Strumming to the Tune of G and D

I recently finished my lessons for G major and D major chords. I think I am finally getting the hang of this! With that being said, I still have a long way to go! This time around, I tried using videos from other YouTubers to try and find the best ways for me to learn.

Photo Credit: Ethan Hein Flickr via Compfight cc

For reference, I have now completed the following chords: E minor, A sus2, A major, G major, D major.

I found this video by Justin Guitar that focusses solely on the G Chord. While the video is very clear and easy to understand with some great advice that helped me position my fingers correctly to get a clear sound, it was quite short and did not give me the opportunity to listen to him strum his G chord while I strummed mine to listen for inconsistencies between our sounds, which helps me find the correct placement of my fingers to get a clear sound.

Next, I used Andy Guitar‘s lesson to learn the D chord. I actually really enjoyed his lesson,  which surprised as I had looked at some of his other videos and was not sure how I felt about his channel. Andy’s video clearly explains where to place your fingers, even giving a split screen with a view of the whole guitar and a view of the frets. Also, he clearly tells you which strings you should be strumming and which strings to avoid, which is nice because otherwise, I would just be strumming all of the strings! Like the Justin Guitar video though, Andy does not give the time to strum along with him or practice moving between all of the chords you know to practice transitions from one chord to the next.

I also continued using the Marty Music videos as a comparison, mostly because I knew I already knew and enjoyed his style of teaching, as well, I plan to use his videos as a point of reference to evaluate the other videos.

I found the fingerings for these chords to be quite simple but am finding that I struggle with strumming all of the strings when I should only be strumming three or four of the strings. I am also struggling with quickly moving from one chord to the next though I figure that this will come with practice and as I get more of a feel for the positioning of my hands.

I am hoping to play Riptide soon but I still need to learn C and F chords before that can happen! In my next lessons, I plan on learning the A minor, E major, and C major chords which will take me one chord closer to being able to play my goal song of Riptide.

Also, for any of my talented, guitar playing readers, I have been practising the C major chord but just cannot seem to be able to get the fingerings right to create a clear sound, any suggestions?