What was the hardest chord to play when you first started playing?

[KATMAN]

I struggled with the dread F chord.I could not get it down,I was misserable and didn't play a song that had the F in it for almost a year.Now it's not a problem,I can play most normal chords and barre chords with ease.It's tough when you first start out,slowly changing chords while slowly singing out the song.It's just frustrating.Now that I'm older,I tune my guitar down a half step because I find it I sing better with it than playing in the key of C or F.It's not that I can't,I just prefer not to.What was your hardest chord to learn as a beginner?

[nighthawk15]

the typical E form barre chords. Made my fingers/wrist sooooooooo damn sore.

[garthman]

"A" barre shape was hard at first. I now play it using my 3rd finger to barre the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings - much easier that way.

[katopp]

The "C"-shaped barre chords. Deffo.

[panhandler]

"B" and it still screws with me sometimes.

[kujozilla]

Honestly? B7th

[Z_Zoquis]

Any of the full barres really. F was a bitch for a while. Anything that had a change from open G to Bm was tough.

[rhancox]

 

"B" and it still screws with me sometimes.

 

 

Same here.

[FretFiend.]

I tried to play A the way the Mel Bay book said to... at the time... with a single finger. My finger won't bend that way. I finally gave up and did it my way. I used three fingers... as the current Mel Bay book says to do it now.

 

Oh, ANY barre chord was totally beyond me for years.

[TN.Frank]

Bar Chords gave me trouble but once you build up your finger strength there not that bad.

[poppytater]

The one where you use your fingers.

[LiveMusic]

F, but that is only because I didn't even know about barre C-shape, such as Eb. Which is still problem 1 for me today.

[Danner]

About 30% of the chords James Taylor used LoL.

[Howie22]

For your basic open chords, I'd say F. After 18 years of playing, I still don't play an F the way that books say. I play it X3321X or in full bar chord form.

 

Actually, I don't use the C bar chord at all, either. Probably should learn it, though.

[LiFeStArTs@40]

E and Am barre chords were the first chords I learned. The one that always got me and still does at times is the open F chord. XX3211 or X33211. Unless I absolutely have to, I'll just play the barre version and not pluck the 6th string.

[Gary Blanchard]

It was the F chord for me as well, but that was partially because the strings sat so far off the neck on that thing I learned on. I learned, and still play, the A chord with one finger.

[SDshirtman]

I cant pull off a G shaped bar chord for the life of me.

[TheBlueStrat]

For me it was the B minor 7 flat 5 diminished 4 sharp 11th chord.

 

But really it was probably G shaped bar chords, just didnt have enough strength in the barre finger.

[EdBega]

In the beginning barr chords ...

 

Lately been enjoying my hybrid nylon string guitar. Barr chords even play like butter ...

[LaurentB]

The Eb9+11, but fortunately I wasn't aware of the existence of that chord then, so I never tried it.

[kwakatak]

F and B and sometimes A

[gitnoob]

My list of easy chords is shorter than my list of hard chords.

 

Anything that requires pinky dexterity still causes me to have fits. Right now, it's an E7 that MJH uses in Candy Man.

[Jimmy Chaos]

F and B

 

I smashed my 1st guitar out of frustration because I couldn't nail an F.

 

They say it's a fine line between genius and insanity...

[Hudman]

The first chords I learned was the "power chord". As you know, the power chord is a simple barre chord. That is probably why I never had a problem with barre chords.

 

D minor and D7th in the open position were equally difficult for me in the beginning.

[KwadGuy]

A proper barred B, followed by F, followed by a fluid movement to a Bm.