C chord

Hi, I'm a newbie when it comes to the guitar. I bought an acoustic guitar about two months ago and have been working at it ever since. The one problem that I have run into is getting the C chord correct consistently. No matter how I work on it my ring finger mutes the D string. Any suggestions?

Hi Keith

I am a relative newbie myself. You will likely hear responses echoing appreciation for your struggle while at the same time advising you to be patient and to keep working at it. Wrist position plays a part, finger position etc. Our bodies seem to have a way of adapting over time. If you can find a way to make a clean chord, no matter how slowly you have to do it, that will begin to train your body on what it needs to do to make the chord.

Good luck.

ps, this is such a normal query that I thought that since I have no problem making a fool of myself, I should offer up a video of me practicing. It’s painful! But luckily, with time in and regular practice, things do seem to improve.

What William MG said about practise and time, but as a general tip try to observe and analyse for yourself what is occurring with your playing, and do it with every fretting/fingering issue you encounter in future.

Specifically in the case of open C. Here's what I've discovered along the way on my journey so far.

From the beginning, personally I've always found open C an easy chord, but observed these idiosyncrasies specific and general addressing things which have facilitated its playing and optimised the consistency of the tone of mine -and other chords, over time.

To finger it best Open C requires a consciencious awareness to stretch to optimise each finger's placement relative to its fret position until the action becomes subliminal. The closer to the fret, the lighter the required pressure will be (important as you will see in a moment) and generally, the cleaner the note and truer its tone. Concurrently, with thumb in optimum supporting position mid neck [u]hand position should be curled lightly about and around the neck[/u] permitting you to keep each fingertip as perpendicular to its respective string as possible, more difficult always with stretchy chords. Keep trying. Over time, it'll happen.[br][br]Things which can render this more difficult.

[u]Fingers[/u]. Do you have spider, average or fleshy shaped fingers and tips? Fleshy which are usually broader by association will compress more and spread as we tend to apply higher fretting pressure.

[u]Fingernails[/u]. Too long and a nail may touch the fretboard before the tip which in turn provokes appyling even more pressure to fret the note which exacerbates tip spread which can partially or fully mute an adjacent string, exacerbated by finger tip angle to the string. Like the three basic body types and shapes, we have difference shaped tips along with how our nails grow or protrude from them too. Ectos seem generally to be blessed with nails which are recessed from the narrower bonier tip naturally, endos more frequently the nails protrude over the tips requiring nails to be regularly and well trimmed. Little things, but they do make a difference. The devil is in the detail.

[u]The guitar[/u]. String spacing, neck profile, scale length, action, string gauge all make a difference to how far you will have to stretch and pressure you will have to apply. Radius counts too, but is usually more consistent across brands with acoustic if that's what you're playing than with electric IMO&E. Is your guitar a good fit for you?

Hi;

I am about two months myself. I made it through the 5 chord power pack. I took Lisa's advice and was not overly concerned about mistakes. Now I am up to the Keys. I am on the first key of G. Here is my line in the sand. I will not move on till I can make all of the changes cleanly almost all of the time. Everyone makes a mistake or two. I plan to use this method as I go through the other keys.

Charlie

Thanks to all for the advice. I haven't masterd the C chord yet, but I am getting better.