0:00:09.313,0:00:12.625
Hey, how're you doing? Justin here again, coming at you

0:00:12.625,0:00:15.472
this time for a D minor.

0:00:15.472,0:00:17.959
Now, the other two minors were pretty easy: [br]the A minor was

0:00:17.959,0:00:21.467
very similar to an E [br]and an E minor was an E with a finger lifted off.

0:00:21.467,0:00:24.391
So, D going to be really simple as well?

0:00:24.391,0:00:25.388
Do I get into this D minor?

0:00:25.388,0:00:28.338
Unfortunately not. It's not a particularly hard chord,

0:00:28.338,0:00:31.181
it's not the big dreaded F chord that everyone dislikes.

0:00:31.181,0:00:34.568
But it requires a little bit of a kind of awkward

0:00:34.568,0:00:36.940
finger stretch for some people.

0:00:36.940,0:00:38.377
I didn't find this one too bad,

0:00:38.377,0:00:40.214
I had a lot more trouble with G chord [br]when I was learning guitar.

0:00:40.214,0:00:42.600
But a lot of people struggle with Dmin.

0:00:42.600,0:00:44.987
So I'm going to show you a couple of [br]little variations around it as well.

0:00:44.987,0:00:48.520
So, let's go to a close-up and check out this new chord.

0:00:52.197,0:00:55.853
Okay, here we are, looking at the D minor. [br]Now, doesn't look too bad, does it?

0:00:55.853,0:00:57.443
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking

0:00:57.443,0:00:59.226
"Justin just said it was going to be a bit difficult and that

0:00:59.226,0:01:02.297
doesn't look that hard".

0:01:02.297,0:01:03.812
Well, it is that hard.

0:01:03.812,0:01:04.570
Now, you can see here,

0:01:04.570,0:01:05.327
the third finger has got to stretch

0:01:05.327,0:01:07.333
and it's fingers one, two and three.

0:01:07.333,0:01:10.526
Now, for a lot of people, that's a little bit difficult.

0:01:10.526,0:01:14.581
I don't find it that hard now, and some people find that they angle their fingers a little bit like that,

0:01:14.581,0:01:16.227
which is kind of okay,

0:01:16.227,0:01:20.359
but I think you're better off trying to get it a little bit squarer on this one, for now.

0:01:21.021,0:01:23.561
So what we've got here, let's start off with the usual:

0:01:23.561,0:01:26.497
first finger, first string, first fret.

0:01:26.497,0:01:30.162
Second finger, second fret, third string,

0:01:30.162,0:01:32.861
and third finger has to move, you can see there, just the

0:01:32.861,0:01:35.705
way my fingers had to go from here and then go out,

0:01:35.705,0:01:38.355
it's going to the third fret of the second string.

0:01:38.355,0:01:42.669
And it's that third finger that causes a lot of people problems, trying to play this chord.

0:01:42.669,0:01:45.012
If that's you and you really struggle with this chord,

0:01:45.012,0:01:48.538
the other fingering option is to use the fourth finger.

0:01:48.538,0:01:50.844
Which I must admit that was the way I played Dm

0:01:50.844,0:01:54.346
for a long time, using fingers one, two and four.

0:01:55.023,0:01:56.766
It really doesn't make very much difference whether

0:01:56.766,0:02:01.542
you use your third or your fourth. [br]I prefer using my third these days,

0:02:01.542,0:02:04.580
mainly because I can use a little chord trick called a suspended chord.

0:02:04.580,0:02:06.574
In a slightly more advanced lesson.

0:02:06.574,0:02:09.255
So I think fingers one, two and three are better,

0:02:09.255,0:02:13.080
if you can stretch it. [br]But if you can't, you can always go for whacking

0:02:13.080,0:02:15.218
the old fourth finger down there.

0:02:15.218,0:02:17.063
Now, when it comes to playing it,

0:02:17.063,0:02:19.593
of course if you look at the chord diagram,

0:02:19.593,0:02:23.745
you'll notice that you shouldn't touch the [br]thickest two strings.

0:02:24.499,0:02:26.469
So starting at the fourth string, you should do your strum

0:02:26.469,0:02:28.003
. . .

0:02:28.003,0:02:29.462
pick out the notes one at a time

0:02:29.462,0:02:31.185
. . .

0:02:31.185,0:02:33.254
Those three should be pretty straight forward,

0:02:33.254,0:02:34.052
. . .

0:02:34.052,0:02:36.361
It's usually this last note, the thinnest string,

0:02:36.361,0:02:38.419
it just sounds like this for people:

0:02:38.419,0:02:40.196
. . .

0:02:40.196,0:02:43.122
And all again, it's the third finger lying down too much.

0:02:43.122,0:02:45.285
As soon as you lift it back up a little bit,

0:02:45.285,0:02:46.945
. . .

0:02:46.945,0:02:49.288
You'll find that that's what'll give you that nice roundness

0:02:49.288,0:02:52.194
in your fingers and it'll allow you to get that note.

0:02:52.194,0:02:54.127
Which is the note F, actually.

0:02:54.127,0:02:55.890
. . .

0:02:55.890,0:02:58.091
Here, on your D minor chord.

0:02:59.337,0:03:01.258
It is a really, really good chord, D minor,

0:03:01.258,0:03:03.332
and even if it does feel a little bit stretchy,

0:03:03.332,0:03:05.310
nearly everything that you do that's new,

0:03:05.310,0:03:07.685
that's a little bit hard is going to be stretchy.

0:03:07.685,0:03:09.199
And it's just a matter of getting used to it.

0:03:09.199,0:03:11.810
Especially for the next stage, we've got G and C,

0:03:11.810,0:03:14.432
which are again, even stretchier.

0:03:14.432,0:03:16.418
But one thing that can help with these chords

0:03:16.418,0:03:17.409
that have got a little bit of a stretch

0:03:17.409,0:03:20.129
is to think to rotate your hand outwards.

0:03:20.129,0:03:21.957
So if you've got your hand flat like this,

0:03:21.957,0:03:24.491
is to think of your thumb down toward the ground,

0:03:24.491,0:03:25.509
so as you're doing it,

0:03:25.509,0:03:27.908
try and think that you're pushing this part of your hand

0:03:27.908,0:03:30.015
up toward the guitar neck a bit more.

0:03:30.015,0:03:31.544
That can often help with the stretch.

0:03:31.544,0:03:34.171
If it's too long like this, feels a bit too,

0:03:34.171,0:03:36.997
see your third finger is going to be a bit long there,

0:03:36.997,0:03:38.116
so by doing that,

0:03:38.116,0:03:40.010
it helps curl up those fingers

0:03:40.010,0:03:41.648
and gets them in a good position.

0:03:41.648,0:03:43.964
So, that might be something to think about there as well.

0:03:43.964,0:03:46.150
So, have fun with your D minor.

0:03:46.150,0:03:47.629
Now we're going to try to put them together.