11

enter image description here

I've tried to play this chord a couple different ways and I have no way to play it. I tried to have my index on 10 my pinky on the 16s and my middle or ring on 14. Is there something I'm missing or are my hands just too small?

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  • Not sure where you got that but I expect most people can’t play this chord. Could be big hands and a short scale length would make it possible. I might be able to reach 10 to 16 between the E and A strings but not while also getting 16 on D and 14 on G Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 17:19
  • I "can play it" pinky across both 16s, but I wouldn't want to go for it in a rush.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 17:27
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    I think @piiperi has the right answer, but a little bit of the tab before and after might make much clearer what the fingering should be. Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 19:06

3 Answers 3

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It's probably a copy-paste mistake, someone used a notation program's automatic features to create the tab and didn't check if it can actually be played.

Try playing it as: 10 x 11 11 10 x

same notes, different tab

It's a Dmaj7 chord, by the way.

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  • 4
    Ooo that’s a good shape. I’ll have to put that in my voicings bank Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 17:40
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    Exactly what I thought. Funny how this music.stackexchange.com/questions/107939 about piano and bad software arrangement is questions, but no doubt about this being a bad software tab. Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 19:00
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    @ToddWilcox yes, there are many related useful voicings with that "root note + upper structure" form – once you know to aim for something like this I'm sure you can see how you could get a maj6, a maj7#11, a min7 and a min6, a dominant 7, a dominant 13, a 7b13 etc.
    – Judy N.
    Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 11:15
  • I had no idea about this. I don't really know a lot about chords though. That other chord is everywhere in the song, so it makes sense.
    – Jacob Lara
    Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 18:41
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    @JacobLara it's possible to create that impossible tab completely by accident. For example in the Guitar Pro application, if you select the chord on the right and type Alt+Down on the keyboard, moving all the notes to a lower string, it instantly becomes the one on the left. Computers are so nice because they make it easier to make bigger mistakes. People should always proof-read their music! Notation software can be like auto-correct on smartphones. At a quick glance it looks like normal text, but if you actually read and interpret it, it makes no sense. :D Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 18:47
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Are you sure this is not a typo?

One way to play such chord is to play the bass note with your right hand, by tapping.

Another possibility is to change fingering to xx0675

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  • Thanks everyone for the upvotes, however now I realise that while the fingerings I proposed are perfectly fine, probably in this specific case the fingering suggested @piiperiReinstateMonica is the intended one; it's actually a very common fingering of a maj7 chord. Commented Dec 2, 2020 at 16:16
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Like this:

enter image description here

I gave it a try with a fingering as you described. Not really convincing, but possible. The rest is a matter of practice.

If you are going for dextrous fingerings I suggest taking an electric guitar and starting as high up the neck as possible. You could probably hit something like 14-20-20-18---- right now. And from there you go down the neck and work your fingers wider.

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  • IMHO okayish as exercise, bad for sound and flow
    – Jürgen
    Commented Dec 2, 2020 at 7:18
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    @Jürgen we can't judge the flow without seeing the rest of the composition. Sometimes very weird fingerings are the ones that connect the best with the previous and the following chords. Commented Dec 2, 2020 at 16:19

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