Did you also have problems with G chord?

Hello, I am a begginer (3 weeks "playing") and I have some problems with G chord, maybe my hands are very small or maybe the neck of my guitar is very big. I'd like to know if it's an usual problem and I'll overcome with practice or if I am unable to play a guitar. Thanks.

...hmmm... I never seemed to have a problem with it. Or at least I can't remember it. What guitar have you got?

You probably will overcome it with practice since you've only been playing for three weeks... I wouldn't worry. Just keep play, learn some other chords and learn some scales and stuff - maybe that might free up your fingers?

Try it, get back to us - tell us how you're coming along.

I have a classic guitar, an acoustic guitar. I have problems because I am slow when placing my 2nd finger in the 6th string and my 3rd finger in the 1st string, 'cause my 2nd one touches the 5th string.

Well... Try to move the rest of your hand, beside the fingertips of course, away from the fretboard. The only advice when learning something like this is practice. Go from different chords and take your time to do the fingering right. Eventually you'll just be used to it and it'll get quicker.

Make sure your thumb is in the middle of the neck round the back. This ensures your fingers are as perpendicular to the strings as possible. I used to have a few problem with open Gmaj as well. A lot of the time now, i choose to play a Gmaj barre chord instead.

The proper way to make a Gmaj chord:

3rd finger on G note (upper E string)
2nd finger on B note (A string)
4th finger on G note (lower E string)

Hey, I had no problem playing G, but I need to know first how old are you, or how long are your fingers... if you still can't wait to grow or cannot strech you should do the barre G which is like F but two frets away...

If you are old enough to have fully grown hands though - don't take the easy way out.

I wouldn't worry about that at all. I play the G chord like that all the time... with my 2nd finger muting the 5th string. My guitar teacher actually recommended it since it has a slightly nicer voicing than the typical way of playing G (with the 1st finger freting the 5th string at the second fret.

And while you are playing G that way, if you can get your 3rd finger to fret both the 1st and 2nd strings at the 3rd fret, then you will be playing G5... and while you are doing that, if you move your 2nd finger to the 5th string, and mute the 6th and 4th strings, you are playing C5... moving between G5 and C5 is easy, and sounds nice.

I would add though, that classical guitars tend to have wider necks and more spacing to the strings... which can make classical fingerstyle playing easier, but tends to make chords harder. You might want to change to a regular steel string acoustic with a narrower neck and see if that doesn't make a big difference. It did for me.

In the end, finger strength is a big thing. When I first started I found many chords hard to pull off... but with daily practice I was able to master most any chord within a week or two.

Good luck!

What you can do is place the fingers on the G chord and just relax them. If you have a problem playing it, you may be pressing too hard on the frets. Remember the function of the left hand. You are basically only shortening the string to get a different tone. There is no need to press so hard, so relax the hand! Practice your chord changes with the left hand alone before adding the right had strumming. It seems a little bit weird but really helps!