*dazed state* i know g major
...and suddenly, picking up Shandy for another go, I can play C, D, and G major chords without any difficulty. The strings don't have the same kind of fight in them that they did yesterday. What gives?
I guess there's a lot to be said for well-rested fingers?
Also, now I understand why the beginner book was only teaching me half chords. It's a lot harder to learn chords that way (as you have to unlearn the half chords to commit the full chords to muscle memory), but it makes a lot easier to remember chords. Much simpler to think of a C major chord as a finger on the first fret of B than a combination of three different fret positions on three different strings. It still takes some mental gymnastics to switch between chords, but thinking of them in terms of their lowest string helps a lot.
Maybe I'll give the book another chance.
I guess there's a lot to be said for well-rested fingers?
Also, now I understand why the beginner book was only teaching me half chords. It's a lot harder to learn chords that way (as you have to unlearn the half chords to commit the full chords to muscle memory), but it makes a lot easier to remember chords. Much simpler to think of a C major chord as a finger on the first fret of B than a combination of three different fret positions on three different strings. It still takes some mental gymnastics to switch between chords, but thinking of them in terms of their lowest string helps a lot.
Maybe I'll give the book another chance.