Had my guitar two months.

Chlozo,
Like everyone has said, stick with it, and it'll get easier. However:

I remember you were having some problems with the posistion of your left hand, have you got that sorted out? The posistion of your hand can make fingering chords difficult, and muting can be an almost certainty. This might be something you should look into.

Or, as a few others have said, you just need to build up your hand strength, and get used to these chords. Our fingers aren't meant to bend the ways we try to make them bend.

Good luck!!

Taso

I'm not quite sure if I'm having problems with the position of my hand.. what should I be doing? or what should it look like?

Thanks again!

if you are playing (forming) open chords down by the first few frets it is important to keep your finger tips pointing towards he strings. dont lay the fingers flat over the strings.
also, I noticed that my thumb is over the top of the neck from behind.
dont press so hard that that one finger collapses as in your photo example.

my trouble is my fingers are fat and beat up. I am a craftsman/artist; they get a work out.

having my fingers tight together to form some chords are tricky as one finger tends to block another. the result is a string that doesnt vibrate freely.

if I really watch it Im fine. but do remember Ive been playing a long time. forming chords are very second nature...read: lazy and not careful sometimes.

in your case. one of NOT being lazy or careful, I think that your fingers just need some strength. that'l happen over time.
so make sure your finger tips are straight on and not touching other strings.

Chlozo,

If read your posts and I think your doing fine...heck..I've been playing over 2 years and your probably better than me already.

You will find though that guitar for most people doesn't come naturally so you will have to work through some things that take time. But as long as your fingers work and you have the patience to stick to it you'll get it.

It may happen quickly it may not happen for several months but with the guitar things happen in bunches..you'll play something over and over and over and never have it sound right and then all of a sudden bingo you just play it as if you knew it all along.

Don't give up whatever you do, your two months farther along in your journey.

Chlozo,

I remember my first few months. About the only things I worked on were the Open Chords A, C, D, E, G then Am, Em and Dm. I'm sure it was more but I remember these drills, cuz I still do them to some extent.

I basically worked on getting just the single chords perfect. Hold the chord and pick one string at a time, if a string doesn't sound or clunks, then I'll slightly reposition my hand/fingers and try again. Once I got it, I'd strum it over and over again. Then release and hit it again. It tooks a few weeks to get the 5 major Open Chords down.

When I finally got a few of the chords down I'd practice switching between them. Taking baby steps. A to D back to A. But I do it in time in rythm.

Take a 4/4 count and Strum:

Chord:
A - - - |D - - - |A - - - -|D - - - |
1 2 3 4|1 2 3 4| 1 2 3 4| 1 2 3 4| -------------------etc.
Count

Then I'd mix up the Chords. Go From A to G Then A to C Always Keeping the same chord as by 'base' or Key if you will. After I'd run A through all the chords I knew, Start over but with the E chord as my Key chord.

I still practice moving to the C Chord.. for some reason I find it awkward to go to, especially from a G Chord. Lately I'm working on 7th and 9th chords. Lots of fun those are.

Finger Drills my instructor had/has me do

If your Index, middle, ring and pinky are number 1,2,3,4 respectively, then use the one finger per fret rule. Starting as the 7th fret (cuz the spacing is shorter between frets) with your 1 finger, Start on the 6th pick

1-2-3-4 then move the 5th string 1-2-3-4 so on till the 1st (High E) string.

The object is to keep my fingers on the fret board after I pick the note and hold them there till I move to the next string.

E|-------------------------------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------------------
B|----------------------------------------1-2-3-4----------1-2-3-4-------------------
G|------------------------------1-2-3-4------------------------------1-2-3-4---------
D|---------------------1-2-3-4------------------------------------------------1-2-3-4-
A|----------1-2-3-4--------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once I get that, the object is to try and move through those (4 notes x 6 strings) 24 notes smoothly with one fluid motion. Go SLOW at first. And make sure every note rings true.

Then move up a fret and repeat the pattern.

Then Change the Fingering Patterns:

1-4-2-4-3-4 On each String.

There are tons of Finger Excersise drills you can do. Find one you like and stick to it. I usually do em when I'm sitting on the couch watching TV or something, its to the point that I don't have to think about it.... well almost!! That's where you wanna you get to.

I'm now trying to get to the fifth fret with out looking... just intinctively knowing I'm there. Then to the 7th etc.

If you have an intructor ask him or her to give you some fingering drills. Really these are important when your just starting out. They add to bigger, greater things down the road. You'll need to have command of each finger on each string at any given time. This is one way of getting there.

But it takes TIME!! Lots of it. But No worries. If you can play 3 chords, yup just 3. You can play thousands of songs.... at least that what they tell me :)

Keep at kiddo.. you'll get it :o) and we keep asking quesitons too. :wink: :wink:

It may just be a matter of finger strength. I am assumining you are muting the D string when playing a G chord? In a picture you posted your finger tends to collapse. You amy also be just plain pushing to hard. Try letting up and the pressure a bit and see if that helps.
As for the strength thing you may consider getting one of these:
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemID=16696&TempID=3&departmentid=0

Hey,

Keep at it...don't chuck it in.

I've been playing about the same amount of time as you have and I have been through the same situation...and there are plenty more times when I'm sure I'll say "Ahh the heck with it", but you pick up the guitar and keep going.

My practice method is very standard. I want to specialize in fingerpicking, so you'll see my methods geared toward there:
1) Scales, only know about 3 of them for now.
2) Go through all the chords that I know, G, A, C, E, D, Em, Am (I stopped there until I perfect them).
3) Go through chort progressions. Nils has excellent exercises on his website on this..highly recommended.
4) Strumming with chord progression. Simple patterns, UDUD, DDUUD, etc.
5) I then go through the first Mark Hanson book, "The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking: How to Play the Alternating Bass Fingerpicking Style". Excellent book. This encorporates the picking patterns to work the right hand and the chord changes worked on in #3.
I've been practicing the first melody solo song every day, 30 minutes a day. Still haven't got it yet, but I am improving. I figure I should have this song and the basic finger picking techniques down in 2 more months of practicing.

Learning to play the guitar is really a marathon for sure. Learning and getting good at them is measured in months. I find that if I take this approach, learning is much more rewarding. Try not to look at day to day improvement, but think about how much you'd improve 2 months from now...a year even.

Good luck.

Looking back 2 months and seeing how far I've come really has helped me. 2 months ago it as daunting just to have to pick a string other than the one I was currently picking. Now I can do it at twice the speed of smell.

My practice method is.........
1) Practice Creed - Bullets
2) Practice Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Both of which I'm working on playing in tune and to practice so I don't go rusty playing them. I want to learn Kittie - What I Always Wanted but can't tune my guitar between songs all the time.

I'd say during the times breakthroughs are few and bar between, practice anyway, so you don't go rusty on what you already know.

Hey i was in the same place and something happend and i kept it up, but it looks like you have plenty of people keeping you up. So I'll just say, keep it up and don't put it down :D :D :D :D