Members MaceWindu57 Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 Hello, I'm new to the guitar, and I'm having difficulties getting my fingers to co-operate with proper placement in the frets so as to avoid touching neighboring strings. My teacher assures me that I'm progressing, but I find myself getting frustrated. Any good advice would be really appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poppytater Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 Patience and practice-- short sessions to start--find out how much finger pressure it takes to make a note ring clear,most beginners use too much--keep your fingers arched to avoid muting strings--realize it takes time for everyone---HAVE FUN.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MaceWindu57 Posted December 8, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 Thank you!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 Like Poppy says: patience and practice. For the first couple of months it's a chore because your fingers won't do what your brain is telling them to do. But there comes a moment - and it's magical - when your fingers suddenly "remember" where to go. Just keep playing - the rewards are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdBega Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 One thing to consider is the fit if you're like me and have XL hands and more importantly wide finger tips you may want to consider a wider neck guitar. With long scale would be ok too if you have xl hands ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 Your post title says it all. You need time to develop muscle memory, just like typing or any other skill. Don't be discouraged. We all went through what you're experiencing. Surgeons don't cut live patients open the first day of medical school (in any event, I wouldn't go to one who did, LOL). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 Hello' date=' I'm new to the guitar, and I'm having difficulties getting my fingers to co-operate with proper placement in the frets so as to avoid touching neighboring strings. My teacher assures me that I'm progressing, but I find myself getting frustrated. Any good advice would be really appreciated![/quote'] Like everyone assures you, time will work its magic. One thing I will suggest is to be careful not to lean the guitar over too much. New players need to see what they're doing so the tendency is to lean the guitar a bit to see the fretboard better. This effectively makes it a bit harder on the fretting hand fingers to cleanly play the strings without muting them, or, touching the neighboring strings as you put it. When you lean the guitar over the pads of your fingertips can much more easily come into contact with the strings below the ones you're fretting. This happens pretty much unconsciously and if you have chubby fingers it can get frustrating. Good luck and keep practicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdBega Posted December 8, 2014 Members Share Posted December 8, 2014 A good setup for your guitar can make it a lot easier to fret also .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamesp Posted December 9, 2014 Members Share Posted December 9, 2014 Getting my fingers to do my bidding is still a struggle for me. The time honored tradition of playing the difficult things one tiny section at a time to the beat of a way too slowly set metronome, is a time honored tradition for a reason: It works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MaceWindu57 Posted December 9, 2014 Author Members Share Posted December 9, 2014 Thank you all for your words of encouragement and advice! I will keep at it and get there eventually. I have a good teacher who is helping with the fundamentals, and it's gratifying to hear some of the same tips repeated here in this forum. Thank you all again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdBega Posted December 9, 2014 Members Share Posted December 9, 2014 It might interest you to know once you get your fretting hand trained the next thing will be training your strumming/picking hand to do more intricate things and after that most likely adding singing. Took me a while to add the singing and keep the pattern going. My strumming hand would go dumb as soon as I started to sing ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted December 9, 2014 Members Share Posted December 9, 2014 First, welcome to the forum and to the acoustic guitar. Good advice from a lot of people above - I'll only add that properly trimming your nails on both your fretting hand and your picking hand (if you are using your nails) will help a lot. I keep a pair of nail clippers and a little diamond file with my guitar stuff and try to keep them as short as possible on my fretting hand (I know some play with long nails, I sure can't). And, altho I try to play or practice actual songs each day I also find that if I'm just sitting in front of the TV or something I like to pick up a guitar and simply play scales or back and forth between several chords - as much as possible without looking at the fretboard. Your instructor can suggest some exercises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members groovezilla Posted December 13, 2014 Members Share Posted December 13, 2014 You can always play bass instead. Isn't that how most Bass players got started?... by failing on guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Idunno Posted December 14, 2014 Members Share Posted December 14, 2014 You can always play bass instead. Isn't that how most Bass players got started?... by failing on guitar. Yep, electric guitar is people who fear the acoustic guitar. Drummers are practicing their straight jacket defenses. Harmonica players just need something to spit into and keyboardists are out of work massage therapists. It goes on and downhill from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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