Originally Posted by: BenoitSome chords requires heavy stretching and strength that only comes with time. Give yourself a chance and practice them once in a while when you are warmed up so your hand isn't stiff. There's no fast way of doing it, you have to let your hands adapt to new positions.

I have stubby fingers. I'm designing a bass that will have a custom neck because I can't comfortably play most of what's out there, not even a J-bass unless it's a Geddy signature or something. :( As far as regular guitars go, I'm nearly physically incapable of playing any Gibson I've ever picked up.

If you look at the notes used in chords using 4-6 strings, you'll notice that a lot of them have repeating notes in different octaves. That is so the chord sound bigger or "fuller".

I see. I'm not really seeing any basic meat-and-potato power chords in this book as I go through it.

My approach is to focus on the ones I like the sound of, regardless of what they're categorized as. Because those are the only ones I would ever play. As far as regular guitar goes I only want to home record my own projects. When I play with others, it's always bass... because that is what I do. I am a bassist. And I can do chords on that thing 'til the cows come home... but it is, as we all know, a different beast.