January 9, 20179 yr My mom gave me an acoustic/electric guitar that belonged to my stepdad. I've tried a few times in the past to learn how to play, but something just doesn't click. I'm not looking to play Eruption, just strum along and be able to tell what the song is that I'm playing. Seems like my biggest issue is the amount of pressure I put on the strings with my left hand. I just never get a clean sound, no matter how hard I press. I press crazy hard, but watching others they seem to just float across the strings with far less pressure than I use. Am I fundamentally doing something wrong?
January 9, 20179 yr Those among us with short, fat fingers are not built for such things. That's why I stick to being virtuoso air guitar.
January 9, 20179 yr It takes a while to get calluses built up on your fingertips. Once you get that it's a lot easier to hold the string down. Only other thing I can think is if it's an older guitar the frets could be worn down or something on the bridge could be loose and that's causing the vibration. Also check out a YouTube channel called privettricker. Tons of videos of this guy showing how to play classic rock songs. Dude is awesome and does a great job of breaking it down.
January 9, 20179 yr Well I am not the person to be giving lessons, but...... Lesson #1 You don't need to put a lot of pressure. Your finger tips need to be right above the fret, so you are basically bending the string over the fret, shortening the length of the string from the fret to the bridge to create a higher pitch.
January 9, 20179 yr Author What kind of guitar JD? Brand and model. Generic...:lol2: It's not a name brand or anything, just an guitar he picked up somewhere when he was trying to learn to play before he passed away. I think it may be one of those "Estaban" guitars from infomercials, not sure.
January 9, 20179 yr What kind of guitar JD? Brand and model. Not all guitars are built as well as others. The setup is also very important. As some guitars age the pressure from the strings can cause the neck to move, or the bridge to raise resulting in difficult fingering. If this is the case it will be difficult to chord the guitar.
January 9, 20179 yr The action (distance from the strings to the fretboard) on some guitars is significantly higher than on others. Action can be too high or too low; both of which affect sound and/or playability. Too low action = buzz. Too high action = harder to play.
January 9, 20179 yr Also, I have relatively short fingers for guitar playing, so I always preferred a guitar with a relatively narrow neck.
January 9, 20179 yr JD, some guitars are constructed that the action or setup can be adjusted, some are not. Guitar strings are made in different gauges, I would try light gauge strings.
January 10, 20179 yr Have you looked up guitar tablature online? At a glance it looks similar to traditional music transcription, but it's actually written on a 6-line staff, and tells you exactly where to put each finger.
January 10, 20179 yr Author Have you looked up guitar tablature online? At a glance it looks similar to traditional music transcription, but it's actually written on a 6-line staff, and tells you exactly where to put each finger. Yeah I have actually looked at that and tried it in the past...I'm a little more committed to doing it now, so I'll be trying Tabs again.
January 10, 20179 yr Yeah I have actually looked at that and tried it in the past...I'm a little more committed to doing it now, so I'll be trying Tabs again. It took me a little while to get the hang of reading tabs when I first started messing around on the guitar in my early teens...but it's something you can get the hang of sooner rather than later. There may well be instructional videos on YouTube to help just with tabs...
January 10, 20179 yr Author It took me a little while to get the hang of reading tabs when I first started messing around on the guitar in my early teens...but it's something you can get the hang of sooner rather than later. There may well be instructional videos on YouTube to help just with tabs... There was a music store in my Walmart many years ago. The owners 10 year old son taught himself how to play guitar using TABS, in a few months that little :poop: could play anything...made me so mad!!! :lol2:
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