Skip to content
Notifications
Clear all

I can't play guitar

45 Posts
31 Users
0 Likes
31.3 K Views
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

Hi. I'm 21 and i started to play guitar one year ago(or maybe one year and half).The only problem i have is that my fingers are too short and thick for playng guitar. I lerarn guitar by myself and this is not a problem, i know that i hold my guitar correctly and my lefl and right arm position are correct.

I have an ibanez pc15 and a electric guitar but i dont feel comfortable playng guitar.

This is not a excuse, but no one admits that not everybody have 'good' hands for playng guitar. The main problem is with my left arm, i can't play a A major chord that require to put three fingers on the second fret. Also my left hand ring fingertip is too thick.


   
Quote
(@jukie)
New Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 2
 

Keep practicing. It will get better. I know the feeling about the A. I had the same issue forcing thee fingers in the same fret. But eventually it worked.


   
ReplyQuote
(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

it is very much a matter of regular practise - 30 minutes each day is better than ten hours on a Sunday.

When I first started working with chords, I used to drop my index finger tip across the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings, removing the need to get three fingers into that space (I can do it now, but I had to work up to it.) The fact that the 1st string E might go walkabout playing the chord that way is not important; you've got another E on the 4th string so you have sufficient sound - and you don't actually need the E in any case. Implied chords are something you'll come across later so I won't go into the theory here.

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
ReplyQuote
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

i practice everyday at least 30 minutes.


   
ReplyQuote
(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

Then it will come.

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
ReplyQuote
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

I cant play B chord.


   
ReplyQuote
(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

I cant play B chord.

Slide your one-finger A chord 2 frets closer to the body. Don't worry about your finger damping the first string. Play the four top strings. That's B

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
ReplyQuote
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

i need b and b7 chord for a song, i cant play b barre chord. After one year of guitar playing i should be able to play some songs and barre chords but i can't.


   
ReplyQuote
(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

i need b and b7 chord for a song, i cant play b barre chord. After one year of guitar playing i should be able to play some songs and barre chords but i can't.

You clearly don't read the instructions. Move your one-finger A chord (from the earlier post) two frets closer to your body and play four strings. If your finger damps the top string, you have B; if not, you have Bsus4.

B7 is an open position chord - low to high x21202

Why should you be able to play barre chords after a mere one year of playing? I barely played a chord for my first two years with a guitar and really only started to work with barre shapes once I'd been playing for two years.

There are shedloads of easy songs out there, and you're right; you should be able to play some, so try them - if you start with early Beatles songs you have material that can be played in open position by novices and will go down well at open mic nights. Don't try to do the hard stuff until you've got to grips with the basics.

As a useful guide - I can get you through the Grade 2 exam before you need to think about barre chords.

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
ReplyQuote
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

I don't feel comfortable with my guitar. i feel like my hands are not good for guitar because i have short fat fingers.


   
ReplyQuote
(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

At this point, I routinely re-tell the story of Sausage-Fingered Mick, who phoned me up and said that after 40 years of singing in bands he wanted to play guitar. He specifically wanted to play James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend"

I got over to his place for the first lesson, took my guitar and music out of the case, got him tuned up then had a good look at his hands - fingers like a pound of Walls' Pork & Beef.

The James Taylor song ever came out again, but after two years working with him I did have him fingerpicking REM's "Everybody Hurts".

If you're going to be negative about it, then you're beyond our help. You need to believe you can achieve and then it will happen - slowly, very slowly, but surely.

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
ReplyQuote
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

I can play some songs but is difficult because my fingers are too fat and too short for my guitar. I can play some songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LVTJz-JoVU .
If my fingers was good for guitar i could learn in 6 months more that i learned in a year and half. Also getting a wider neck guitar can't help me because my fingers are short.
I will try to find a new nut for my electric guitar with better string spacing and set the action lower, anyway my hands are not good for guitar.


   
ReplyQuote
(@davidhodge)
Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 4472
 

Hate to break it to you, but if that's you on the video, then you certainly play guitar. Can you play as well as you want to? Judging on your posts, the answer's obviously no, but that's the answer pretty much everyone (including professional players) give when asked.

Again, purely judging by the video, your fingers are actually pretty good for the guitar. Where your "short" or "fat" fingers come from is how you're holding the neck. You shouldn't be grasping the guitar by the neck at all. If looks as if you're making a lot of contact with the neck's lower edge (closest to the floor) with the palm of your hand. That's because your thumb for the most part is a lot higher than it needs to be. For many beginning guitarists (especially those who don't use a teacher or even a friend to help them out) the challenge in making chords often comes down to both posture (when sitting or standing with the guitar) and position (where and how the fretting hand fingers the strings). See how the guitar in the video is tilted upward? That makes is hard for anyone, regardless of how long (or short) his or her fingers are, to cleanly and comfortably fret a note.

Take a look at this video:

https://www.facebook.com/nick.torres/videos/vb.1412427327/10206634240800680/?type=2&theater

I'm the one in the middle (playing left-handed) and my fingers are definitely shorter than yours (again, based on the video link you posted). Also my guitar is bigger than yours in both body size and neck width. But if you watch my hand (between the 30 and 40 second mark), you'll see that my thumb never goes way over the top of the neck and that my hand smoothly moves from place to place because I'm not grasping the neck with that hand.

My friend Greg (on the right) has hand shape and size similar to yours and his thumb definitely extends higher over the neck. But you can see that the guitar neck rarely rests against the palm of his fretting hand except when he's making chords that involve using all four fingers with one finger on the low E (thickest) string.

Again, I am making these observations based on the video link you used in your last post. And based on that I think that you may find a lot more success in playing if you put some concentration in holding your guitar in a way that better allows you to fret the strings more freely.

Hopefully, this might be of help.

Peace


   
ReplyQuote
 Yo94
(@yo94)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

I fixed that problem(holding the guitar correctly). Even if in the video my left hand thumb is a little higher behind the guitar neck i was not using my left hand to support the guitar, also that acoustic guitar has the same neck as the electric guitar (narrow 4,2cm like the electric one and verry small string spacing) and is very difficult for me to play that guitar, i cant play "A" chord.


   
ReplyQuote
(@godin15)
Active Member
Joined: 8 years ago
Posts: 3
 

Hi. I'm 21 and i started to play guitar one year ago(or maybe one year and half).The only problem i have is that my fingers are too short and thick for playng guitar. I lerarn guitar by myself and this is not a problem, i know that i hold my guitar correctly and my lefl and right arm position are correct.

I have an ibanez pc15 and a electric guitar but i dont feel comfortable playng guitar.

This is not a excuse, but no one admits that not everybody have 'good' hands for playng guitar. The main problem is with my left arm, i can't play a A major chord that require to put three fingers on the second fret. Also my left hand ring fingertip is too thick.

Yo find yourself a good instructor take lessons every week. You need an instructor who can give you proper instruction. Your fingers aren't to big no more than my hands are to small. I thought my fingers weren't long enough til my instructor got it into my head that I was the problem. He has taught me a lot and only one on one instruction will really help you out in all aspects of learning guitar. If you want to play you have to stay on board. I started 15 months ago have 30 songs I work on and am doing very well. I practice one and a half to two hrs every day. Practice practice practice get those muscles in your fingers working, you will get it if you really want to play no excuses. YOU CAN DO IT!

If learning isn't difficult at times then your not learning 8)


   
ReplyQuote
Page 1 / 3