Beginner with finger problems

I'm going to assume that you can't use your left-hand pinkie at all, rather than "I can get to do some stuff but it's difficult".

I think we need to accept that the "Tough it out" and "Just work through it" schools of thought are simply not going to happen because you can't get your pinkie to do what those tuition methods want you to do.

So, what are your options? Fortunately, there are several.

Let's start with single line stuff - it's not often that you use all four fingers in melodic playing. Even when you're playing a solo you don't need to use the pinkie; we all see any number of lead guitarists use index, middle and ring fingers irrespective of the fret spacing between notes and that's what I'd recommend for you. Will it make playing a solo any more difficult? Only to the extent that you'll need to remember your hand will be going out of position and needs to get back. You may well need to re-work the position at which you play certain bits of music but I don't think that's going to be the end of the world. You might also need to simplify some parts of the music - that's nothing new, and if you need help doing it then we can usually come up with an answer of some description here.

Chords - loads of options here - you can make just about any chord using only three fingers, and there's nothing that says you have to play G using a C-shape at the 7th fret when there's a perfectly usable open position chord. You don't even have to use open position; you can build most chords at other positions on the neck using the fingetrs and notes which you can get to. Class A Nuts-For-Brains Numpties will moan about how you're "not playing it right" but if the basic harmonic structure is what's asked for then who cares? You don't need to hang out with people like that.

If the chord really does need four fingers, then work out which notes are really important and which you can drop without losing the colour of the sound and allow an open-string drone to work its way in under the music. This is going to need some careful thought, but nothing that can't be worked out given time.

Alternate tunings - Keith Richards tunes to open G using a five-string guitar, if I read his autobiog right - these are great for coming up with all sorts of different harmonic effects. You don't only use alternate tunings if you want to play slide; half my solo classical guitar show is in Drop D or 3=F#.

I hope that helps. We might not have instant answers here, but we can normally come up with something that works and we know our stuff. Tom owns a music school outside Chicago, and David has been teaching since time began. Any number of us play professionally or semi-pro. And the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

Thank you so much! That's actually exactly the kind of advice that I was hoping for. Y'all really do seem to know your stuff(the teacher I had when I was learning the first time around was definately one of those class a Nuts-For-Brains numpties. he refused to teach me anything at all until I could manage to get a good sound using my pinkie.) and the site as a whole looks like a really great resource.
Thanks again.

Your left handed? Why not play left handed? Fret with your right hand...

Your left handed? Why not play left handed? Fret with your right hand...

I'm left-handed too. Trying to play guitar left-handed was stupidly impossible and just felt so wrong.

Like Alan, I'm also left-handed but play right-handed. I personally can't imagine playing lefty, for me it feels wrong. But, If I was you, Esahc, I'd at least give it a go. My right pinkie is NEVER used, and I mostly finger pick. But, I would feel greatly limited if my left pinkie was not available. If I was in your shoes, I'd at least give playing lefty a try before I went too far down the road of alternatives that involved working around the left pinkie playing righty.

i'd say just play with three and not worry about trying to get your pinky to work. if it won't, it won't. no big deal.
if you've only been playing a year or two, i'd consider playing lefty, but it's up to you.

I'd actually really like to try playing left-handed. The problem is I can't afford to buy a left-handed guitar right now(the only reason I've been able to start learning again is because I still have the guitar I was learning to play on ten years ago.), and playing with the strings the wrong way around seems like it would require even more adjustments than not being able to use my pinkie.
Some time in the future I might learn to play both ways just for the fun of it, since I'm partially ambidextrous already, but for now, I'm pretty much stuck playing right handed with three fingers, I think.

You can't restring the guitar You already have?

restringing your guitar upside down is no big deal. at worst, you'll have to buy a left handed nut, which is like 3 dollars.

restringing your guitar upside down is no big deal. at worst, you'll have to buy a left handed nut, which is like 3 dollars.
I'd have to change the bridge along with the nut, which is something I think should really be done by a professional. Besides that, pretty much everything I can find says that restringing an acoustic guitar upside down will eventually warp it, so I'm really kinda hesitant to do it.

:D Those with arthritis can have a very difficult time attempting to play a guitar, however, all is not lost.

Whether a beginner, or an individual that has played in the past, chords such as B, C, G7, & F generally require more effort than most.

Let me start by stating that I’m 68 and have been playing since I was 14 years of age, my father was a friend of Les Paul & Mary Ford (all now deceased), my father taught me guitar. That doesn’t make me an expert, however, my experience with the guitar may help you to overcome some of the difficulty you have been experiencing re-learning the guitar.

Like many, there are those of us that have debilitating issues that hinder playing guitar, I have arthritis in my left fretting hand, I also suffered three strokes and lost all my music and math skills, including the use of my right side extremities. Obviously, I thought my world had come to an end and that I would never learn to play the guitar again, but I was wrong. There are some things that you can do to overcome troublesome issues with fretting chords, and fingering difficulties of both your fretting and picking hands.

The very first thing you must do, is set aside time each day for daily exercises to strengthen your hand and also loosen up your finger joints, this can be painful in the beginning, but there’s a great little guitarist tool that will help you, it’s very inexpensive and called the VariGrip by Planet Waves.

This little tool is designed for guitar players, it allows one to strengthen their fingers, build calluses on their fretting fingers, and the VariGrip allows one to adjust the pressure required to exercise your hand and fingers. As I stated, the item is very inexpensive and will help you tremendously. Another nice feature of this tool allows one to remove the rubber cap on the bottom of the device which will expose protrusions resembling guitar strings, you simply turn the device over and work the device to build calluses on all four fingers. There are numerous music store resources on the Internet where you can purchase a VariGrip, I believe the cost is around $14.95.

The next thing is simply practice, practice, practice, but practice when you’re completely relaxed, I mean completely relaxed. One of the very worst things you can do, is to become frustrated, apply excessive pressure attempting to play a chord, and be tired before you start your session.

Start with easily fretted chords till you can make smooth transitions from one chord to another, when you feel comfortable with those chords, add a new chord, one at a time to your exercise program. There are also alternate fingerings that you can use to play a chord that may help with your pinky finger problem, point is, you will have to work out an alternate fingering technique to overcome this issue. My arthritis required me to change the normal method of fingering the G chord, normally one tucks the third finger under the neck and uses the pinky for the high E string, in my case, I had to use my 3rd finger for the high E string and tuck the pinky.

There’s no magic solution for those of us with debilitating issues, there’s no off the shelf book that’s going to solve your problem, it’s all up to you, and most importantly, you have to stay with your exercise program every day, and I mean every day …….. no pain, no gain. You have to find what works for you.

Just as relearning the guitar, I had to undergo many months of therapy to regain the use of my right arm, hand, and speech, it was hard, and the moments of frustration were many, but slowly improvement came and so did my spirit, so it was with learning to play the guitar again.

Sometimes pride gets in the way of accomplishing a task, don’t be afraid to ask a friend, or anyone for that matter, whose a guitar player to help, some of the old timers out there have techniques acquired through many years of experience that can help you overcome troublesome issues.

I wish all those with debilitating issues the best of luck in learning to play your guitar again, you can do it, just don’t give up. :D

restringing your guitar upside down is no big deal. at worst, you'll have to buy a left handed nut, which is like 3 dollars.
I'd have to change the bridge along with the nut, which is something I think should really be done by a professional. Besides that, pretty much everything I can find says that restringing an acoustic guitar upside down will eventually warp it, so I'm really kinda hesitant to do it.

that's interesting. i'd never heard that before. i guess it could, possibly? i don't know. is there really that much difference in bracing from high to low? i just did it on an old laminate guitar that i didn't play much, but i didn't keep it that long afterwards, so i have no idea if it warped. i didn't replace anything, i just restrung it upside down. i think i filed the slots im not sure, but other than that, i don't think i did anything. but yeah, if it's a nice guitar, i could see how you'd be hesitant.

This is only a problem with really really old steel string guitars made before steel trusses were invented. The truss running through your guitars neck is more than strong enough to handle reversing the strings. . Nylon strings don't carry enough tension to warp a neck, even without a truss.