It seems I have fat fingers and a stiff unyielding wrist.
Any tricks/short cuts to a decent sounding chord? I bought a Fender Strat as part of a starter kit and maybe the strings are too close together for me??
Dead Strings, fat fingers
Hi Folks
It seems I have fat fingers and a stiff unyielding wrist.
Any tricks/short cuts to a decent sounding chord? I bought a Fender Strat as part of a starter kit and maybe the strings are too close together for me??
It seems I have fat fingers and a stiff unyielding wrist.
Any tricks/short cuts to a decent sounding chord? I bought a Fender Strat as part of a starter kit and maybe the strings are too close together for me??
# 1
Welcome to GT Chris... :)
Make sure you're playing with the tips of your fingers, not the pads... doing that you should get more arch in your fingers and get them out of the way of other strings.
Also, for chords like an open A where the fingers are quite tightly bunched, try using your fingers in a different order on the strings.
Hope that helps
Make sure you're playing with the tips of your fingers, not the pads... doing that you should get more arch in your fingers and get them out of the way of other strings.
Also, for chords like an open A where the fingers are quite tightly bunched, try using your fingers in a different order on the strings.
Hope that helps
Check out my music, video, lessons & backing tracks here![br]https://www.renhimself.com
# 2
Good call Mr. Ren, playing with the finger tips. One may take something for granted and as common knowledge where to another it may not be so obvious.
The wrist problem can be resolved my exercising your wrists. Get a small weight, not too heavy, start with a short piece of pipe or something similar. You're not trying to build muscles in your wrist, you're trying to build wrist flexibility.
Hold arms straight out in front of you keeping your arms straight with your palms up and thumbs out. Curl your wrist up as far as you can and hold for a few seconds. Then slowly uncurl your wrist and let you hands open allowing the pipe to roll down into your fingers forcing a little stretching at the wrist. Do this several times. Then grasp the pipe with the pipe vertical and palms inside with thumbs up and raise and lower your wrist while keeping your arms straight. Do this several times. Then still holding the pipe in front of you and arms straight, rotate your wrist first clockwise and then counter-clockwise. Then the left clockwise and the right counter-countwise. Then reverse the direction with the left counter-clock wise and the right clockwise. Do this a few times before playing and you will find it you will not no longer have stiff wrists. They may be a little sore until you get use to it, but you won't have a stiff wrist. Don't increase the weights. As it gets easilier, do more reps.
Good Luck!
The wrist problem can be resolved my exercising your wrists. Get a small weight, not too heavy, start with a short piece of pipe or something similar. You're not trying to build muscles in your wrist, you're trying to build wrist flexibility.
Hold arms straight out in front of you keeping your arms straight with your palms up and thumbs out. Curl your wrist up as far as you can and hold for a few seconds. Then slowly uncurl your wrist and let you hands open allowing the pipe to roll down into your fingers forcing a little stretching at the wrist. Do this several times. Then grasp the pipe with the pipe vertical and palms inside with thumbs up and raise and lower your wrist while keeping your arms straight. Do this several times. Then still holding the pipe in front of you and arms straight, rotate your wrist first clockwise and then counter-clockwise. Then the left clockwise and the right counter-countwise. Then reverse the direction with the left counter-clock wise and the right clockwise. Do this a few times before playing and you will find it you will not no longer have stiff wrists. They may be a little sore until you get use to it, but you won't have a stiff wrist. Don't increase the weights. As it gets easilier, do more reps.
Good Luck!
# 3
The guys above are perfectly right, you should be playing with the tips of your fingers. Also, try pushing your elbow out from your body so that your fingers, wrist and elbow form a straight line, this takes the pressure off the wrist. Keep the same position as you move around the fretboard moving the arm as one unit from the shoulder - this makes things a lot easier. Also, check out Frank Gambale for a guy with short fat fingers who can shred like crazy.
# 4
Thanks guys,
3 days into my guitar life now and the tips of my fingers are getting more sore with the practise. I read somewhere else that eventually a callous(?) will be formed. But I want to make sure it's formed in the right place of course.
Do the strings go across the tips or along the tips? Or is it a case of whatever works and stick to it? I used to play the violin, but this is different!
As far as the order of the fingers is concerned, will that be a problem when it comes to making a succession of chords if they are not in the "preferred" order?
Being over 6' tall, short fingers is not a problem I have. It's just getting them to move where I want them, when I want them. Practise practise and more practise I assume? :)
I'm off to find a pipe and have a closer look at the position of my elbow to wrist. I'll keep you posted.
Watch out Eric Clapton!
3 days into my guitar life now and the tips of my fingers are getting more sore with the practise. I read somewhere else that eventually a callous(?) will be formed. But I want to make sure it's formed in the right place of course.
Do the strings go across the tips or along the tips? Or is it a case of whatever works and stick to it? I used to play the violin, but this is different!
As far as the order of the fingers is concerned, will that be a problem when it comes to making a succession of chords if they are not in the "preferred" order?
Being over 6' tall, short fingers is not a problem I have. It's just getting them to move where I want them, when I want them. Practise practise and more practise I assume? :)
I'm off to find a pipe and have a closer look at the position of my elbow to wrist. I'll keep you posted.
Watch out Eric Clapton!
# 5
I may be wrong here (so take anything I say with a grain of salt) but if you're playing with the tips, the callouses will form at the tips of your fingers. You know how when you're drumming your fingers? How the tips of your fingers are striking the surface of whatever you're drumming on? That's the part of your finger you want to be fretting with. How you place your thumb on the back of the neck will impact the angle of your fretting fingers. The better the arch, the better the fretting!
You're right - it's all about the practice. :)
You're right - it's all about the practice. :)
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
# 6
Hi Superhuman
I have just listened to your track "Hellucination"
It's absolutely fantastic, full of energy, brilliant. I love it. Let us know when your CD is available. I would buy it!
By the way:
My Chords are now getting better, wrist is becoming more used to the shapes too.
Thanks for your help everyone.
I have just listened to your track "Hellucination"
It's absolutely fantastic, full of energy, brilliant. I love it. Let us know when your CD is available. I would buy it!
By the way:
My Chords are now getting better, wrist is becoming more used to the shapes too.
Thanks for your help everyone.
# 7
better and better
I have now cracked 4 chords and progression through them in time.
Thanks again guys
I have now cracked 4 chords and progression through them in time.
Thanks again guys
# 8
Glad to hear you are making progress Chris, first steps are always the hardest, stick with it and you will be shredding in no time;-)
PS thanks for checking out my track 'Hellucination'!
PS thanks for checking out my track 'Hellucination'!
# 9