Any tips for a learner guitar player?

Swiper the fox

I'm in my late 30s, love to sing and picked up a guitar for the first time last week, I'm taking it quite seriously practicing for about an hour a day at least, thats all I can manage. Pardon my complete ignorance in terminology etc. I have managed the basic and easy chords A D E EM G and can move fluently enough between them. I find it very hard to strum a very clean chord without some of the strings being damped. The chords (F for example) where one finger covers more than one string are impossible for me, will they come thru practice or does my whole finger need to harden up. Could anyone point me in the right direction of a good site or give any advice(or is it just practice, practice, practice).

martinedwards

sorry, practice!

now that you are serious, it may be time to look at the guitar.

if its a piece of poo that cost you less than a takeaway meal then sorry, it'll always be awful to play.

a decent guitar (not necessarily a really expensive one) well set up with light strings will be a LOT easier to play.

Swiper the fox

Thanks Martin, I had a crappy guitar but just to force myself to try I bought a new one the other day for over 200 euro(Takemine G series), it just feels like i have fat fingers which I don't and I can't get my index finger to press down properly on more than one string, again apologies for my ignorance, i suppose i just want some reassurance and I don't want my money and time going to waste.

Etc

Firstly, congrats on taking the guitar up, if you have a couple of chords you'll keep yourself entertained for years. I'd be stunned if you could play all of the chords you mentioned cleanly in a week, it's impossible.

It also sounds like you are trying to play an F barre chord, don't even try for now. For now just play open chords and play slowly. Strum cleanly, try the next chord and when all strings ring, play the next chord.

You will develop callouses on your finger tips over time, but if you put to much practice in initially you could do yourself some damage, RSI.

Have a look at justinguitar.com, and follow his beginner lessons and before you know it you won't look back. Just remember it's easy to play guitar, it's really difficult to master, so it's worth applying yourself on the right things.

JonathanAnon

F is always the tough one starting off, cos it's a chord you cant avoid learning, yet it really hurts to play it when you're starting.. particularly if you are playing on an acoustic steel string with high action.. Here's a suggestion, if you want to play a song, but avoid using the F chord (to give that part of your fingers a break), why not transpose whatever song you're playing up two semitones so that the F will play as a G. Then come back to the F a few days later, when you're finger is not sore any more..

To be honest, a full barre chord F on an acoustic steel string guitar with normal action can be tough for me even after 20 years, especially if you are playing standing up... I tend to play the F higher up the fretboard if it gets too hard.

Swiper the fox

Thanks lads, I'll check out Justin for sure. I can play all those chords alright but very slowly as my transitions are far from perfect and I need to look at what i'm doing, F is impossible for me and C takes me forever as i need to change my whole hand position, I'm getting there, i have the complete guitar player book and play wonderful tonight, candle in the wind and mull of kintyre(all very slowly). I know i'm in too much of a rush but thats just the way i am, i played lots of sports and they came easily to me, this is different, please keep the advice coming.

Tazz T

A few basic lessons from a good tutor could save you a lot of time and stop you learning bad techniques which are much harder to unlearn later down the line.

Alanstrainor

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Thanks lads, I'll check out Justin for sure. I can play all those chords alright but very slowly as my transitions are far from perfect and I need to look at what i'm doing, F is impossible for me and C takes me forever as i need to change my whole hand position, I'm getting there, i have the complete guitar player book and play wonderful tonight, candle in the wind and mull of kintyre(all very slowly). I know i'm in too much of a rush but thats just the way i am, i played lots of sports and they came easily to me, this is different, please keep the advice coming.

Just with regard to playing a C chord, learn the shape for Am (A minor) and then the transition to C is quite easy. Guitar is one of those instruments that takes a bit longer in the beginning to get the basics down. But it is worth it.

If you really want to progress, and help free up your left hand (fretting hand), try some exercises, one that I found handy in the beginning was the following

Start on the Low E string on the fifth fret with your index finger, play that single note. Then with your middle finger play the 6th fret on the same string, then your ring finger plays the 7th fret on the same string, and finally your baby finger plays the 8th.

Then repeat the above moving to the A D G B & E string. The idea here is to stretch out your fingers, and to get them to act independently from each other, which is one of the most difficult things in the beginning. And things like this will break up your practice sessions a bit.