Will I be Able To Play Chords?

[higrob]

I just started to learn and I have a REALLY hard time trying to strum a chord.

My fingers don't want to stretch to the different frets and I dull some strings because my fingertips hit more than one.

This is VERY discouraging.How long does it take to overcome this?Is there anything I can do that will help or does it just come naturally after a while?:confused:

[jdjuice]

I feel so bad after that pun. I really didn't mean it. I just wrote it and realized it afterwards. I am truly, truly sorry. Anyway, to the question...
Sure, you'll get better with the chords. When I first started, i just played a bunch of simple non-chord riffs from songs until i grew utterly sick of them. Then I started trying out chords. Some were pretty easy, like Eb and D, but then there was the B and other barre chords. I got quite frustrated and kept screaming "How in the hell can someone but a bar on one fret and then put the other three fingers two frets higher? That physically impossible!" So i just didn't play songs with difficult chords. I started out with "Keep on Rockin in the Free World" by Neil Young (E-D-C) and "Disarm" by the Pumpkins. Keep on rockin was a good one because it had few and easy chords, while disarm was easy because it had few chords and they were easy to swich between. I just played those for a while, and my fingers grew accustomed to chords. Then i tried barre chords again. I attempted the opening to Radiohead's "Just", and got it down. That opened everything up for me and soon i could play most anything with normal chords in it. Now you are saying, "How long did it take?" Disarm came in like a day, but I still can't switch quick enough between the chords for Rockin in the Free World. Chords will come when they want to. Your fingers will seem to magically stretch, your right hand will strum at just the right moments when the left hand is ready, and you will make nice tunes. Good Luck!
El JASON

[higrob]

Very encouraging.

Thanks juice! :)

[adam3291]

Hey,
I'm in the same boat, just starting out, I have 10's on my strat and 9's on my Les Paul (no kidding). I've been playing for about 3 weeks and still can't really put two chords together yet, I'm working on Emj to D and D to Emn. For fun I've started to learn Every Rose has a Thorn by Poison, very easy song if I could get the strum pattern (going to post that question out here). I try and practice 1 hour a day ( I work full time) and have seen noticable improvement since beginning. Practice, Practice , Practice. It's going to take time. Losers quit, you can do it!!!

[higrob]

Thanks for the encouragement