Tips for an absolute acoustic guitar beginner

ve

I have always wanted to be able to play the acoustic guitar and music has been a big part of my family (mother is a teacher and brother plays everything). I know I've only had five lessons so far but I really feel that my pace is slower than my guitar teacher would like, in that I have done nothing really new since my second lesson. I am being taught some music theory (found that fairly logical and straight forward), but playing chords properly and most certainly switching chords while playing I'm finding extremely difficult. I'm sitting here now after yet another evening practicing and all I can really play is D major (chord). I have about 7 - 8 others but it doesn't seem to matter how hard I press down on the strings I just end up hitting my finger off neighbouring strings and I even have smallish hands/fingers.

Some say just keep practicing, but FFS if you multiple every number by zero you still get zero. I keep feeling like there is a crucial technique that I'm missing out on. I've watched my teacher and others play and they just seem to glide their fingers to the right strings without hitting off neighbouring strings and apply the correct amount of pressure at the right side of the fret.

I for example have been trying to play A major...

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333333 (wedding ring finger)
333333 (middle finger)
333333 (index finger)

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They say you should have your finger pressed right up against the right hand side of the fret, but by the time I have the other 2 fingers in place my index finger is over on the left hand side of the fret and when I play D string, it never sounds quite right.

Are there really no techniques other than what I have mentioned here and it's simply down to me practicing all the time. I am not going to give up, but FFS this is REALLY frustrating

NotMe

As they say it's all about practice. If you keep it up you'll be reading this thread in a few months time and laughing.

I know when I started I had a hard time holding down a chord and hitting the right strings. And switching from one chord to another smoothly seemed impossible. It probably took weeks to get the hang of that. It's all about building finger strength and muscle memory (and calluses). It takes time.

As for fretting notes as close as possible to the fret.. yeah you should try to but it's not always possible, especially with chords like A unless you have pencils for fingers. So don't worry about it.

Dord

ve wrote: »

I am not going to give up, but FFS this is REALLY frustrating

Welcome to the world of guitar playing!

Just keep practicing away at it. If it takes you 5 minutes to just position your fingers for the chord then so be it. Take it slowly.

seamus

Practice, practice, practice.

If you're only giving it ago immediately before and after a lesson, it's going to be slow going. I remember when I started out, having abuot two weeks of aching fingertips and picking up the guitar at every opportunity.

One thing to try (if you're not doing it already) is to use your thumb to apply pressure on the back of the neck. It's easy to get into the habit of having your entire palm against the back of the neck, but if you use your thumb instead of your palm, you'll naturally rotate your hand more forward, which will give you more room and allow you to apply more consistent pressure against the strings.
For the A chord, you will see people having their palm against the neck, similar to this (a C Chord):

But for the moment, try it with your thumb against the back of the neck. When you get more used to finger positioning, you can vary the position of your thumb more.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
http://metallica-tabs.net/guitarlesson/lesson-legato.jpg

Dord

seamus wrote: »

Practice, practice, practice.

If you're only giving it ago immediately before and after a lesson, it's going to be slow going. I remember when I started out, having abuot two weeks of aching fingertips and picking up the guitar at every opportunity.

Exactly, don't forget the cut and bloody fingertips.
Thankfully now I have many years of callouses from bass playing.

ve

Cheers lads. I'll definitely stick with it. Hopefully I will be back laughing some day.

Fair play to those of you who can pick it up and hammer out a tune. It's a great gift and such an excellent instrument.

/tips hat

DeadSkin

What helped me was to pick a few songs I really really liked. When I finally nailed that intro/riff/lick whatever, it motivated me more. Set yourself some target/s and go from there. But yes it's all practise. If you find yourself gettin' pi$$ed off in the middle of practising, walk away and go back when your more chilled out.
I find a coulple of beers help too .

slipss

NotMe wrote: »

It's all about building finger strength and muscle memory (and calluses). It takes time.

I just thought I'd second that, there is a huge physical element to being able to play properly, its not just a matter of knowing where to put your fingers. i felt the same as you ve when I started playing (not that long ago at all) but as soon as I developed the above things to the proper extent everything became 100 times easier.