Fingers and Chords - Daunting....

Trust me when I say we've all been there. Just keep practicing and one day you'll surprise yourself.

You're fingers are plenty long enough. Best exercise for chord changing is to just keep doing it. A good thing to do is to practice moving from one to the next very slowly, concentrating on how your fingers leave the strings and where they go for the next one.

Hang in there and it will come. Welcome the the Best Guitar Forum on the net!

Your fingers will get used to it in time.
Fat fingers seem to get thinner after playing for a while (may not be true but seems that way)
I have never met anyone with fingers too short to play. At a local music store I mat a lady with smaller hands than my youngest daughter. I bet her fingers where not much more than 3" long but she shure could play.
Stretching excersize.
Plant your index finger on the 1st fret of the G string and leave it there.
Play every fret you can reach, on every string, with your middle finger, reach as far as you can, then repeat with you ring finger then your Pinky Do this every day for awhile and before long you will be reaching frets you never thought possible.
A and D chords are tuff for everyone, just keep practicing and it will happen, believe me.
Oh and Welcome to Guitar Noise :D

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will try that excercise. I just wish my fingers didn't hut so bad! I have the desire to practice longer, and while I am not one with a low threshhold of pain, they really hurt. But I shall persist! I am into this and will ride the wave.

Thanks for the welcome.

Mr Clean

I just wish my fingers didn't hut so bad!
This too, shall pass. (even if it doesn't seem so right now)

It's all true. It passes. :D

I was so convinced that my fingers were too big for my steel string accoustic that I then bought a nylon string classic guitar - just because it had a wide neck! :oops:

One day you'll suddenly realise that the fingers have stopped hurting, and have also mysteriously shrunk (as mine did). Plus they seem to have acquired what previously seemed impossible speed of movement, and range. :)

And then one day you'll start learning how to do bar chords. And, hell's bells, sure enough you've got an odd shaped index finger that can't do bar chords either! :shock: That will pass too.... :D Good luck.

Nice to see you here too. Welcome. It's great to see somebody who is a little behind me on the learning track - even if it's only temporarily!! :wink:

Sorry about the stupid questions, but I am really new at this.

There is no such thing as a stupid question, fortunately you came to this site, where I can guarantee you will never get a stupid answer. :D

Welcome to GN.

welcome to GN!
like it was said, we've all been there (some of us twice) :oops:

I have a simlar problem with fingers hurting, that being holding down the strings for chords can hurt, I sometimes end up with dents in my skin shaped like the strings. Though its happening less and less because my finger tips are becoming hard........and red.

If you go and do a search for all my posts (and probably several other member's posts) you will see I asked the EXACT same question 2 months ago when I started! Now it is all coming together. A little patience and you will be rewarded.

As for the A chord...I had a hard time fretting the X0213X fingering so now I just do a partial barre of the 2nd fret X0222X (the A6 chord I believe?) and I just don't pick the E (first) string. It's the same effect. It will probably come back to bite me some day but for now it works great.

maybe the action's too high, though.

Thanks guys - I got the A down....teacher showed me an alternate fingering. A, C, G, D and E all down pat, majors and minors where applicable. F on the other hand is killing me.....first they don't collapse your fingers then they so oh yeah, collapse just your index finger. But I shall prevail.

Thanks for the support and the welcomes.

MrClean

yeah I'm still there if i play for more than an hour at a time and i get the dents and all

Yep, just keep at it, mine still hurt from time to time, but that's because I play 11's with a fairly high action on both the electrics and the acoustic.

But I also have a bad habit of practicing/playing 3-4 hours or longer almost daily too..... :shock:

The caluses have arrived so I can practice about two hours now before really feeling it. I try and do an hour to an hour and a half a night and two to four hours Saturday and Sunday. That's the goal anyway - sometimes I hit it, sometimes I don't.