Take your guitar to a shop and ask them if the string action is too high. If it is, you probably will stop playing guitar altogether... as about 95% of acoustics off of the shelf are not set up for easy playability. Guitar is enough work as is, you shouldn't have to fight the instrument just to get notes to ring out.
I had my acoustic filed down at the bridge's saddle as well as the nut slots slightly deepened. This lowered the action without buzz and helped me out a lot, requiring less effort to get a good fretted note to sound, without thudding or being muffled, like you mentioned.
Another possibility is string tension. The more tension along the length of the string, the harder it will be to push it down when fretting chords. Try some light, or extra light gauge strings and it'll make a good bit of difference.
As your fretting hand strengthens and callouses build up, playing will become a lot more effortless with time.
Then again, there are some guitars out there that no matter what's done to them, they're still harder to play on than they should be. Those guitars would've better been left as trees.
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Originally Posted by MeredithL
Hey all. I'm new here. I recently got an acoustic guitar a few weeks ago. My fingers are really killing me. How hard should you be pressing down on the strings? I think I am pressing way to hard. I don't even think I could press any harder, but it's the only way that the sound will come out right. Should I be pressing them that hard? :?: Is there anything I could do so I don't have to? I would really appreciate an answer! Thanks!  |