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Post subject: Advice for beginners
Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:21 pm
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I just started out playing. Having a little difficulty with playing cords since my short stubby fingers seem to touch the other strings. Anybody have any advice?


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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:50 pm
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Keep practicing and have fun. It's normal for a beginner.

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Last edited by jaknzax on Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:20 pm
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I had the same problem. Just keep at it. You will have to work at it with practice like I did but you can do it.

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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:59 pm
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I think 99% of all players had this problem. Just keep at it. You need to build up the strength and flexibility in your fingers so your just using the tips of your fingers. It may seem like forever but you will get pass this stage.


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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:45 am
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I have to agree with the general consensus here in that yea...this is VERY normal for a beginner. I don't mean this to sound rude or harsh to PLEASE don't take it that way but a great many people who start playing guitar seem to have this horrible misconception that it's "easy". People seem to think that it's like buying a camera in that even if you're not a "pro", if you buy a camera you can still go out and start taking pictures right away. Of course they apply the same logic to a guitar...you buy your first guitar and while you know you're not going to be able to play like Eric Clapton right away, you should be able to play something, right? WRONG!!!!!!

The very simple truth of the matter is that when you first sit down to play a guitar, you're asking your fingers to do something that is -VERY- unnatural for them. For most folks the muscles in their fingers and hands are not really built up enough to properly press down on those strings to make a "chord" and quite often you have to bend those joints in ways that just never seem to work right! Playing a guitar requires a degree of strength, dexterity and coordination that has to be built up over time. And let's face it, those little metal wires that we call "strings" tend to really hurt the finger tips until you get those calluses built up! LOL!!! Trust me when I say that all of this suffering and frustration is simply a part of the learning experience when it comes to guitars.

Another "truth" to keep in mind that that people tend to learn at different paces. I have certainly known people who have tried playing for a few months and get frustrated because "so and so picked it up really quick!". While this is only part of it really, think of it this way; a person who practices for an hour or two -every day- is going to pick things up MUCH faster then a person who only noodles around with it for a few minutes every now and then. As others have stated here, practice is the key. To be completely honest, I've been playing for close to 30 years now and if I don't practice, people (including myself) DO notice. In fact if I've taken a sabbatical and haven't been playing for a few months, it really takes me a few weeks just to get my chops up! Even for most experienced players, those finger muscles require regular practice in order to perform at their best...and if this applies to a person who's been playing for many years, it certainly applies to someone just learning :-).

There are no short cuts here...there really is nothing like an "easy guitar method" if you really want to learn to play well. It takes passion, determination, patience and daily practice...period. Anyone with enough money can "own a guitar" but it takes a musician to put forth the dedication and time and effort to really learn how to play one. That said, I think I speak for most of the folks on these forums when I say, IT'S WORTH IT! Next to my wife and my family (and my animals which are of course part of my family), playing music is perhaps the single greatest joy in my life...it's simply part of who I am. I've worked a great many day jobs over the years from delivering pizzas to machinist to middle management in retail but what I -am- is a musician and an artist...and as with everything else, that's not something that just happened over night.

Good luck to you...now go "shed some wood"!

Jim


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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:29 am
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yeap, +1 on the practice, and keep your motivation UP!! it will get better!

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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 4:11 pm
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Like others have stated, practice. If you shave the oportunity to utilize an instructor, it could have years off the learning curve.

RK


Last edited by rkreisher on Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:56 pm
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Do NOT play until bloody tips are a result of your effort. At first gradually work up with practice a few times a day for shorter period of time, maybe fifteen minutes at most. It WILL take time to toughen up your fingertips, though they might not calluse they will stiffen allowing easier fretting of chords.

I'm 46 yrs old and still recovering after being struck by a car and back playing after a twenty year abscence. It's been difficult, I suffered shattered wrists, both thumbs were dislocated in addition to my brain which hemoraged for five days. I also had multiple shoulder fractures as well as other broken bones and injuries. I find I play better now than when I was a teen into my early twenties.

Just persevere as nothing ever worth doing right is ever easy if it was we wouldn't see all those "used"(once) guitars on ebay.

Try some of the free lessons available at www.guitarnoise.com they have almost 40 free songs for both beginners and intermediates. Playing them will add to your satisfaction, you will see even beginners can play something current/classic that they recognize. There are songs from Neil Young to White Stripes check them out. I'll bet you'll be able to play them both.


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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:10 am
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rkreisher wrote:
Like others have stated, practice. If you have the oportunity to utilize an instructor, it could have years off the learning curve.

RK


The only thing I'm going to say on that is to make sure you get a -good- instructor who's willing to work with you personally. Not all music instructors are created equal...it's been my experience that there are more "bad" instructors out there who simply treat music students with a "cookie-cutter" way of teaching, than really good teachers . ANYONE can sit down with "Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method" (gads I hate those books!)...you don't really need to pay an "instructor" $10 for a half hour session for that.

This is just my own personal opinion but in my mind a -good- instructor is going to work with you to help you learn the kind of music you want to learn and will take in to consideration -how- each given student learns. Learning music...at least contemporary music is considerably more than just learning notes and chords from cheezy sheet music...it's equally about ear training and even more about developing a "feel" for the music. "Theory" is a fine tool but having a good feel for the music you're playing is considerably more important with most contemporary styles of music.

The reason I say this is that I've ran in to a great many so-called musicians over the years where because of the way they were taught, if you take the sheet music (or tab) away from them or do something in a tune other than what's on the printed page...they're hands stop moving...they're completely lost. The sheet music went in their eyes and out their hands...there was nothing of themselves in what they were playing and they often have little or not concept of song structure beyond what's on a printed page (or what they've "memorized"). MANY instructors have this rather rigid way of thinking that allows for little or no degree of creativity, originality or any sense of improvisation...they sit you down each week with "pages x thru xx" of a given instruction manual and that's it.

Choose a music teacher as carefully as you would choose a guitar or amp...again not all music teachers are created equal. Yes, the "right" music teacher can be a HUGE benefit to someone just learning but the wrong teacher can set a person back years and/or simply make it impossible for a person to even work with other musicians.

Peace,
Jim


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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:12 pm
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Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:33 pm
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I to am new and tried a couple of instructors until I found one I clicked really well with. Don't be afraid to move on to another instructor. You are the consumer and you want your moneys worth. Just my two cents worth as a new guy.


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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:07 pm
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Location: Magnolia, Texas (just north of Houston)
lomitus wrote:
rkreisher wrote:
Like others have stated, practice. If you have the oportunity to utilize an instructor, it could have years off the learning curve.

RK


The only thing I'm going to say on that is to make sure you get a -good- instructor who's willing to work with you personally. Not all music instructors are created equal...it's been my experience that there are more "bad" instructors out there who simply treat music students with a "cookie-cutter" way of teaching, than really good teachers . ANYONE can sit down with "Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method" (gads I hate those books!)...you don't really need to pay an "instructor" $10 for a half hour session for that.

This is just my own personal opinion but in my mind a -good- instructor is going to work with you to help you learn the kind of music you want to learn and will take in to consideration -how- each given student learns. Learning music...at least contemporary music is considerably more than just learning notes and chords from cheezy sheet music...it's equally about ear training and even more about developing a "feel" for the music. "Theory" is a fine tool but having a good feel for the music you're playing is considerably more important with most contemporary styles of music.

The reason I say this is that I've ran in to a great many so-called musicians over the years where because of the way they were taught, if you take the sheet music (or tab) away from them or do something in a tune other than what's on the printed page...they're hands stop moving...they're completely lost. The sheet music went in their eyes and out their hands...there was nothing of themselves in what they were playing and they often have little or not concept of song structure beyond what's on a printed page (or what they've "memorized"). MANY instructors have this rather rigid way of thinking that allows for little or no degree of creativity, originality or any sense of improvisation...they sit you down each week with "pages x thru xx" of a given instruction manual and that's it.

Choose a music teacher as carefully as you would choose a guitar or amp...again not all music teachers are created equal. Yes, the "right" music teacher can be a HUGE benefit to someone just learning but the wrong teacher can set a person back years and/or simply make it impossible for a person to even work with other musicians.

Peace,
Jim


Lomitus,

Thanks for the input. I did mean a good instructor (kind of the meaning I was going for), I take it for granted that I know the difference between a poor, decent, and great instructor.

To the OP, yes lomitus is 100% correct. Don't go with just any instructor, ask around and find one that is suited for you and your needs.

RK


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