Hi there :)
I am wondering what I can do to fix this problem I'm having learning chords. I have a lot of trouble with my fingers muting the adjacent strings. Is there a trick to this or what?
I don't have long fingers so I feel like I'm really twisting my wrist up over the fretboard.
It all feels very un-natural
Thanks!
As a beginner there is a tendency to push to hard on the strings thereby flattening the finger pads and muting strings. With practice you'll learn to only fret with your tips, callouses also help so keep practicing!!
Chuck Norris invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear!
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stick with it my friend.........soon you will be wondering what all the fuss was....promise :roll:
This has been covered a few times, and will probably come up again in the future....maybe it's time for a "FAQ" sticky, possibly with some links?
Couple of common causes mentioned above....another is holding the guitar too low, so you're straining to reach around the neck. Posture is important when you're starting out - may as well learn the correct way to hold a guitar, even if you're going to abandon that particular way in the future.
Practise putting your fingers down on a particular chord, one at a time, slowly and cleanly - then gradually speed up. This seems to be the way most new things you'll learn are done - slowly till you get it right, then speed up. The time scale is different for everyone...some get it straight away, others (me, for one!) seem to take ages....
Good luck!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
make sure to hold your thumb on the middle of the neck instead of way up high, this will make it easier for you to just use the tips of your fingers.
and like ballybiker said, just stay with it, you'll get there!
~Mike the Redneck Rocker.
"The only two things in life that make it worth living are guitars that tune good and firm feeling women" - Waylon
Arch your fingers -- that helps you get only the tips on the strings,
and drop your thumb to bring it behind the neck, or more so. That will force you to get a different angle from the wrist and arch the fingers more.
My son's begun learning guitar and went through this as well. He hasn't been at it very long but he's starting to get the hang of it and learn how to fret the chords cleanly. You'll get there soon.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
Not sure if you have a strap or not but that helped me so much. Now I'm not trying to hold onto the guitar and fret with the same hand. I have had much more productive practice since I did. A small and probably obvious thing but worth mentioning from a newb. :)
