Hitting a glass ceiling

Check out THIS THREAD it may help with your "finger problem".

As for in a rut...I have only been playing now for about 11 months and one thing I try to do is learn something new everyday. Whether it be a new drill, technique, riff, lick, song, etc. Always try to keep it new even if what you learn is only 1 measure in length. I don't worry about finishing a new song. I learn what I can and then move on...I eventually come back to the song and take it a bit farther. It may not be the ideal way to learn but it keeps everything fresh and I am always excited about playing. The only thing that may stop me is if something in my personal life gets to me...then I just take the day off and come back when I feel better.

Try to check out the lessons page on the MAIN PAGE of GN.

Also, Welcome to GN...

Welcome to GN

Try doing this excercise it's what helped me get my figners more "moveable"


--1--2--3--4-----------------------------------------------------
---------------1--2--3--4-----------------------------------------
------------------------------1-2-3-4-------------------------------
----------------------------------------1-2-3-4---------------------
--------------------------------------------------1-2-3-4----------
------------------------------------------------------------1-2-3-4

this really helps get you finger strength up and with the strenght comes a bit more controll.

If this is too easy try doing a similar excercise on 5-7-9-11

Lateral motion of the fingers comes from the point where the finger joins the palm - the other joints won't move from side to side.

Start by just holding your hand up flat, and try to do that vulcan salute from Star Trek - make a 'v' between your middle and ring fingers. As you do that, you'll see your ring finger is the one moving the most. So you can exercise it a bit by just moving it back and forth without the guitar.

Next, look at how you hold the guitar's neck. If your thumb is too high, lateral motion of the ring finger becomes almost impossible (just try that Star Trek thing with your thumb touching your index finger, and you'll see how difficult it becomes). So put the thumb behind the neck, and keep it there.

Finally, start with small movements. Instead of playing at the 9th fret, start at 15, with your pinky on 19. Try shifting between 17 and 18. As you get control over that, move down the fretboard for larger movement.

Start by just holding your hand up flat, and try to do that vulcan salute from Star Trek - make a 'v' between your middle and ring fingers. As you do that, you'll see your ring finger is the one moving the most. So you can exercise it a bit by just moving it back and forth without the guitar.Not everyone can do that. I can with my right hand (picking hand), but not my left (fretting hand). Typical :roll:

Thanks for the responses, I especially like the exercise posted by Wes on that other thread. I took it a step further and incorporated some stretching playing it on 5-7-9-11, which is helping with keeping my ring finger away from my middle. As for the vulcan salute, I can do it with my fretting (left) hand but my ring and pinky have so much tension it feels like theyll break off, ive been trying to do it more relaxed, gonna take some practice.

As has been posted many times by many people - go out and play with other musicians. This usually provides all of the motivation and inspiration anyone could ask for.

I don't know how all these people are getting into ruts. My biggest problem is that there's so much different stuff to learn I always get distracted before I get very far with anything.

my problem is my fingers keep splitting open lol