That one fucking chord in Spoon

[KMHeiman]

Yeah the E chord with the 4th fret on the low E-string. Also in Jimi Thing. You know which one i'm talking about. I havent been playing guitar for that long, but I still cannot hit this chord cleanly. Anyone feel the same way, or have any advice on how to nail this chord?

[PilotC150]

In the words of Allen Iverson:

We talkin' about practice!

Alright, now some real advice: Make sure you're not holding your guitar too low. If you have it higher up you can reach your hand around a bit more easily so that you can reach the low-e string with your pinky.

[KMHeiman]

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try it next time I whip out my guitar, seems reasonable though. I can kind of hit the chord, but it sounds so damn sloppy.

[dotpsd]

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to try it next time I whip out my guitar, seems reasonable though. I can kind of hit the chord, but it sounds so damn sloppy.

So Damn Sloppy? the new version of So Damn Lucky? haha sorry had to point that out. I know what you mean about that chord though man, it's weird. I was just practicing yesterday and i was having some trouble with it but by the end of the day I got it! You can do it

[ShamikRocks]

whats the chord? could you tab it out?

[dotpsd]

whats the chord? could you tab it out?

e--x
B--x
G--1
D--2
A--2
E--4

So it's E with your 4th finger up on the low E string

[thebridge15]

hit the E with your pinky?

[vman25bv]

If you're having trouble with that you can also play it....e--0 or X whichever you prefer...a la Say Goodbye. The chord is an E/G#.
B--9
G--9
D--9
A--11
E--0

[vman25bv]

Ugh...the format didn't work right..but I think you get the picture.

[ShamikRocks]

thats a stretch

[mathius43]

I have a lot of issues with these kinds of stretches, same with Billies, Captain, etc. So what I do is I ditch my first finger on the G string. It's cheating, but if you're not cheating, you're not trying.

[dotpsd]

it sure helps to have big hands with Dave's chords sometimes!
and I used to play stand up bass in Middle/High School and I played that before guitar so that made my hands pretty strong

[Kyvek]

Just stretch, you can do it. Jaco kept his index finger on the second fret, and stretched his pinky over the 6th fret for an artificial harmonic, on an electric bass. That's legit like twice as far :lol Keep your thumb as close to behind your middle finger as you can, also. Not sure about guitar and chords and such, but for playing bass, I think it gives the most flexibility, as far as reaching long stretches.

[DaveHead36]

There's a couple ways I play this chord:

e: 0
b: 0
g: 4
d: 2
a: x
E: 4

or

e: 0
b: 0
g: 1
d: x
a: 2
E: 4

example two is closer to what you're doing only you're dropping the E played on the d string, which makes the stretch a little easier.

example one is the one I most frequently use when playing E/G#. Not because I'm lazy but I just like the way it sounds... well perhaps because I'm a bit lazy as well :rolleyes

[JCpatriot66]

I play it straight, I have an insanely bendy left hand/left pinky. Love that chord a ton.

[41 Step]

I play it 4-2-2-4-x-x or 4-2-2-4-0-0.

[PhishSticks40]

I usually take my pointer off and make it an Em, it makes it a bit easier to reach that pinky over there, and you never really go back to striking the chord so it doesnt really matter you more or less just hit the E string.

[dvalukis]

e: 0
b: 0
g: 1
d: 2
a: x
E: 4

That's the way I play it when the chord needs to be full ("Jimi Thing", BOWA, "God Only Knows" Beach Boys. But for Spoon its just a quick hit with emphasis on the lower 3 strings, so you can do a number of easy things. My answer though... You're already holding the Emaj. It's easy to learn to stretch your pinky when already holding that position. So tough it out and spend a few minutes foriming and Emaj and trying to stretch that pinky. She'll come around before you know it.

As far as nailing that chord when not coming from Emaj. Pretty much imposible IMO.

[darbini]

Lower your thumb on the back side of the neck and that should allow an easier stretch

[Ryan R]

use the pinkey

[Dmbsst]

I make it an E minor played with my pointer finger in Spoon. I play the full chord with the pinky stretch in Jimi Thing, cant really get away with it any other way there

[MGH4007]

Occasionally I'll play a bluesier version of this song, sometime when Im not on a phone I'll tab it out

[mismetti]

I couldn't hit that chord at first, but I practiced until I had stretched out my finger to do those things. Also, make sure the guitar is not too low, I think I even bring the arm closer to my head, so I don't force my wrist too much.

[maxsoup]

that chord is less awful that the one from the bridge of save me
E----
B----
G-7-7
D-5-5
A-3-5
E-5-3

i HATE that transition, that being said i have huge hands that can hit all those weird stretches (captain, 41 spoon)

[MGH4007]

yea, keep in mind these are all fairly easy to work around without loosing too much of Daves timbre