Good Guitar tutorial for finger exercises

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang..
Kim bought me a real nice Yamaha Acoutic guitar for Christmas. I've always been a "closet" I-wanna-learn-one-day sort of guy. Well, I'm beginning and finding that the finger placement on the frets is more difficult than I thought. The problem is when I'm on a particular string, no matter which fret, the finger tip always touches the neighboring string and that isn't good. 

I have a very nice electric formerly owned by one of the guitarists for Golden Earring.......

Thanks..

[Old Moparz]

My wife plays guitar & has been told by a few people that they can't play for the same reason, fingers touch other strings. They say that their fingers are too large, too fat, or that they have no dexterity. Her only advice is to just keep at it & practice a lot. You will get the feel for it eventually, but don't let yourself get discouraged before that actually happens.

Also, the more you play, the more calloused your finger tips will get & you won't feel soreness, which is another deterrent. My daughter started playing electric bass last year & complained about the opposite, that her fingers were too small & couldn't reach. Well, she just played in the school jazz concert & did fine so her original argument holds no water now....LOL

I've been to a lot of bluegrass festivals with my wife & have seen some big handed people with fingers that looked like smoked sausages or cigars playing mandolins that were 1/3 the size of your Yamaha & they played with ease. 

[lisiecki1]

yeah, make sure you're using the tips of your fingers and not the "fingerprint area", if that makes any sense.

[Bob T]

Cool, stick at it Troy, the rewards will come after the sore fingers , I've been playing for only a bit over 2 years and take lessons every Monday night, hard to fit it in sometimes but definetely worth it. On my second guitar now, an APX500 Yamaha electric acoustic.
Cheers Bob

[Dans 68]

Which Yamaha guitar? New or used? I have one of the red label FG-150's that I was given as a gift waaaay back in '76. Very nice sound. It was the guitar that Country Joe McDonald used at Woodstock in '69. All I can say is practice....  

Dan

[devilgear]

 I have been playing for over 30 years and i can tell you it does get much much easier with practice. Now keep your fingers paralell to the frets and make sure you dont put massive pressure on the strings. You only need enough to make the note. Do this. Lay a finger on a string and slowley apply pressure until you hear the note ring clearly. That is all the pressure you need. Another thing to remember is to make sure your guitar is setup properly. A bad setup could really hamper a beginers efforts. Take it to a shop if you are not sure. You could also start out with lighter strings and picks too. Hope this helps. Good luck and keep practicing. Oh and use a metronome, they help get you good very fast....

[chargermike]

i have been playing for almost 30 years and the only way is just keep playing. the soar fingers will go away real quick. the more you play you will learn finger placement. no one learns to play overnight but well worth the time. music saved my life so i have a special love for it.  hope you enjoy it but just like cars it can take up alot of your time. as for me i have two lifes. my family and my band. both mean more than anything to me and need them both.  welcome to the world of music and mopars.

[hemi68charger]

Thanks guys for the words of encouragement. I need to take the guitar to the music shop Kim got it at and make sure it's ok. A buddy of mine who's played forever had a hard time tuning it, even with the electric tuner (but, he prefers by ear). I could tell where it needed to be as well and it wasn't there. The "E" seems to be giving us fits. He seems to think the strings need to be stretched some since they are brand new...

Guess the first song I need to learn is Heart's "Barracuda"....... 

[Old Moparz]

Thanks guys for the words of encouragement. I need to take the guitar to the music shop Kim got it at and make sure it's ok. A buddy of mine who's played forever had a hard time tuning it, even with the electric tuner (but, he prefers by ear). I could tell where it needed to be as well and it wasn't there. The "E" seems to be giving us fits. He seems to think the strings need to be stretched some since they are brand new...

Guess the first song I need to learn is Heart's "Barracuda"....... 

That's their best song, too. 

One of my friends, George, had a similar tuning issue with his guitar when he was first learning how to play years ago. He took lessons, practiced, & he sounded like he didn't know a thing on the guitar. We all thought he was tone deaf or just one of those people who didn't have it in him to be able to play an instrument. His brother, who shared a bedroom with him, was going out of his mind listening to him destroy simple songs. 

One day another friend had his guitar over & George wanted to try it out. I remember wanting to go get cotton for my ears to be prepared for when George was going to make the neighborhood dogs howl. Well, he shocked us by playing whatever song it was back then perfectly.    I remember telling him it sounded great, & asked how that happened?   

Hopefully your friend will know if the shop sets it up right, it'll make a huge difference.

By the way, when you get the Barracuda song down, put it on youtube & post the link here. 

[devilgear]

What i do to stretch the strings is pull the strings near the body about 3 inches or so kind firmly and let go so they snap back down ill do this 3-4 times per string and usually thats enough..also remember what you pay attention to grows, so practicing and studying everyday even a little will get you up and running quick...

[4cruzin]

When you are just starting out, hitting more than one string is typical.  You have to teach your hands what to do.  You will also have problems hitting the proper string all the time to.   That hand need coordination too.   Good luck and keep at it. I try to play as much as I can but once I got older, time seems harder to find. 

[John_Kunkel]

So, have guitar picks gone out of style or are they just not "macho"?

[TylerCharger69]

Being a lifetime musician  (drummer mainly)  I do play guitar and have done tech work.   Usually a problem with proper tuning lies in the intonation, meaning bridge adjustment.  Acoustics usually have set permanent bridges, so if string gauge is changed, it can hinder the proper intonation because acoustics are built with a specific gauge in mind.  If your acoustic is fitted with nylon strings, keep them and don't switch to steel....it will cause the bridge to tear right off of the body.  Some acoustics are made for steel strings and some aren't.   As far as electrics,  there are different types of bridges....the floating "t" system bridges are the biggest pain in the ass as far as tuning and strobing.  With these,  when a string breaks,  the whole guitar is out of tune dramatically rendering it useless,  because the tuning is basically defined by the tensions on each individual string, such as a Kahler or a Floyd Rose.   I prefer a solid bridge, such as what a Les Paul has for example.  Now...say you want to go with a thicker gauge string....(I prefer a .056 top myself)  well...the saddles on each string will have to be adjusted back further to achieve proper intonation.  Drop tuning will have effect on this too.....my band tunes to C#  as opposed to the straight E  (440)  hence the need for thicker strings.   Lets say you strike the top string...your tuner reads straight up where it needs to be.....then you go to the twelfth fret and do a string press  AND a harmonic.....those three should match.  If it shows flat,  the saddle needs to come forward.  If it shows sharp, the saddle needs to go back....These adjustments should be made after  the action height, and tress rod are adjusted to your liking.   Adjusting too low will cause fret buzz.....And remember...the neck SHOULD have a slight bow to it.  Acoustics are pretty much maintenance free, but you can't really change string gauges because the intonation will be off due to the bridge being a solid piece.   A chromatic tuner is just fine,  but of course a strobe tuner is the best...just very expensive.   We  NEVER go onstage without tuning with a tuner.   And we always have backup axes in case of string breakage or any other technical difficulty  because it WILL happen!!!   Hope this helps with any tuning dilemnas you might have.    As far as the above post about that acoustic being a pain to tune,  It PROBABLY has the wrong gauge strings on it and you should find out the manufactures recommendation on the correct size.   And if it originally had nylon strings.....go back with nylons!!!   It will cause devastating results!!!    Been there....done that!!!   Ace Tyler