G major, you can play Sweet Home Alabama. I think those are the only chords you have to use.

[NoteBOOM]

I'm not saying theory is overrated, but I think that music shouldn't be over analyzed. Music is natural, and you should be able to like what you hear without having to think about what chord structures and shapes are being utilized.

That said, I do in fact have a pretty good grasp on alot of it, but I just don't think its necessary. It's good to know why the sound sounds that way, but not THAT good. :)

[darkstar54mm]

just learn all the songs u can unitl u can pick up on stuff by ear
then play everything by ear that will help u alot to then in no time at all you'll be improvising....good solo's to start with are zephyr song by chili peppers .... thunderstruck by AC/DC will help u alot with your pull offs to

[hairy_jr]

You do have to remember that music theory is a theory about music. You dont have to know music theory, its recomended, and its a pain in the but (ive just started learning everything on the actual staff), the other options are don't use it or make up your own one? You free to do what you want, and back on topic try some other basic chords and then go back to the D7.

[screamingdaisy]

Bringing things back on topic....;)

Originally posted by DOA

so what do i do?

Keep practicing. When I first started out I had to push down on the strings so hard my fingers would ache after only a few minutes, the G chord was a twisted, contorted mess where all the strings wouldn't sound, and changing from one chord to another involved me having to look at a piece of paper to remember how to make them....


....but, fortunatly things get easier with practice.

[jason2]

Originally posted by Welladjusted
honestly, theory is overrated. i know one scale and a few chords. i get compliments on my playing from my GRANDFATHER. that says a lot. just play what you can and have fun. and learn the blues scale. it's fun to play

You sound like 95% of the guitar players I know. Besides, this is the theory section you idiot. Go **** yourself.

[jason2]

Originally posted by DOA
y'know, when you buy one of those simple beginner guitars it comes with a book that tells you the basic 3 chords used in many great songs.

well, i can't do the D7 chord. G and C are fine, but my hands just ain't flexible enough for the D7. and it's frustrating 'cause i feel i'll never be able to properly learn the guitar without learning the 3 basic chords.

so what do i do? stick with what i know, use the tony iommi method and cut off some of my fingers and use prosthetics, or use the robin gutherie method and bury everything in effects (seriously, i read an interview with him where he said that's what he did up until like "four calender cafe".)

:eek:

Just keep practicing and follow the fingering guides on the chord diagrams really closely. Hell, when I first started out I couldn't do an "f" chord to save my life. And don't cheat or take shortcuts. If you cheat then you're only cheating yourself. The D7 chord shouldn't prove to be much of a problem if you do it right, unless you have really small hands.

[Professor SourT]

You'll be surprised how few chords there really are. You need to know the majors, the minors, the dom 7ths. Once you can barre, the world is your oyster. Everything else is detail.

Make sure your nut is not cut too high, as that makes open chords and barring chords like F much more difficult, and use light strings to start with.

[gary]

The best starting point is to spend your first year of two concentrating solely on rhythm guitar. Getting co-ordination between both hands is the most difficult part of learning, and chords are forcing your left hand to memorise shapes while the right hand learns strumming (rhythmic) patterns.

I recommend making sure you know all the main open major chord shapes (E, A, G and C), then move on to the variations on those shapes that make the other chords (E major shape makes F major, C major shape makes D major).

Try to learn as many strum patterns as you do chords. For every time you learn another chord, learn another strum pattern or two as well. Within a year or two you'll be a good solid rhythm player ready to start concentrating on solos.

[Elnwood]

Originally posted by NoteBOOM
I'm not saying theory is overrated, but I think that music shouldn't be over analyzed. Music is natural, and you should be able to like what you hear without having to think about what chord structures and shapes are being utilized.

That said, I do in fact have a pretty good grasp on alot of it, but I just don't think its necessary. It's good to know why the sound sounds that way, but not THAT good. :)

True ... but by this logic, shouldn't we stop reading about guitars, effects and playing like Guitar Geeks and actually play music?!? :D