[bamagirl]

Forgive me (always... let me just put a permanent disclaimer here because your forum is so large!! ) if this has already been beaten to death.

When I am playing a C chord, my E sounds dull, not clear. I can play the note by itself and get a clear sound. Then add the low C, and 50/50 get clarity in the E. Then I hit the high C, forget it.. that note is dull. Also the G string underneath it the E in the chord is dull or mostly muted in some cases. I try to slide the D string up a bit with my finger so that I am not touching the G string, but I just can't get the finger playing the E to get out of the way of the one below it!! Help! Is it okay to push the string up a bit to get my finger off the string below? Or will this mess up my strings?

Any advice on how to get my middle finger to behave? It is the trouble maker in all my chords!! I notice that the tip of it is fatter than the others. I get limited success when I try to lean my hand to the left so that I am using that finger more on the side where it is not so wide. But that position makes it painful when I add my index finger to the high C.

And the index finger doesn't deserve that, it behaves more than any of the others in the class! My middle finger is the trouble maker. And before any of you come up with the first crass comment that comes to mind, I didn't spend my youth giving people the finger.... just that one day in the park. Maybe it warped me for life? lol....

[Justapicker]

Originally Posted by randomaire

I've played both acoustic and electric, and when I play my strat its easy on the fingers but when I play an acoustic, its like starting all over again, because for some reason... well I mean it seems more intense to hold chords on an acoustic. Maybe its just me though. My tips hurt more after playing an acoustic.

When I say lighter or heavier, I meant the gauge of the wire, sorry for the confusion there, maybe thats why my fingers are accustomed to the strat, still have light strings on it, but the acoustics I have played have heavy, something bout that, who knows.

A properly set up acoustic will play as easily, or nearly as easily, as an electric guitar. You'll also find that guitars with a shorter scale length, like a Les Paul as compared to a strat, will have less tension on the strings.

Light strings on an acoustic generally run .12-.52 while for an electric lights are .10-.46. Those little differences do make a difference in how easy it is to play (and tone). I use lights on my small-bodied Martin, mediums on my Taylor dread and Guild and lights on all my electric guitars. Just what I'm used to.