B2-0801 The stuck 3 & 4 chords

[Martinharv]

I struggle with anything that involves all 4 fingers as my index finger is a bit knackered, my pinky is fine as till now I've pretty much used middle, ring and pinky for all the 3 finger chords.The big G, C add9, and Emin7 all sound a bit rubbish as my index finger tends to mute anything it crosses. I'm ok with the 4 finger A7sus4 as the strings the index finger lays on are played in front of it.  I'm beginning to tire of Wonderwall, it is, apart from Shallow the only song I actually know using these chords and it sounds awful. The verse chords all sound the same to me and, rather concerninly I dread the 10 mins practicing it. I'm worried that this resulting in the practice becoming a chore instead of fun.

[kaiben]

I have already some problems wist my wrist (mouse arm or something similar). I got quite good along with the open chords but have increased pain after practicing the BIG-G and CADD9 chords.

Comparing my wrist angle with Justin's you see that I have a much steeper angle. Justins wrist angle is nearly flat.




This is the problem I suppose.
But, if I try to keep the wrist flat, as Justin does, I always mute the A-string with the second finger pressing the E-string (BIG-G). Tilting the wrist is the only way I found to keep the fingers nearly vertical and so avoid muting the other strings.

Any ideas how I can improve my writs posture?

[close2u]

Kaiben - that angle looks dreadfully uncomfortable and awkward to play.
From the perspective I suggest that you need to adjust the guitar relative to your body - it looks like the neck is too far across to your right and it needs to be pushed further away from you to allow you elbow and forearm space to manoevre.

[kaiben]

Thank you close2u for your quick response. Good that you confirm that the angle looks not OK. I will look at your suggestions, but I am not sure that this is the reason. I was not actually playing, just gripped the chord and maybe moved it a bit nearer to the camera and maybe that is the reason that the position looks strange.

Starting with BIG-G I always muted the A-string with the second finger pressing the E-string and similar on CADD9. This was previously the case learning the standard G chord leading to me only using Justins hacked variant, which mutes the A-string intentionally. But now I thought i have to manage it. And the only way I found was to tilt my wrist more, so that I can press the finger tip of the second finger nearly vertical on the E-string.

[djdrysdale]

I'm coming back to the basics with this course and learned the "Big G" years ago. I was self-taught and always did it by effectively barring the B and e strings with my pinky instead of using both my third and fourth fingers. Is this likely to cause problems? I can fret it as Justin shows us but habits (and muscle memory) are hard to break.

[MrPB]

Can I just use these in replacement of other chords any time they are in a song and it's 'easier' ie anything with a combination of G, C, D, A, Em

[close2u]

@MrPB

Use your ears - if those stuck 3&4s sound good, yes go for it!

[MrPB]

@MrPB

Use your ears - if those stuck 3&4s sound good, yes go for it!

If it sounds good, it is good? 

[GNS]

Hey, guys, I don't know whether it was already asked here or not, but here I go 

Regarding 3&4 chord change exercises, is it enough to do the transitions with full G chord (Full g to Rock G; Cadd9, Dsus4 etc.) or should I also incorporate standard open chords in to this (A, E, D etc.)? Because, 3&4 changes are fairly easy for me now (I sort of did them a while ago without going in to Grade 2, because I couple of songs used them). And that's associated with another question: how often in songs to standard open chords change in to 3&4 chords