HELP - Need a finger diet! - GuitarTalk Community

HELP - Need a finger diet!

FfirstMlast

Hi people,

First day of learning guitar and already struggling with these fingers! Just learning the first 4 chords - G, E minor, C and D, but my fingers keep touching the open strings.
I try using my fingertips only, but still no joy. Tried these 4 chords for an hour but most of the time, exept on G of course, the resulting sound is less than heart warming.
Any tips or tricks that could help? Maybe a finger slimming program someone can recommend? ?

For playing E minor, where two fingers are supposed to be used, I seem to be able to use only one finger. Would it be ok to play it that way or would that be the start of a bad habit?

One more - What should the action height be on an acoustic? Thinking that the action on mine may be to high?

Thanks and cheers!

Squonk

Good stuff

Always a bit hectic at first

You need to guage where you are putting your thumb on the neck, this will help with fretting with your fingers.

I have thickish fingers and no hampering in my playing.

You will also need more than one hour to get the better of these chords ?

StephenG

Squonk wrote: Good stuff

Always a bit hectic at first

You need to guage where you are putting your thumb on the neck, this will help with fretting with your fingers.

I have thickish fingers and no hampering in my playing.

You will also need more than one hour to get the better of these chords ?

i got fingers like pork sausages... and I dont mean those crappy Pick N Pay No Name ones.. I'm talking those lekker Woolies ones...

and covering a few strings with one finger is a very neat trick to learn... it will come in very handy later on.

Jack-Flash-Jr

:roflmao:

Classic post title. Cut yourself some slack... that's a whole lotta chords all in one go. Try practicing only two chords at a time/session. Remember it takes time for your muscles to build their memory, then it'll be like tap dancing.

FruitarGeek

It could be a matter of you just being untrained, and not the fingers. There are many of meat fingers out there.

But, for Em, just to practice it, try playing it using your middle finger and your ring finger.

Averatu

StephenG wrote:
Squonk wrote: Good stuff

Always a bit hectic at first

You need to guage where you are putting your thumb on the neck, this will help with fretting with your fingers.

I have thickish fingers and no hampering in my playing.

You will also need more than one hour to get the better of these chords ?
i got fingers like pork sausages... and I dont mean those crappy Pick N Pay No Name ones.. I'm talking those lekker Woolies ones...

and covering a few strings with one finger is a very neat trick to learn... it will come in very handy later on.

Nee donner, ek val amper van my stoel af!

VellaJ

No diet required... ? I think a lot of guitarists develop pretty muscular fingers after a few years. All it is is practice, eventually you just sort of realize that your fretting is a lot better ? Don't stress

FfirstMlast

Thanks guys for all the advice,
already starting to get the hang of these cords. Trying to practice for a couple of minutes 4 or 5 times a day, seems to help me to remember the finger positions better, rather than a single 1 hour session (not to mention easier on the fingers!). Also realised the imporance of thumb position and wrist profile - helps to use the finger tips more.

Wow, I think you guys are gonna teach me more than my internet course!
Thanks again...

Bob-Dubery

if you watch classical players - cellists, violinists - they play with the finger tips and the last joint of their fingers almost perpendicular to the fingerboard. That technique minimises chances of having fingers fouling adjacent strings and causing buzzes or damping the string, and it can be used on the guitar. So maybe try to have your fingers coming down more vertically where possible. This may require changing your hand position a little, bringing the thumb more towards the center of the back of the neck, dropping your wrist - but you're busy making a habit of currently unfamiliar movements anyway.

As regards action... these two items may help you to do some simple tests
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenSetup/NutAction/nutaction.html for the nut
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenSetup/TrussRods/TrussRodAdj/tradj.html for neck relief (the actual check is shown towards the bottom of the page).

If the neck relief is OK then resist the urge to use the truss rod to compensate for other set up issues.

You're new to playing, and you're starting with steel strings and you are going to feel those strings wearing big grooves into your fingertips at first.

mieliehobo

I had a similar problem when I was beginning guitar.
Just practice every day and it should become easier.
The action isn't usually a problem but what make of guitar do you have?
I find that acoustic generally tends to be harder on the fingers in the beginning but electric is a bit easier.
Your string gauge may be a bit thick sometimes also.

Ray

squeeze a squash ball - it will help your golf grip as well.

DaFiz

Practice Em with a different two fingers each time... ?
The first two coz it's the easiest, followed by the second two as part of a full E chord, and the last two as part of the slide into barre chords. 8)

FfirstMlast

mieliehobo wrote: I had a similar problem when I was beginning guitar.
Just practice every day and it should become easier.
The action isn't usually a problem but what make of guitar do you have?
I find that acoustic generally tends to be harder on the fingers in the beginning but electric is a bit easier.
Your string gauge may be a bit thick sometimes also.

I have a Fender CD-60. According to the frets.com nut action test, the action is definitely too high. The gap between the string and the fret is just over a millimeter, while it should be hardly noticable. The neck is also dead straight.
Don't know if I should bother to have the action adjusted. Tightening the truss rod will aparently lower the action, but more as a side effect rather than being the main reason for tightening the rod.
Don't know of anyone here who can do it and not sure if I should try it myself. Don't want to bugger up a new guitar.

Thanks again for all the great advice!

Bob-Dubery

Another way of testing the nut action is to put on a capo at the first fret. If the guitar magically gets easier to play then you should have the nut lowered a little.

Bob-Dubery

mieliehobo wrote: The action isn't usually a problem

I beg to differ. Action can be a problem, and the lower down the price ladder you go the more it's likely that the guitar is not properly set up. Budget guitars are built down to a price, and one of the savings is not spending too much time fine tuning the setup when the guitars come off of the production line.

FfirstMlast wrote:Don't know if I should bother to have the action adjusted. Tightening the truss rod will aparently lower the action, but more as a side effect rather than being the main reason for tightening the rod.

You'll end up with a neck with too little relief in it - which will just cause some other problem. Also if you think about it, the problem you've identified is at the nut. The nut is always going to be in the same position and at the same height WRT the first fret, so the truss rod ain't going to sort that problem out.