Hi! I just got a guitar as a gift and I read lesson 1 for absolute beginners, and first of all, for playing the D major and B minors, which frets do you play in for both and secondly, I put in my fingers in the right places for the notes before the Bm and D major but when I strum my guitar, I don't get a good sound. I get kind of a "boink" metal-like sound. What is it about? I keep my hand from blocking any other strings, but it still happens. What is wrong?
By the way my guitar is a "Playmate" if you need to know it.
There are tons of chord generators on the internet that will show you the fingering for any chord. A search will bring you to one you will like using.
Some good ones to learn are G, Em, C, D. These are very common and most useful. Don't worry about the G too much, contorting your hand and cramping up....just try it a couple times a day until you eventually can do it.
The bad noise.....unfortunately in the beginning it will be like this and we all go through it. Your fingertips are soft and the wire is digging into them, preventing you from applying enough pressure on the string to fret properly for a clean sound. You just need to keep trying and it will become painful but keep at it and one day it WILL get better!
One thing you can do that will help with the pain is to switch to Elixer extra light strings. They have a coating on them and the light strings are easier on the fingers. They also won't squeak as much as regular strings. They are considered to be expensive at $12 online or $20 in a local guitar shop but in the beginning strings will last a real long time, like a year, so it doesn't really matter.
Hope this helps some. :D
If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.
Thanks. And it's not the pain that I want to stop, i'm getting used to it, it's just the noise im worrying about. I thought something happened to my guitar. But thanks for helping!
