Why Start With Two Fingered Guitar Chords Vs Three

Hey, YouTube, this is Lauren Bateman here. And I've had, I've actually never done a live before, so this is pretty cool. But I've been going through comments on one of my more popular videos, which is a video of me teaching really beginner guitar chords. And I have a lot of people who keep asking the question, hey, how come your G chord only has two fingers versus three fingers? Is mine wrong? And you know, the simple answer is no, you're not wrong. There's many, many ways to play chords all over the guitar. And if we're talking about a G chord, sometimes you know, you can play a G chord with only three notes. That's what you need to play a G chord, three notes. But you can play, you know, you can play a two finger G chord, you can play a three finger G chord, you play a four finger G chord, they're all G. But why do I start with teaching people to play with just two fingers? So the really quick answer is that especially for a lot of adults, and I've taught a lot of adults over the years, sometimes when they're learning a C chord, sometimes using all three fingers is very hard. It's very difficult for them to form the chords and it also slows down their chord changes. And then what happens? You get frustrated and then you give up and you never want to touch the guitar again. So for me, my goal as a guitar teacher is to help adults find easy ways to play chords, but also help them build confidence. So when we're talking about these two fingered chords that I teach in the video and I'll put a link below this, so if we're talking about a C chord, we're doing two fingers this way. So we're basically just leaving off one finger. And you'll notice it's very easy to go from C to E minor. So what I'm doing is I'm leaving pivot points, E minor to G, I'm leaving pivot points. So you only have to move one finger at a time. And I found over the years that this is super helpful for adults. And also moving two fingers is way easier than moving three or four fingers. And I find that a lot of guitar teachers, they'll throw adults into the three fingered version. And I've done that myself in the past. And I realized for some people it's, it's too much. So if you started and you're playing a three fingered G chord this way, or if you're using your pinky, it's also correct. There's Nothing wrong with it. It's not that you're playing the chord wrong, you're playing it correctly. Just I'm trying to help people get some confidence that this is actually easy and possible. Your video is a great help. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that. But that's it. The goal is for me to simplify this for you guys so that, hey, we can learn an E minor chord, we can learn a C chord, we can learn a G chord, and we can learn a decor which is the hardest of the three. Oh, this is so cool. Yeah. Well, Merry Christmas. First time doing a live. So nice seeing you guys. I do try to comment, if you leave comments. I do try to go in and comment and say hello to everyone. So please leave a comment, say hello. But if you get these four chords, the two fingered C chord, the two fingered G chord, the E minor and the D, you can play lots and lots of songs. So that's why I personally go and teach the two finger chords first. So it's a stepping stone. So the goal for me. So if you're watching my videos, go watch the two fingered version first. And then I have a whole section on YouTube on chords. You can learn the full C chord and the full G chord and go from there. But I wouldn't recommend doing that until your fingers are moving fast enough because that's a big thing that a lot of my adult guitar players talk about is hello from Canada. Awesome. I'm in Boston, so we're not that far away. But now you've got these two finger chords and once you start moving those fast enough, I usually say if you can change a hundred beats per minute, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or then E minor G, 1, 2. As soon as you can do those chord changes at about 180 to 100 beats. Perfect per minute. So that's the number on the speed on a metronome. Then I would graduate you to the three fingered chords because now you can add in this third finger. And for a lot of people, this third finger is a problem finger for their chords because it's a stretch. We have to stretch over three frets and that can be frustrating. A lot of people end up muting their fourth string. So that's why again, why start with the two finger chords? Because you can actually play a C chord with or a G chord and make it sound really nice without too many muted strings, hopefully. So I hope you guys enjoyed this explanation. Like I said, I'm getting a lot of comments from people just saying, hey, I'M playing my G chord with three fingers, I'm playing it with my pinky. Is that wrong? It's not wrong. And if you're just starting out, playing with a two finger chord is a great way to start. It's not going to set you back. It's not. Am I dreaming? I hope you're not dreaming. This is reality. If you, if it's not setting you back, it's not like you have to go and relearn chords to get from the two fingered C chord to the three fingered C chord, you're just adding a third finger, you're not relearning anything. You're just adding a finger. To go from the two fingered G chord to the three fingered, you're adding the third finger. And did you also know another quick tip and pointer, the third finger is the problem finger. So that's why on both the C chord and the G chord I left off the third finger because that's usually the problem finger for all guitar players. And I do have an exercise, I'll put a link below this video do have an exercise for something you can do to work on getting this third finger to work because for a lot of people this third finger doesn't cooperate and that's what's slowing down. Your chord changes a lot. So that's another, yet another reason why I teach two fingered chords first and then we add in the third finger down the road. So I hope everyone if you have a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrated that you had one and that you all have a happy New Year. I think I might do these lives a little bit more often to answer some of the questions I get in the comments. Let's see. Tank, what would you say a good beginner acoustic guitar is? A good beginner acoustic guitar.

I usually recommend something within like the 200 to $300 price range. Acoustic guitar can be tricky because if you buy one of those cheap hundred dollar acoustic guitars what happens is the action. See if I get so see how close my strings are to the guitar. They're very close. So the action on beginner guitars can tend to be like this where your strings are really far off the neck of the guitar and it makes it harder to play. So I would recommend Ibanez makes some really nice guitars. One of my first guitars was an Ibanez. They make some really nice guitars in the 2 to $300 range. Make sure you don't get unless you're a big guy, don't get a dreadnought guitar because they can be Very thick. I tend to like these size guitars. They're like a medium body, but sometimes for women, thinner bodies are easier to play. So the middle finger is your trouble finger? Yeah, the middle finger is the trouble finger for a lot of people. And that's why even in my course, a lot of my exercises and stuff are developing the third finger and getting your fingers to move independently. Do you recommend getting your guitar set up professionally? Yeah, I would recommend getting your guitar set up professionally, especially if you have an electric guitar, because there's a little bit more to do on the setup. And if you bring your guitar in, if you've never. So in your guitar there's what we call a truss rod which can sometimes the neck of your guitar. So if you're not familiar with doing it, I would recommend bringing it into some so that they can do it professionally. Guitar is made of wood, so it's going to expand and contract depending on how hot and cold the weather. If you live in a place like Canada, I saw someone was in Canada. But if you live in New England like me, we have really extremes of cold and hot. So your guitar, the neck of your guitar is going to expand and contract and the bend is going to change throughout the year. So you might want to get that adjusted. But an electric guitar, I usually recommend getting them, you know, set up. It's called the set up. I recommend getting them set up like once a year. This way you make sure everything's clean. They redo the intonation because there's, there's on your bridge, there's stuff you have to adjust down here that you don't have on the acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitars are way, I think, somewhat easier to maintain than an electric in terms of upkeep. But other than that, yeah, those are my recommendations for beginner guitars. And once again, just.

The main video is why I recommend doing 2 fingers vs 3 fingers to answer everyone's question and is because it just makes it easier for beginners. Gives you guys a little bit of satisfaction that hey, this is actually possible. And it is possible if you just go in the right order in the right steps and if you can learn some simple chords and you know, you go to my website, laurenbateman.com and you play along to some of those songs. Another question people had asked is older player 61, any tips for getting the fingers moving? Yes, John, I'm going to put a link below this video to an exercise that I mentioned earlier that will help you with getting your fingers moving faster. But if you're looking for some of the songs. Some people are like hey, where do I find these thousands of songs? There's thousands of songs that use the chords E minor, G, C and D. But you can go to my website laurenbateman.com There is a beginner chord chart section, beginner guitar song section. And I have some songs listed with the chords that are used in the song so that you can figure out which ones have just those four chords. There's probably like a dozen of them that I have listed in that beginner guitar song. But there's many, many more that you can play. So my website is not an extensive list. I'm working on getting more chord charts up there every month. But just look up chords that have four chords, E minor, C, D and G and you'll be able to play lots. I'm getting quicker with your spider exercises. Yes, the spider exercises is another great exercise too. I can also link to that one too. So you guys get a full library here. So lovely seeing you guys. This is so cool that we get to comment and talk in real time. So happy to see you but love all your comments below the videos. Like I said, I do try to respond as best I can but once this video goes live I'm hoping it will post my channel and I'll be able to put some links and stuff below the videos and answer your guys comments. So have a lovely day. I gotta figure out how to stop the video now so you guys can watch me flounder a little bit. Oh see it says share. I don't honestly don't know how to end. Anyone know how to end the video? Let's see. If I push this button, we'll see. Nope, that's not it. All right, well hopefully we will figure out how to share this and end this and I will see you guys. I will see you guys soon. Tata.