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

[SkippyX]

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.

Play it any way you want - whichever sounds best.



That's kind of how I do it.

I might very well be wrong, though.

[werkout52]

"B" and it still screws with me sometimes.

 

 

Me too. Try to get the action as close as possible to help, but I still struggle.

On F I'm able to thumb the low E and manage fine.

[Misha]

"F"...

[jamesp]

It must've been painful. I've blocked it out!

[seagullplayer77]

"B" and it still screws with me sometimes.

You're not kidding!

Same here. I've sort of given up on playing a real B. I just use Bsus all the time instead .

[Chordchunker]

They were all hard at first.

[philo426]

THe toughest for me when I started was the F but now its no big deal.I like barre chords especially the minor ones!

[Terry Allan Hall]

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?

A simple "F" chord...seems like it took forever to be able to cleanly (no buzz, no mutes) hold down two strings at the same time!

"Bb" was almost as bad, but once I conquered these two, the rest were fairly easy.

[KATMAN]

A simple "F" chord...seems like it took forever to be able to cleanly (no buzz, no mutes) hold down two strings at the same time! "Bb" was almost as bad, but once I conquered these two, the rest were fairly easy.

Terry,how true it is.To this day I don't play a simple F chord,I always barre it.

[Stan31]

When starting out - F barre... Now - I am just starting to learn the A-shaped chords where 3rd finger bars 2nd, 3rd and 4th string... with or without Barre.

[DeepEnd]

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. . . .

 

I was just the opposite. I could never get all three fingers between the two frets and make a clean chord. Barred versions like Bb were simply out of the question. A college friend taught me the one-finger method and I've been using it ever since. B7 was another. I still play a version that involves wrapping my thumb around the neck:

 

2

0

2

1

2

2

[roughtrade]

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

I still have problems with this.

[ChrisFFTA]

em is the hardest chord to play... just cos it is so sad.

[Galabar]

A simple "F" chord...seems like it took forever to be able to cleanly (no buzz, no mutes) hold down two strings at the same time! "Bb" was almost as bad, but once I conquered these two, the rest were fairly easy.

Yup, the simple "F" chord was my nemesis for a good while.

[DJ in FL]

"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.

+1 on the dreaded barre A shape!

[DeadNight Warrior]

Yeah, F.

 

I was a tiny little kid with a full size POS classical guitar to learn on. I was exceptionally bad when I first started. Wasn't until later on after I'd quit (hated lessons) and picked it up again maybe a year or so later that I really got anywhere with it.

[SkippyX]

+1 on the dreaded barre A shape!

That's weird.

It was easier for me from the get-go to barre A w/ my middle finger than it was to try to fit three fingers inside that space at the second fret.

For the longest I thought I was doing it wrong - but it sounded good, so who cared?

[Steadfastly]

The hardest chord? The first one.

[Brown Rug]

The C shape chord. Easy to form on the frets, but transitioning to it? Ugh...

[Samilyn]

The barre Bm was the hardest for me and I still have sort of a mental block with that one. After all these years, I still manage to screw it up more times than not, especially when fingerpicking and I need each string to sound clear and clean.

[Steadfastly]

The C shape chord. Easy to form on the frets, but transitioning to it? Ugh...

 

 

The same shape as the C chord is the G7 but I found the G7 more difficult because of the extra stretching.

[62rat]

I hate to admit this but I just can't get into or out of an open G, using four fingers. I just use barre G all the time. It seems to work better for me anyway because as a fingerpicker there seem to be more useable notes in a barre G without moving any fingers around. To me some strings just don't sound good in an open G. (Obviously I have zero knowledge of music theory.)
Open G sounds better strummed than fingerpicked.

[guildfire]

I hate to admit this but I just can't get into or out of an open G, using four fingers. I just use barre G all the time. It seems to work better for me anyway because as a fingerpicker there seem to be more useable notes in a barre G without moving any fingers around. To me some strings just don't sound good in an open G. (Obviously I have zero knowledge of music theory.) Open G sounds better strummed than fingerpicked.

 

 

Open G sounds better all the time to me. A barred G sounds compressed. I can also do more with an open G - hammer ons, pulloffs, etc.

[Steadfastly]

I hate to admit this but I just can't get into or out of an open G, using four fingers. I just use barre G all the time. It seems to work better for me anyway because as a fingerpicker there seem to be more useable notes in a barre G without moving any fingers around. To me some strings just don't sound good in an open G. (Obviously I have zero knowledge of music theory.) Open G sounds better strummed than fingerpicked.

 

 

You can also play a G chord as an Open G Chord. It is fingered as follows:

 

First finger, 2nd fret, third string.

Second finger; 3rd fret; 6th string.

Third finger; 3rd fret; 1st string.

[62rat]

Open G sounds better all the time to me. A barred G sounds compressed. I can also do more with an open G - hammer ons, pulloffs, etc.

 

 

I'm sure that you are correct. I would probably benefit greatly from some professional instruction. That is probably not the only thing that I do improperly. I'm just happy to produce sounds that are somewhat musical. This guitar playing stuff is harder than it looks.