[Falstaff66]

I started off on this forum asking for adivce on what to buy, ending up with a Fender Acoustic. Now I've been practicing as much as real life allows. I love the beginner lessons here and look forward to progressing to the fingertsyle stuff someday.

I'm beginning to memorize the G, C, D, Em, Am, Dm, E and A chords. However, I consistently have a problem with the fleshy part of my fingertip (pad) deadening the string below it. Mostly my ring and middle finger actually. Sometimes it's all but impossible for me to fret a string and not have this happen. I'm arching my fingers as much as possible (given a particular stretch). Changing to custom-light strings helped, but it is still happening. Is there a technique for avoiding this or do I just need better calluses and more practice?

[Robert Firestone]

Originally Posted by Falstaff66

Pretty much on top of the fret wire. That's the only way I can come close to stretching my ring finger into the third fret at all (and it's towards the back...closer to the 2nd fret wire). Three fret chords are murder for me. I can get a good strecth between my 1st and 2nd fingers, but I simply can't put much distance bewteen the
2nd and 3rd. Are there exercises to work on that?

I teach that a finger should never be to the left of halfway in the box (except in some rare instances). There is usually one finger in the chord that should be very slightly touching the fret, but not touching it to the point of muting it or altering the sound at all. That I term the "fret finger". If the fret finger is found and positioned correctly (in the C chord it is the first finger), you simply allw the other two fingers to fall where they are comfortable *if they are at least half way in the box*. Never try to reach the fret wire for all of the fingers of a chord, unless it is a barre. You don't need to stretch that much. A great deal of stretching that folks attempt is unnecessary, and the problem is really a positioning one...
That's what I believe.

[__tsidewinder__]

A good way to learn chords, is to learn songs, specifiacaly songs that have chords in them. This helped me a lot. There are other ways too.

I've heard some other tips on how to get chords to work for you, that I read in a book. They helped me, so hopefully they'll help you.

Ex 1: This ones really simple. Hold the chord you're having trouble with down.. Strum it. Now strum each string individually, making sure each one rings clearly. If not, adjust until they all ring.

Ex 2: Put all four fingers on the E string, in this way; Index on 5th fret, Middle on 6th fret, ring on 7th, pinky on 8th fret. now raise your middle and pinky fingers, while keeping the other fingers down on the fretboard. Hold for a second, and then place them back down in place. Now, lift your index and ring finger of the fretboard, while the other fingers stay down. Hold for a sec, place down, repeat. When this becomes too easy, go down a fret (index on fourth fret, etc.)

Ex3: When you can do Ex 1 (with all the strings ringing well) Hold the chord you're having trouble with. holding the same shape, lift all your fingers a tiny little bit off the fretboard, so that your fingers are not touching the strings at all. Now, place all your fingers back onto the fretboard.




I hope this helps!

Oh, and Robert, why is it wrong to press in hard to make calluses? I'm sure it didn't hurt me any.

[The Ethical]

Another suggestion:

try fretting just the 4th & 5th strings with your middle & ring fingers - in other words don't use your index finger yet.

Experiment with your arm, hand and finger placement until you can get those 2 strings (4th & 5th) sounding cleanly - then add in the 1st finger.

Hope this helps.

[Falstaff66]

Thanks everybody! Chris, I love your strteching exercise and will try that. I have a gripmaster to build up strength. As for playing chords, I've been trying some of things that you guys suggested. Tsidewinder, I do play each string individually, to make sure it rings cleanly, but I'll try Ex2 and Ex3. I've tried the C without the index finger, which I can manage most of the time, at least until my fingers are too grooved. Robert, I try to follow your rule. On C my index finger is up against the fret wire slightly. My middle finger is in good shape in the middle of the fret, but my ring finger can't make it "half way in the box".

I've become pretty solid with G, D, and Em. I'm marginal on Am, Dm and E. C and A are tough and F is nearly impossible. I'm looking forward to trying Kirk's beginner lesson (the "sounds like" of Knockin' on Heaven's Door), but I've got to get that C to be better first.

[Robert Firestone]

Originally Posted by __tsidewinder__

A good way to learn chords, is to learn songs, specifiacaly songs that have chords in them. This helped me a lot. There are other ways too.

I've heard some other tips on how to get chords to work for you, that I read in a book. They helped me, so hopefully they'll help you.

Ex 1: This ones really simple. Hold the chord you're having trouble with down.. Strum it. Now strum each string individually, making sure each one rings clearly. If not, adjust until they all ring.

Ex 2: Put all four fingers on the E string, in this way; Index on 5th fret, Middle on 6th fret, ring on 7th, pinky on 8th fret. now raise your middle and pinky fingers, while keeping the other fingers down on the fretboard. Hold for a second, and then place them back down in place. Now, lift your index and ring finger of the fretboard, while the other fingers stay down. Hold for a sec, place down, repeat. When this becomes too easy, go down a fret (index on fourth fret, etc.)

Ex3: When you can do Ex 1 (with all the strings ringing well) Hold the chord you're having trouble with. holding the same shape, lift all your fingers a tiny little bit off the fretboard, so that your fingers are not touching the strings at all. Now, place all your fingers back onto the fretboard.




I hope this helps!

Oh, and Robert, why is it wrong to press in hard to make calluses? I'm sure it didn't hurt me any.

Good question. First off, it's probably inevitable that if you practice alot you will get callouses, especially on thicker, steel strings and if you bend a lot of notes. But sometimes folks develop thicker callouses from pressing too hard. And that habit is hard for students to break. The better at controlling and releasing tension you are, the faster you will be and you will have more control and finesse.....
Also on nylon strings callouses can interfere with executing clean slurs.

[eddiez152]

Does anyone know how it came to be that the high E became the 1st string instead of the low E as the scales goes up and not down.
Just curious.
eddiez152