pressing to hard on strings

if it hurts when you do that...don't do that.
seems simple. eventually, you will learn because you fingers are too sore
and your tone is too bad.

fret behind the fret wire.

IMHO it just comes with time and practice. When we relax and see how little pressure is actually needed to fret the notes it happens.

Denny

I agree with Denny.
I remember back when I started, I pressed down on the strings so hard - I was outta tune.
The touch comes after awhile and you realize that you really don't need to press hard at all.

If you are using way light strings, you might try moving up a gauge or two - (9's or 10's)

Ken

Are you playing acoustic or electric?

i am playing both but most of the time acoustic with 12s on it i am playing 2 years but if i ease off i dont get clean sound.. now its habbit i press very hard i get carried away and forget then i get the groves that you could jump into

I think the "death grip" is a right of passage for all new guitar players. It always seems to work its way out. Before you start a practice session try playing various chords, holding them as you normally do, keep easing off until they get muted then tighten up a little. You'll get the feeling and muscle memory

I still struggle with this after 2.5 years. A good piece of advice I've been given is to pay attention to getting my fingertips as close to the fret as possible. The closer your fingertip is to the fret the less pressure it takes to make the note sound.

Yesterday I did read a similar issue in a Spanish forum. Somebody said there are two ways to "adjust" the force applied to the strings. The first is to use "full force" in the fingers and reducing the force until the strings buzz. The second way uses the inverse approach: do not use force and it is incremented until the strings do not buzz. Both cases you must remember, by means of practice, the pressure in the fingers when the strings start to sound correctly with the low pressure.

(Sorry, I don't know if it is enough clear :cry:)

Elecktrablue - You have like a sixth sense for this stuff. :D

It almost sounds to me like the acoustic guitar you have is giving you a hard time, and then when you switch to your
electric, you're pressing too hard because you're used to fighting the acoustic????

Ken

+1 to that citizennoir said, get some heavy strings.

I recently upgraded from playing super slinkies (8's) to power slinkies (11's) and can really tell the difference; plus the extra pressure when fretting is an advantage, not a problem :D

Pete

Pete, what's up bro???? :)

You like those heavy's huh????
That's a pretty big jump - (8 to 11)
The heaviest I ever went were 11's. Though I jacked the action on the bridge up as well. OUCH!!!!
Very tireing. And the tone wasn't as good as I expected.
Of course I was young then, what did I know....?
Played 10's on my electrics mostly. Went back to 9's for now as I can't seem to find any half rounds anywhere these days.

Which brings me to believe that there might be a problem with the action on these guitars in question.
I would hate to go into that here. (Is there a good thread for that already posted????)
Thoughts on this anyone????

Ken

EDIT - Pete, you got me thinkin' of goin' 11's again. I need new strings. Wonderin' if I can make the leap. :roll:

I think proper set up helps also. If your strings are to high you may tend to overcompensate and push to hard. I use mostly 10's and 11's and 13's on my slide acoustic. I was only using 9's until recently, but I like the tone better with the thicker strings. Again the set up is important, I like the action low( I have some minor nerve damage in my left hand). Just my 2 cents :wink:

i have 12's on the acoustic and a pro set the action up so maybe i should go to 8's or 1o's for a while to see if i can lighten up my grip of death

Hi,

One of the elements involved in the "death grip" is simply trying to keep the guitar under control. It's hard enough trying the land chords anyway when you start out, but it's extra hard when the neck is actually moving a bit, so that the landing ground shifts before you get there. :(

So you hang on to the neck like grim death. :wink:

The Classical players will all tell you to let go, relax, place your thumb behind the neck, don't put your fingers on the front surface of the guitar, and to stop squeezing the body too hard with your arm and so on. If you followed all their advice the guitar would probably just fall straight off your lap onto the floor. :D But the Classical position is quite different from the 'slumped on the bed' rock beginner position. What works well for them doesn't always work for us. They sit with one leg raised, the guitar quite upright, and it's all very carefully balanced. We vary betyween slumping, leaping around stage, waving the guitar round like a loony and so on. We often need a bit more help than just good balance.

You might think that this has nothing to doing with squeezing the strings too hard. But I'd guess that it's sometimes all part of the same package, and that a good place to start is to get your whole posture and stability right, before you can get that "lightness of touch" going well.

Straps often help, but try experimenting with ways of sitting and holding the guitar so that it feels under control with little or no hand or thumb pressure. Then try just sliding your hand gently up and down and pressing lightly at the frets. If it's still wobbly you'll automatically start clutching and squeezing harder again. So keep trying to get a more stable position.

Just a thought. Might be worth a look anyway. Good luck.

Cheers,

Chris