[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....

[bamagirl]

Allright.. I am experimenting and I made the middle finger sit in time-out.

I know I am supposed to learn the fingering right. Maybe with practice I can get the fingering right? I played the low C with my fourth finger, the E with my third, and the high C with my index. Worked much better. Beautiful clarity on all strings, and I was able to get closer to the frets on all notes also.

Should I adjust my fingering of this chord this way, or keep plugging away with the suggested fingering?

[WernHalen]

Bama,

It is natural to struggle with some chords more than others, when you start out most of your chords will sound patchy and muted on some strings, as you get better the muted strings will get less. I know this does not help you very much but keep practicing it though. Play around with your fingers till they get used to the positions, it will go there in a while. Even without you thinking about it.

Bending strings wount damage them unless you bend them past their limit, but that is not close to where you are. I would still not suggest that you bend the strings in a note, cause that would make the notes in the chord sound out of tune...



One very important thing is this: As soon as you feel pain stop and look for a better way to do things. Guitaring is not supposed to be painfull, except if youre developing callouses.

[bamagirl]

Thanks for that advice...

The fourth finger won't work. It is too painful to keep that fingering position, with the fourth finger at the top. As is, I have to press harder on those strings.. I guess keep plugging away at the original suggested fingering.

[allthumbs]

When was the last time you changed your strings? Other than that, it is just practice, it will come. There was a vid here some time ago of a man well over 300 lbs playing a ukulele beautifully. As you can imagine, he had fingers like bananas. If he can do it. so can you.
Play around with the C chord, Maybe pluck that string a bit harder. Sounds like your hand is shifting slightly when you add the index finger. Really look closely at what your hand is doing when you grab notes. Good luck

[Fretsource]

Is the problem that your fingers aren't arched enough? Maybe you're holding your wrist too high. If so, try dropping your wrist, which will create a bigger arch with your fingers so they won't touch any adjacent strings.

[bamagirl]

I purchased my guitar new, just over a month ago. To my surprise, when I changed my thumb position on the back it helped a ton. Instead of grasping the back with my the tip of my thumb, I laid my thumb down near the bottom. Made all the difference in the world.

This is still a bit of a painful chord to play for me, just beginning. I will take the advice to stop when my hand starts feeling pain. In time, surely my hand will develop the stretch and positioning for these chords.

I am so thrilled to have found this group!! You'll laugh out loud when I tell you this, but I just called and canceled today's guitar lesson at the music store! I would rather spend the morning on this forum, although I didn't share that little detail. I'm going to scale back to once a month just to let her see my progress and advise me on ways I can improve what I have learned so far. After my last lesson, she actually asked me if I was going to continue, because I was self-teaching so much of it successfully.

[allthumbs]

You must have felt pleased when your teacher said that. It does make a difference, getting so many different perspectives on playing techniques. Doesn't hurt to have a cheering section behind you to help you over the speed bumps either.

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by bamagirl

...I played the low C with my fourth finger, the E with my third, and the high C with my index. Worked much better. Beautiful clarity on all strings, and I was able to get closer to the frets on all notes also....

*shrugs* That was the way I learned to play the open 'C' chord anyway, have always played it that way. If it works for you, I don't see where it would create a problem - but then again, I'm not a guitar instructor, either!

[dougp23]

I am just starting chords (using Kirk's Knockin on Heaven's Door tutorial). Yeah, I've got G down 100% of the time, d about 90% and C maybe 30%. BUT each day I am getting them to ring more and more often! I was showing my wife, and when I played C and it went "KERPLANK" instead of "RRRIINNGG", we both busted out laughing!

Just more practice seems to be the only thing that is getting me closer. And someone mentioned arching your fingers more, really helped me with D.

Just me!

[Justapicker]

Practice SLOWLY and make sure you fingers come right up to the fret. Press lightly, you don't have to choke the life out of the guitar, use just enough pressure to allow the notes to sound cleanly. Practice forming the chord over and over without picking, just so your fingers learn the shape and position.

[randomaire]

Its actually kind of odd reading a lot of these posts about chord playing and such, you guys seem to be able to fingerpick fairly well, but when it comes to chords most are struggling... I must be arsebackwards when it comes to this.... so in reality I guess this is trully a good spot for me (to be in this forum) because I really suck at fingerstyle, but am fairly moderatly good at chords. Is this normal, or did I just do things backwards when I first started?

[bamagirl]

Interesting about choking the life out of the chords... I bet that is part of my problem. When I can't get the right sound, I shift my fingers and press harder - esp. on the lower strings. So what you are saying is that I just need enough pressure for the string to touch the fretboard. This is fantastic advice. I've read so many times on here that my hands and fingers should be relaxed and not stiff.

[randomaire]

Hence the idea of getting your fingers as close to the frets as possible when chording. The more the string has to push down (middle of the fret) the more pressing you have to do (which leads to more thumb cramps) The less you have to push down the easier (near the fret) less distance for the string to travel means you can also get on and off the chord quickly and not take the extra time to press down all the way. May not seem a big deal when you're only playing a couple of chords over a ten minute period ever so often, just think when you're playing 5-10 chords over and over for ten minutes straight. Form and placement is crucial. Learn good habits now while they aren't habits, before the bad habits get set in and then you know the saying... bad habits are hard to break, so get rid of em early.

[Justapicker]

Originally Posted by bamagirl

Interesting about choking the life out of the chords... I bet that is part of my problem. When I can't get the right sound, I shift my fingers and press harder - esp. on the lower strings. So what you are saying is that I just need enough pressure for the string to touch the fretboard. This is fantastic advice. I've read so many times on here that my hands and fingers should be relaxed and not stiff.

Pick a note that you are having troubel fretting cleanly. Place your finger on the string, but DO NOT press down. Start plucking the string repeatedly. You get a thud, not a note. Continue plucking and SLOWLY apply pressure with your fretting hand. When the note sounds cleanly you got the right amount of pressure. You don't need anymore than that.

Excess tension not only messes with your tone it can also result in injury to you hands.