Help with #41

StayOrLeaveIU · Post by **StayOrLeaveIU** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:07 am

Hey I know there are a lot of posts about #41 but i cant really find them. I'm pretty new and i cant stretch that 5325xx or any of those chords really..Ive been playing for about 10 months. Any suggestions on stretching exercises or ways to help me get that down? Thanks a lot.

sfmartins · Post by **sfmartins** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:10 am

I would do a little warm up first, consisting of stretching your left fingers with your rigth hand and then playing some "stretched chords".
Do this everytime you play and just practice a lot. I'll will come to you...

good luck man!

NonSequitur · Post by **NonSequitur** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:31 am

Play Satellite LOADS to warm up/strengthen/stretch out your hand....it'll come.

Appfro · Post by **Appfro** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:29 am

and if you just have small hands and find that after all the practice you can't reach it, just cheat. play 53x5xx you can't make your hands bigger if they aren't big enough and there's no sense in fooling yourself into thinking that one day your hands will magically be bigger. but definitely do the stretch exercises first to see if you can play the chord the correct way

StayOrLeaveIU · Post by **StayOrLeaveIU** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:48 am

I have pretty big hands, and I can play satellite somewhat good.. I'll definitely do that though, thanks a lot guys

c_tietze · Post by **c_tietze** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:07 am

Substitute the chords

Easy E · Post by **Easy E** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:25 am

also an old mattyboom trick. Put a capo on the 5th fret and play the chords accordingly up further on the fret board, then move it back to the 4th fret and so on. keep doing this until you stretch your hand out

Hydro120 · Post by **Hydro120** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:53 am

It's just practice, man. I have pretty small hands myself, and have been playing DMB for a while now, and it hurt at first and I couldnt' quite do it, but now it's easy.

Practice playing 53x5xx first, and when you can get that easy enough, start adding the xx2xxx with the index finger to complete it.

Question: Can you play the major chord version (easier IMO), 5426xx?

fateman · Post by **fateman** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:39 pm

I don't think I will ever be able to perfect the #41 or Captain stretches because I have small hands and short fingers, but if you do your best you may accidentally mute one string, which isn't too bad IMO

StayOrLeaveIU · Post by **StayOrLeaveIU** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:47 pm

Hydro120 wrote:It's just practice, man. I have pretty small hands myself, and have been playing DMB for a while now, and it hurt at first and I couldnt' quite do it, but now it's easy.

Practice playing 53x5xx first, and when you can get that easy enough, start adding the xx2xxx with the index finger to complete it.

Question: Can you play the major chord version (easier IMO), 5426xx?

Not sure, I havent tried it yet but I will. I can stretch nature intro to Tripping so I think I should be able to do it.....Thanks a lot to everyone for allof your help

taparoo · Post by **taparoo** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:21 pm

c_tietze wrote:Substitute the chords

Yeah. instead of the fingerings shown on the site, you can still play the chord progression and it will generally sound the same (maybe not as "Dave-ish", but they are technically the same chords). For example, the Am, Bm, Em, D chord progression can be played as:

Am
0
1
2
2
0
x

Bm
2
3
4
4
2
x

Em
0
0
0
2
2
0

D
2
3
2
0
x
x

I can' recommend this site enough, Looknohands.com: http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/g ... ex_rb.html. Just find the chord you are looking for, and it will display all the different ways to play the chord, all along the neck. Some basic chord theory is required, but you will catch on.

proudestmonkey41 · Post by **proudestmonkey41** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:35 pm

StayOrLeaveIU wrote:
Hydro120 wrote:It's just practice, man. I have pretty small hands myself, and have been playing DMB for a while now, and it hurt at first and I couldnt' quite do it, but now it's easy.

Practice playing 53x5xx first, and when you can get that easy enough, start adding the xx2xxx with the index finger to complete it.

Question: Can you play the major chord version (easier IMO), 5426xx?
Not sure, I havent tried it yet but I will. I can stretch nature intro to Tripping so I think I should be able to do it.....Thanks a lot to everyone for allof your help

funny i can do #41 no problem.. but not the nature intro.

Hydro120 · Post by **Hydro120** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:42 pm

proudestmonkey41 wrote:
StayOrLeaveIU wrote:
Hydro120 wrote:It's just practice, man. I have pretty small hands myself, and have been playing DMB for a while now, and it hurt at first and I couldnt' quite do it, but now it's easy.

Practice playing 53x5xx first, and when you can get that easy enough, start adding the xx2xxx with the index finger to complete it.

Question: Can you play the major chord version (easier IMO), 5426xx?
Not sure, I havent tried it yet but I will. I can stretch nature intro to Tripping so I think I should be able to do it.....Thanks a lot to everyone for allof your help
funny i can do #41 no problem.. but not the nature intro.

that is funny. because the nature intro and #41 use exactly the same stretch of the hands and fingering, just with your middle finger on the 4th string instead of the 2nd.

proudestmonkey41 · Post by **proudestmonkey41** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:45 pm

you are also on the 6th fret on the g string. that tiny bit extra i cannot do cleanly

Yakko · Post by **Yakko** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:25 pm

PRACTICE....And play Satellite.

I play #41 a bout five times a night, and it all comes with practice.