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GMC Forum _ Absolute Beginners _ What Is The Hardest "beginner" Chord To Play?
Posted by: Bear Rose Nov 3 2010, 04:11 AM
Hey everyone,
I'm wondering what everyone considers to be the hardest "beginner" chord to play. I'm putting "beginner" in quotation marks because I want you to define what you think a beginner chord is.
So, if you are a beginner starting out with your chords, which is the hardest one for you to play properly?
And if you are past the "beginner" stage, what was the hardest chord to learn when you were starting out?
Posted by: slash48 Nov 3 2010, 04:42 AM
When I first started it was the dreaded F chord. Barring the first finger on the E and B strings while keeping track of the other fingers and managing to keep everything clean and every note clearly ringing was not easy at the time.
Posted by: Fran Nov 3 2010, 10:52 AM
It has to be F 
It's the first barre chord I learnt, and I still remember how much I hated it 
Posted by: Chris Evans Nov 3 2010, 11:18 AM
yup, agree with the others, F barre chord, actually I can remember struggling with barre chords full stop, I used to have to use my right hand to physically put my left hand fingers into the correct positions!
Posted by: thefireball Nov 3 2010, 11:36 AM
I agree with the others as well...but I didn't play the F chord for this reason. Instead, I stuck with some other chords. At first, the G chord was hard to get used to (the version where you use 3 fingers). I couldn't get my middle finger to stay on the A string. It kept wanting to hop up on the low e with my ring finger. This was my battle for a while when I first started.
Posted by: steve25 Nov 3 2010, 12:14 PM
Definitiely F for me. I just couldn't do it at first. I actually found it easier to barre all the strings rather than just the ones needed I guess that helped
Posted by: Crazy_Diamond Nov 3 2010, 02:23 PM
+1 for the F chord and maybe the B also
Beginner is define here has: First month of playing.
Posted by: Bear Rose Nov 3 2010, 06:51 PM
Yeah, when I teach students locally, I always save the F chord and the B chord for last, because they are definitely 2 of the hardest ones to learn when you are just starting out.
Posted by: CathShadow Nov 3 2010, 08:05 PM
Funny enough, my first barre chord was actually the G, not the F so when I started, I found that one most difficult...
followed for my by D minor (purely cause I got used to D, and couldn't get my fingers to go to the correct places!!!...
Posted by: jafomatic Nov 4 2010, 04:53 AM
I'm voting for that F as well. I had no trouble barring chords at any other fret but that F barred at fret 1 ... well, yeah, you know. Seems we all know
Posted by: Gitarrero Nov 4 2010, 08:07 AM
Hm, I was always comfortable with the barre chords, even the dreaded F. But I remember that a friend of mine struggled a long time with the F. It think for me some 7th chords were pretty difficult, but I don't know if they are considered beginner chords...?
Posted by: whiskey5 Nov 9 2010, 09:25 PM
I'm a newb to the forum, and to guitar. Been lurking mostly, but alas - a forum for Absolute Beginners
Been playing for 4 months now, got an ESP LTD EC1000 that I absolutely love.
My problem chord was, and still is to an extent, the A chord.
Initially I thought my fingers were too "fat" to fit in there. The problem being my middle finger would mute the D string, or my pinky muting the high E.
After googling "fat finger guitar", i realized fat fingers aren't the problem, and I just am not ensuring proper placement of fingers. Which requires me to slow down when practicing, and get the fingers right.
I was close to resolving the issue by telling myself "just go ahead and let the high E be muted if it happens...", but I decided against that and continue on the take it slow and get it right approach.
I finger the chord with index on D, middle on G, ring on B.
I know C A G D E F B, and A is the trickiest one for me.
Conversely, I picked up the F chord pretty easily.
Posted by: kaznie_NL Nov 9 2010, 10:20 PM
F ofcourse 
haha, and probably learning to play the A# chord using the 'easy' form, with the flat ring finger 
Posted by: Bear Rose Nov 11 2010, 06:35 AM
Been playing for 4 months now, got an ESP LTD EC1000 that I absolutely love.
My problem chord was, and still is to an extent, the A chord.
Initially I thought my fingers were too "fat" to fit in there. The problem being my middle finger would mute the D string, or my pinky muting the high E.
After googling "fat finger guitar", i realized fat fingers aren't the problem, and I just am not ensuring proper placement of fingers. Which requires me to slow down when practicing, and get the fingers right.
I was close to resolving the issue by telling myself "just go ahead and let the high E be muted if it happens...", but I decided against that and continue on the take it slow and get it right approach.
I finger the chord with index on D, middle on G, ring on B.
I know C A G D E F B, and A is the trickiest one for me.
Conversely, I picked up the F chord pretty easily.
Thats pretty unique! Very cool that you picked up the F chord easily. And it is interesting that the A is the hardest for you.
Another way that you might try to finger the chord is like this: middle on D, ring on G, and pinky on B. That may help because it will be easier to fit your fingers in there. I've started playing the chord that way sometimes and I like it.
Posted by: whiskey5 Nov 13 2010, 09:48 PM
Thanks for the great tip.
The intro to "The Shock of the Lightning" by Oasis has A am, and now I can play along
Posted by: Bear Rose Nov 15 2010, 10:01 PM
The intro to "The Shock of the Lightning" by Oasis has A am, and now I can play along
Awesome! I remember when I would learn new chords and they would be like keys that would unlock new sets of songs that I could learn.
Posted by: Kael Dec 5 2010, 04:37 AM
F seems to be the one im struggling with so far, im not getting a clean tone consistantly, still...its good to see im not the only one having some trouble with it
Posted by: Kristian Hyvarinen Dec 30 2010, 05:47 PM
I remember my brother saying to me that the worst part of the day at home was when I was practicing chords. 
And definitely the most difficult one to get right was F for me, too. However, when we are talking about chord progressions, I'd also add B7 and C7 (from the open position) to the list since they are kind of tricky for the left hand.
But practicing chords is definitely worth it. I think it may have done more to my playing than anything else.
Posted by: quadrium Dec 30 2010, 07:10 PM
I remember the barre chords are the most challenging chords for me when i was learning.
Posted by: Sollesnes Dec 30 2010, 07:32 PM
Practice without amp
Why would anyone practice finger placements with an amp?
Posted by: Kristian Hyvarinen Dec 30 2010, 08:19 PM
Why would anyone practice finger placements with an amp?
Oh, I did. Small apartment, steel-string acoustic guitar. Not everyone starts with an electric.
Posted by: MonkeyDAthos Dec 30 2010, 09:22 PM
B i remember T:T
Posted by: Sollesnes Dec 30 2010, 09:26 PM
Ah right
Posted by: Bear Rose Jan 1 2011, 06:05 PM
And definitely the most difficult one to get right was F for me, too. However, when we are talking about chord progressions, I'd also add B7 and C7 (from the open position) to the list since they are kind of tricky for the left hand.But practicing chords is definitely worth it. I think it may have done more to my playing than anything else.
Haha, that's funny! But, I bet its not as bad as people who are learning to play a trumpet or sax with all the loud squeaking going on and wrong notes being hit. And you can't turn the volume down on those!
Posted by: loundzilla Mar 15 2011, 09:24 PM
Both F and B!
F because it's the first barre chord that most seem to learn. It doesn't help being that far down the neck - if i was to have learnt the shape further up the neck it wouldn't have been to bad! Getting the forefinger position right was definitely key!
B because, well, its a sucky chord ! My ring ringer keeps muting the high e string!
Posted by: loundzilla Mar 15 2011, 09:24 PM
Both F and B!
F because it's the first barre chord that most seem to learn. It doesn't help being that far down the neck - if i was to have learnt the shape further up the neck it wouldn't have been to bad! Getting the forefinger position right was definitely key!
B because, well, its a sucky chord ! My ring ringer keeps muting the high e string!
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Mar 31 2011, 08:35 PM
F major was hard ofc , but I still have some troubles of fretting clean A-shaped chord anywhere on the neck. I don't use the full version because of that
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