WEBVTT 00:00:09.313 --> 00:00:12.625 Hey, how're you doing? Justin here again, coming at you 00:00:12.625 --> 00:00:15.472 this time for a D minor. 00:00:15.472 --> 00:00:17.959 Now, the other two minors were pretty easy: the A minor was 00:00:17.959 --> 00:00:21.467 very similar to an E and an E minor was an E with a finger lifted off. 00:00:21.467 --> 00:00:24.391 So, D going to be really simple as well? 00:00:24.391 --> 00:00:25.388 Do I get into this D minor? 00:00:25.388 --> 00:00:28.338 Unfortunately not. It's not a particularly hard chord, 00:00:28.338 --> 00:00:31.181 it's not the big dreaded F chord that everyone dislikes. 00:00:31.181 --> 00:00:34.568 But it requires a little bit of a kind of awkward 00:00:34.568 --> 00:00:36.940 finger stretch for some people. 00:00:36.940 --> 00:00:38.377 I didn't find this one too bad, 00:00:38.377 --> 00:00:40.214 I had a lot more trouble with G chord when I was learning guitar. 00:00:40.214 --> 00:00:42.600 But a lot of people struggle with Dmin. 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:44.987 So I'm going to show you a couple of little variations around it as well. 00:00:44.987 --> 00:00:48.520 So, let's go to a close-up and check out this new chord. 00:00:52.197 --> 00:00:55.853 Okay, here we are, looking at the D minor. Now, doesn't look too bad, does it? 00:00:55.853 --> 00:00:57.443 I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 00:00:57.443 --> 00:00:59.226 "Justin just said it was going to be a bit difficult and that 00:00:59.226 --> 00:01:02.297 doesn't look that hard". 00:01:02.297 --> 00:01:03.812 Well, it is that hard. 00:01:03.812 --> 00:01:04.570 Now, you can see here, 00:01:04.570 --> 00:01:05.327 the third finger has got to stretch 00:01:05.327 --> 00:01:07.333 and it's fingers one, two and three. 00:01:07.333 --> 00:01:10.526 Now, for a lot of people, that's a little bit difficult. 00:01:10.526 --> 00:01:14.581 I don't find it that hard now, and some people find that they angle their fingers a little bit like that, 00:01:14.581 --> 00:01:16.227 which is kind of okay, 00:01:16.227 --> 00:01:20.359 but I think you're better off trying to get it a little bit squarer on this one, for now. 00:01:21.021 --> 00:01:23.561 So what we've got here, let's start off with the usual: 00:01:23.561 --> 00:01:26.497 first finger, first string, first fret. 00:01:26.497 --> 00:01:30.162 Second finger, second fret, third string, 00:01:30.162 --> 00:01:32.861 and third finger has to move, you can see there, just the 00:01:32.861 --> 00:01:35.705 way my fingers had to go from here and then go out, 00:01:35.705 --> 00:01:38.355 it's going to the third fret of the second string. 00:01:38.355 --> 00:01:42.669 And it's that third finger that causes a lot of people problems, trying to play this chord. 00:01:42.669 --> 00:01:45.012 If that's you and you really struggle with this chord, 00:01:45.012 --> 00:01:48.538 the other fingering option is to use the fourth finger. 00:01:48.538 --> 00:01:50.844 Which I must admit that was the way I played Dm 00:01:50.844 --> 00:01:54.346 for a long time, using fingers one, two and four. 00:01:55.023 --> 00:01:56.766 It really doesn't make very much difference whether 00:01:56.766 --> 00:02:01.542 you use your third or your fourth. I prefer using my third these days, 00:02:01.542 --> 00:02:04.580 mainly because I can use a little chord trick called a suspended chord. 00:02:04.580 --> 00:02:06.574 In a slightly more advanced lesson. 00:02:06.574 --> 00:02:09.255 So I think fingers one, two and three are better, 00:02:09.255 --> 00:02:13.080 if you can stretch it. But if you can't, you can always go for whacking 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:15.218 the old fourth finger down there. 00:02:15.218 --> 00:02:17.063 Now, when it comes to playing it, 00:02:17.063 --> 00:02:19.593 of course if you look at the chord diagram, 00:02:19.593 --> 00:02:23.745 you'll notice that you shouldn't touch the thickest two strings. 00:02:24.499 --> 00:02:26.469 So starting at the fourth string, you should do your strum 00:02:26.469 --> 00:02:28.003 . . . 00:02:28.003 --> 00:02:29.462 pick out the notes one at a time 00:02:29.462 --> 00:02:31.185 . . . 00:02:31.185 --> 00:02:33.254 Those three should be pretty straight forward, 00:02:33.254 --> 00:02:34.052 . . . 00:02:34.052 --> 00:02:36.361 It's usually this last note, the thinnest string, 00:02:36.361 --> 00:02:38.419 it just sounds like this for people: 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:40.196 . . . 00:02:40.196 --> 00:02:43.122 And all again, it's the third finger lying down too much. 00:02:43.122 --> 00:02:45.285 As soon as you lift it back up a little bit, 00:02:45.285 --> 00:02:46.945 . . . 00:02:46.945 --> 00:02:49.288 You'll find that that's what'll give you that nice roundness 00:02:49.288 --> 00:02:52.194 in your fingers and it'll allow you to get that note. 00:02:52.194 --> 00:02:54.127 Which is the note F, actually. 00:02:54.127 --> 00:02:55.890 . . . 00:02:55.890 --> 00:02:58.091 Here, on your D minor chord. 00:02:59.337 --> 00:03:01.258 It is a really, really good chord, D minor, 00:03:01.258 --> 00:03:03.332 and even if it does feel a little bit stretchy, 00:03:03.332 --> 00:03:05.310 nearly everything that you do that's new, 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:07.685 that's a little bit hard is going to be stretchy. 00:03:07.685 --> 00:03:09.199 And it's just a matter of getting used to it. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.810 Especially for the next stage, we've got G and C, 00:03:11.810 --> 00:03:14.432 which are again, even stretchier. 00:03:14.432 --> 00:03:16.418 But one thing that can help with these chords 00:03:16.418 --> 00:03:17.409 that have got a little bit of a stretch 00:03:17.409 --> 00:03:20.129 is to think to rotate your hand outwards. 00:03:20.129 --> 00:03:21.957 So if you've got your hand flat like this, 00:03:21.957 --> 00:03:24.491 is to think of your thumb down toward the ground, 00:03:24.491 --> 00:03:25.509 so as you're doing it, 00:03:25.509 --> 00:03:27.908 try and think that you're pushing this part of your hand 00:03:27.908 --> 00:03:30.015 up toward the guitar neck a bit more. 00:03:30.015 --> 00:03:31.544 That can often help with the stretch. 00:03:31.544 --> 00:03:34.171 If it's too long like this, feels a bit too, 00:03:34.171 --> 00:03:36.997 see your third finger is going to be a bit long there, 00:03:36.997 --> 00:03:38.116 so by doing that, 00:03:38.116 --> 00:03:40.010 it helps curl up those fingers 00:03:40.010 --> 00:03:41.648 and gets them in a good position. 00:03:41.648 --> 00:03:43.964 So, that might be something to think about there as well. 00:03:43.964 --> 00:03:46.150 So, have fun with your D minor. 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:47.629 Now we're going to try to put them together.