the first chord you played on your guitar

Subject: the first chord you played on your guita
From: 53
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:21 PM

how many of you can remember the very first chord that you ever played on your guitar? i can, can you? bob.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:24 PM

A11th - its the chord you play with standard tuning if you don't fret any of the strings.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:29 PM

Probably a 4 string open G, or maybe a C or a D7. I had played my brother's toy ukele before ever trying a guitar and was able to strum along on 4 strings on first time I touched a guitar.

Jon

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:35 PM

I recall our elementary school renting 40-50 guitars for a few days, so we could all play Down in the Valley for a concert. Ouch! So I guess it was G. Imagine us all strumming woodenly in unison.... and trying to sing and play at the same time.... and some of us wishing we could take them home to play with on our own. I think we were in about 5th or 6th grade.

~S~

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:54 PM

C followed by F. My teacher had a sense of humor.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Philibuster
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 08:34 PM

McGrath, isn't it Em 7/11 (E root, B 3rd, G 5th, D 7th, A 11th)? You could also write it A11/9 no3, but just A11 is fingers down on the second fret of the G and B strings.

A11 might be a fun tuning to try though...

"E,A,C#,D,A,E" Would be about right. If you like it more open "E,A,D,A,C#,E". And mebbe a bassy one "C#,E,A,D,A,E").

Anyways, back on topic, Em.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 08:42 PM

a barred F..(talk about a sense of HUMOR by a guy)..it's also the last one I played...took up the autoharp..

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: sophocleese
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 09:50 PM

Em. I like sad songs. The joy when I realized that I could finally move easily between Em and D.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Mudlark
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 09:53 PM

A cheater's G.....and I play it still.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Troll
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 10:10 PM

G chord, then C and then D.
I was a 12-year old kid living on the military post in Dachau, Germany. Yes. that Dachau. There was a Msgt. in Special Services named Agee Burns living on the post. He had a band called Pappy Burns and the Tune Twisters. They played all over Europe and had a show on Armed Forces Radio as well. He played Bass in the band but could play all the strings.
I was hot to learn the guitar and he agreed to teach me but he said that if I got caught up in music, I'd never be worth a damn for anything else.
He was right.
BTW, he had a brother in the music business who played mandolin. His name was Jethro.

troll

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 10:10 PM

First chords I ever tried were G C & F first chords I ever played were Em and A, I can play all five now and then some.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: DancingMom
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 10:30 PM

It was a C major. But I found out quickly that I can't sing in C.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: Bert
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 11:02 PM

A

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: mooman
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 03:19 AM

E

Guess I'm just the blue type!

mooman

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From: BlueJay
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 03:55 AM

Other than the previously debated open strum, my first successful chord was the E minor. So much less intimidating than that pesky A major, which requires a third finger on the second fret. Oddly, even though I'm not big on the blues, I still return to the Em from time to time. Having reconciled my problem, I can now proudly admit that I play Em first position. Sometimes, less is more. (: BlueJay

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guita
From:
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 04:22 AM

Mine was "D", that funky beginning to "Crazy Lil' Thng Called Love". And mostly in "D" I remain!

Paul

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Ace
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 05:18 AM

The cheater's G, followed by D and A7. I had (and still have) a great songbook with such greats as Running Bear and Leavin' on a Jet Plane, and the most complicated chord was a 4 string F (which I avoided like the plague and still do - strangely I find an F bar chord much easier to play...).

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 05:20 AM

G7, C and D - from Bert Weedon's 'Play in a Day'. I couldn't, incidentally.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 06:36 AM

Well, the open strings with ordinary tuning gives A11 according to The Guitar Handbook (Ralph Denyer / Isaac Guillory / Alastair M. Crawford), which is pretty reliable on such things.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: dorareever
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 07:25 AM

First chord? E minor,then A minor (guess I like minor :)) I'm not a good guitarist myself-I still can't do a LOT of chords;I'm a very "primitive" guitar player but I don't care since I don't want to be a guitarist,it's just that singing is better if you're playing too-I want someone else to play guitar for me but people I've found until now,all more talented than me,couldn't keep my rhytm which variates a lot in the same song.When you don't know many chords you have to put your fantasy elsewhere...so I "play" with rhytms,tempos etc---

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 08:05 AM

singing is better if you're playing

Very questionable. It can be easier, but unless a very good guitarist is involved, good songs sung right sound a lot better without a guitar playing along.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 08:14 AM

The first song I played was from my favourite German singer/songwriter Wolf Biermann; I remember the song so I could still look it up which chord it was. I remember the song had more than a dozen different chords (with many 5+ 7- after the basic chord symbols) and it took me about four weeks until I could play it. Months later I found out that most songs I knew could be played with about 4 different chords.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 08:31 AM

E, then A, then B7.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: LR Mole
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 08:46 AM

E, from a PBS tie-in publication called "Fun With Folk Guitar". It wasn't, as I recall, but it steered me away from all songs with that 4-string F for years. Meanwhile, where did all those women go who played (or anyway held, uncomfortably) folk guitars while wearing (the women, not the guitars) elbow-length gloves and sporting sort-of-bouffant hair, on the covers of these instruction books? I was sort of expecting a different social set than the players I have met since.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Tinker
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 09:32 AM

A three string (one finger) C and G7 playing the chorus of Lemon Tree. Then the full chords, and that infamous 4 string F and Am.Used the oral tradition around the campfire instruction technique.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 10:07 AM

The open strings, when sounded all together are also a G 6/9 chord--although it is a bit off balance--But if you only sound three of the open strings you have a three string G chord-- DGB, or, a nice Em, GBe, with a bass note on the Low E string if you want--Where do people get the idea that they have to sound all six of the strings at the same time?

P.S. I started out going from D to G--

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Cappuccino
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 10:19 AM

I think McG and I were debating that open chord in a different thread, and as always, he was right! But here's a curious thing... after all these years, I now find myself having trouble playing C and making it sound clean.

I suspect arthritis. But it sure makes the brain work, trying to find different ways to play things.

- IanB

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 10:29 AM

E, Em, A -- problem is the guitar has gotten further away from me the last few years. (sigh)

Bat Goddess (a fine, upstanding, double breasted woman)

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 10:43 AM

A7

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:27 PM

G - the real thing - followed in rapid, if not adept, succession by Em, C and D. My little brother taught me these basics when I was 16; over the last 30 years, I've taught myself a few more, much to the relief of friends, family and neighbors!

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: iamjohnne
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:47 PM

I of course started with the cheaters G. Followed by D7 and of course C. I have learned a few since then. I never could make a good sounding F with my thumb on the E and A strings like I have seen some folks(ie Richie Havens)do. I did better with a bar F. Of course playing a classical with nylon strings makes a difference too.

Johnne "goin where the weather suits my clothes"

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 02:27 PM

A

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 08:49 PM

C but I have little fingers and could never get a decent F chord or anything barre, so if everyone else is playing in C I just capo up 3 frets and play in A! D G A/A7 is my favourite combination. P.S. Should have taken up mandolin with my little fingers! Tattie B

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: dorareever
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 09:49 AM

What the hell is a cheaters G? You mean without a barré or what? I never do barré,my hands are too small or stiff or I don't know,but as I said I'm not a guitarist,I'm jutst someone who plays guitar.It's different.As for being "better" singing and playing I mean better for me not for the song...what do you think should be played when you sing? Nothing? I don't think you need "a very good guitar player"..well it depends on your standards of very good I suppose :)

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Singout
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 12:32 PM

I logged on today to ask a couple of guitar questions as at age 54, after telling myself for years I could never learn to play the guitar, I'm teaching myself to play!

D7, C, G, & G7 were my first cords. It still takes me awhile to get the fingers in position for the G.

I have the same problem as IanB, and was going to ask--Why does the C sound flat and dull? I've tried holding my fingers every which way.

Also, can anyone tell me why does using a pick on metal strings sound so bad? The plastic striking metal is certainly louder, but not pleasant. Would I be better off with plastic strings?

Thanks. Penny

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: SharonA
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 01:12 PM

A, then D and E, shown to me in quick succession by a friend whom I asked at 19 to show me how to play. Then she told me I could now play 50% of all the songs that were ever written. Lo these many years and songs later, I have to wonder: did she mean that half the songs ever written were written in 3 chords, or that with 3 chords I could play the first half of every song up to the bridge?

But then she told me the bad news: I was going to have to cut the nails on my chording fingers and develop calluses on them. The first song I wrote for guitar is a really awful blues (in C, but I didn't know any better) about waiting painfully for those calluses.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: toadfrog
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 04:28 PM

I can't recall which chord, but it had the Sound of a Grand Amen! Never was able to reproduce that, and eventually gave up the guitar.

As usual, McGrath makes a whole lot of sense. I don't need no stinkin' guitar!

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 07:53 PM

usually toadfrogs don'play anything they just sit around on a lily pad all day. bob

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 10:22 PM

Best I recall, I first learned a D chord. Glenda

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Kaleea
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 11:53 PM

I do remember, though it was a few lightyears ago, and the chord was D for a Peter, Paul & Mary song & I also learned to pluck the strings with a modified Travis pick on that one.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 12:03 AM

Hadda be Em, I think -- or Am. I think the first song I ever played was something like "Sinner Man," with only two chords.

Genie

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Terry K
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 03:35 AM

It was an A for Amazing Grace, the first tune in the tutor book. I wondered how I was supposed to fit fingers the size of mine into that small space (they seem to fit a little better now, 18 months later).

I think I found it so difficult because my whole system was objecting to playing something religious.

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: BlueJay
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 03:50 AM

Guest, Singout- Penny, the C chord should not sound "flat and dull", as you state. How long have you been playing? If you are new to guitar playing, the C chord can be difficult for awhile. Every new player goes through a period when new fingerings are difficult and all the notes don't sound clearly. Wait till you try F or B.

But if you've been playing for awhile, and are comfortable with the open C fingering, I would look to your instrument. Even good guitars can become virtually unplayable by the effects of time, fret wear, and unqualified people trying to work on them. With cheaper instruments, these effects are exagerated.

It's just a hunch, but in your case I'm thinking you need to get thyself to a reputable repair person and have your guitar evaluated, at the least. It's very possible that a good action setup will make your guitar playing life a lot more rewarding.

Regarding the pick noise- I'd bet my last dime, (it's all alone in the change can), that you are using a "thin" pick. To me, at least, thin picks often sound like a playing card stuck in bicycle spokes with a clothespin. Others may disagree, but I like heavier picks, at least a medium. In my case, it took quite a while to get beyond the timid stage, and actually "attack" the strings, all six strings or a partial chord. The guitar is capable of both loud volumes and extremely subtle nuances. Right hand technique is equal in importance to left hand technique.

Thanks, BlueJay

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 07:35 AM

D and I hope to master another any time now !! :)

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Steven G.
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 09:02 AM

My first chord that I learned on the guitar was the G chord, and then after that I learned the C and D. And then my guitar teacher started to learned me the F chord, and that was the chord I really hated the most. But after years of practice, I started to feel comfortable with the F chord.

Steven G.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Clifton53
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 10:22 AM

What hellacious memories this thread brings back! My first was probably a D chord as I can recall my first song-book was Crosby, Stills and Nash's first record, and "Teach Your Children" starts with a D. I also recall the struggle I had with the Bm.

Everybody hates the F chord when they first start, and to this day I still cheat on it a bit using the four string version most of the time and muting the top and bottom strings, but I use my thumb a lot to at least hit the bass note now. I use the barre F also at times, but it depends which chord I'm coming from.

Penny, I think Blue Jay is spot on with that bit of advice regarding picks. Try a heavier one and that clicky-clack type sound will ebb a lot . Beginners tend to use the lighter picks because they feel they are playing faster as the pick has more 'give' to it. It may take some getting use to.

Clifton

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 01:37 PM

my first chord was a c and i haven't stopped playing since. bob.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Cappuccino
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 06:03 PM

Y'know the awkward thing about chords on guitars? When you start, you don't see any logical connection between that really bizarre first position G chord shape, and, say, a D shape. On a piano, you can see the intervals between the notes before you, so you can see why, for example, an A chord is a different fingering from a C... but on the guitar, those first chords just don't make any visual sense at all, do they? Took me years to work out how there is a relationship between a D shape and a C shape! Sorry to hear that Guest Singout has the same problem with C as I do - but in my case, it's age. The last two fingers on the left hand just don't move as fast as they used to, which is why I can't make that chord shape sound clean any more.

- Ian B

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 06:57 PM

I think it was either E major or E minor...

I found the G chord quite difficult at first, cos my little finger was weak and uncooperative, but eventually it fell in line.

- LH

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 11:27 PM

I had a sears silvertone (paid $24.00 in 1969)and the six chords they had with the guitar and tuning instructions were D A E C G F. I think I played the D first. I ignored the sentence saying I shouldn't play more than 15 minutes a day till I got caluses (I was 14 at the time and didn't pay attention to those things). Even with sore fingers I kept running through the songs in the Phil Ochs songbook (I knew them all and could tell when I was starting to get the chords changes right).

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Genie
Date: 30 Sep 01 - 11:46 PM

Ian,
I have the same arthritis problem in my first finger, left hand--osteoarthritis. "C" was one of my staple keys -- one of the first I learned to play in--long before the key of E, which involved the dreaded B7!.

Then, about 7 years ago, I cut off the end of that same finger while cutting carrots with a very sharp knife. I just cut all layers of the skin off, but for a while I could not play a 'normal' C chord at all. That was when I got comfortable playing C, G, A, etc., as bar chords. Prior to that, I told myself I "couldn't" play bar chords and avoided them like the plague (except for F#, which I couldn't play any other way and often had to use).

Now I can and do play in C again, but I use a barred C almost as often as the unbarred one, just to save my arthritic joint and the end of my finger (which has never quite got back to its pre-slice state).

Genie

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Mark Clark
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 12:05 AM

M.Ted is correct about the chord name for the open strings, it's a G6/9. Of course if you don't play the A string, it's also an Em7.

I no longer remember what my first chord was but I was probably trying to mimic the Kingston Trio's version of Tom Dooley and I'm guessing I used four-string chords and played a one-fingered C and one-fingered G. If I'm right, that lasted for about a week before I just couldn't stand it anymore and learned real chords.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: JB Michaels
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 12:25 AM

Without a doubt: an E chord.

At my first "folk" lesson (I had studied classical for 3 years) my first chord was E major, first position.

My second chord: the F major barre.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Cappuccino
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 03:37 AM

Genie, I wonder if everyone in this thread is now waiting breathlessly to see if I'm going to cut the tip off my little finger to rescue my C chord....??!!!

Do you remember that once there actually was a flamenco guitarist who had a surgeon cut back some of the flesh between his fingers, the tiny webbed bit down where the fingers join the palms, in the belief that it would help him play faster?

Careful with the carrots.

- Ian B

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: LR Mole
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 10:49 AM

I'm going to start a Society of thin-pick users. Point is, you get the touch right, you can make the chord just "be there", without any pick attack noise at all. Or you can stick the guitar in a bicycle wheel.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Cappuccino
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 01:15 PM

I'll join.

All the best - ian B

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 01:45 PM

Well, Mole,
I'm a thumb pick user and addicted to the Herco pick that is like a flatpick that attaches to your thumb. The thin ones -- the thumb-holding part -- bend and break when I back strum, so I try to get the heaviest ones. I wish someone had a Herco type pick with the thumb support part very heavy but the pick part light!

Ian,
Yeah, I guess I should use a Cuisinart!
BTW, the violinist Nadja Solerno Sonnenberg said that she did the same thing a while back, but to the tip of her left pinkie! She was afraid her career was threatened, but somehow she got her fine fingering form back.
I wish I knew more about medical treatments for osteoarthritis of the hand, fingertip reconstruction, etc. My primary care physician at Kaiser Permanente and other MD's I have talked to don't seem to think anything can be done.
Is there a weblink or a thread dealing with patching up musicians?
Some of may have to revert to our first guitar chords eventually, if modern medicine can't catch up with Father Time!

Genie

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: mousethief
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 01:48 PM

Cain't remember. It was in Jr High School, in music class, maybe 7th or 8th grade. Nylon-strung with black strings at GBE instead of clear. Played songs in keys of A and D. So prolly D.

Alex

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 01:48 PM

Oh, wow!
I should not have phrased my last question so broadly! There are oodles of links in Mudcat about arthritis;it's going to take me some time to wade through them. I'm going to narrow my questions and post them in one of those links or start a new one about skin grafts!

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 09:40 PM

refresh.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: SummerGirl
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 10:40 PM

Cheatin' G. Then C and D, so I could play "Camptown Races" out of a Mel Bay book...

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 16 Oct 01 - 10:52 PM

E!, E!, E! The guitar is voiced in E, how could one start with any other chord?!

...or was it just 1958 and rock 'n roll that made me think that way?

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: BluesMojo
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 02:02 PM

My first chord was a C. The first song I ever played at proper speed without screwing up was Blowin' in the Wind. I was able to sing it with the guitar after about another hour, then two hours later I could manage some harp with it too. And that was what I did for the next week or so.

What's a cheater's G?

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 03:04 PM

No one ever answered dorareever's/ (and now) BluesMojo's question:

A 'cheater's G' is using one finger to play the G note on the first string, at the third fret, and only playing the first four strings... as opposed to making the whole chord by fretting the sixth string at the third fret; the fifth string at the second fret; as well as the first string at the third fret.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: M.Ted
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 07:47 PM

A whole G chord requires only three notes-- G-B-D, and can be played on three strings--although you can use all six strings, and people do when they want the sound of a chord supplemented with bass notes, it isn't necessary to play the full chord--In fact, sounding the B note on the A string at the same time as the G on the Low E string sounds a bit muddy to many people--

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 17 Oct 01 - 10:13 PM

try the 4 finger g chord, it has a nice chime effect.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: SharonA
Date: 18 Oct 01 - 05:40 PM

4-finger G chord? Are we talking about the barre chord (which I know and use) or a chord with four fretted strings and two open (which I do not know, so if that's the one, please describe it!)?

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 18 Oct 01 - 05:50 PM

It was an A - Loved the roar it made! It was also the only main chord in my first song - "This Old Man." Took me forever to get the change from an A to a D!

I'd also like to see a thumb pick with a little lighter pick part. I've tried sanding them down but they don't seem to wear very well - usually just break.

Steve

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 18 Oct 01 - 07:01 PM

a 4 finger g chord is one that you add a d note on the 2nd string holding it down with your 3rd finger and using your 4th finger on the 1st string. bob.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 19 Oct 01 - 11:18 AM

(The note you're adding is a D -- third fret, right next to that G you're holding on the 1st string.) Many bluegrassers like this for the "ring". I use it on rare occasions to vary the sound or relieve monotony.

Subject: RE: the first chord you played on your guitar
From: 53
Date: 19 Oct 01 - 04:17 PM

yeah , that's it , sounds good.