Left hand excerises

hi, I'm a complete novice slowly working my way through "guitar fundamentals 1", the course is superb and I would recomend it to all beginners.
My question is this, are there any excercises I can do when I am away from my guitar to help me to reach the fingering of chords? I am struggling with my short, fat, stiff fingers!! Lol.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Adam.

One thing I always do is try stretching your fingertips as far as they will go on a flat open surface, (like a table or something) What you wanna do is keep them stretched, but press each finger down as hard as you can (just the tips) individually and count to 4 and then let up. Go all the way down your hand, doing each finger individually but keeping them stretched.

You can also get a stress ball and just squeeze your finger tips on that with your hands stressed out. This technique is called isotension.

The problem is the fact that you just started. Guitar, believe it or not, involves a great deal of muscle and muscle memory. The human hand naturally isn't built to do the things it does on a guitar, but as you gradually progress the muscles will build up and you'll develope greater flexability and endurance. Just do those excercises and focus on stretching when you practice guitar. You'll get there.

I use a contraption called a 'gripmaster' (ooh-er) which has a button for each finger. There are different models depending on your strength level...

I'm not sure how wise it is to stretch your fingers apart, but hey.... it's your hand :). As the previous poster says, it is something that comes with time. My advice would be to take your time, and try to practice every day even if it's only a few minutes - you'll be surprisd how fast it progresses.

Originally Posted by: adam14bikes2hi, I'm a complete novice slowly working my way through "guitar fundamentals 1", the course is superb and I would recomend it to all beginners.
My question is this, are there any excercises I can do when I am away from my guitar to help me to reach the fingering of chords? I am struggling with my short, fat, stiff fingers!! Lol.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Adam.

You don't want to 'over-grip'. Remember that you don't need to press the string in to the wood of the neck. You just need to press hard enough so that the string meets the fret. I have short fingers, I feel your pain. In the beginning it feels like you might need to 'really' press the string but in reality, it does not really take that much pressure.

An exercise: While picking a steady pattern on the low E string, start by not touching the string but bring your index finger closer and closer to the neck (best at the second fret position) until you touch the string and it gets buzzy. Continue to slowly press until you hear the string ring true. Notice how little pressure it took to get the string to ring. This gives you a calibration with how it should feel when you're fretting chords.

Also make sure that you have the guitar in a comfortable position...and for god sakes, if your beginning, sit while you practice! ;) . This will make sure that your arm is at a good position. Ideally, you forearm should almost be parallel to the ground if not very slightly inclining from your elbow to the neck. The guitar from lower bout to the headstock should also incline upwards a little.

Why all the position stuff? If you fight the ergonomics of playing, it's only that much harder for you. It's challenging enough to be coordinated for a player but if you struggle with all the stuff above, it's going to be that much harder.

Yeah it sucks having fat fingers. My fingers are so fat that I have trouble with the A Major Chord :eek: My first finger is near the bottom of the first fret and I really gotta push that sucker down.

I too am a beginner but I don't think there is much to take the place of the guitar. If you pick it up everyday even for just a few minutes you will be surprised how your short fingers start to grow :D

Ed

Thank you, guys for the pointers.
I am trying to pick my guitar up everyday, sometimes just while the wife is watching TV I'll just sit and fret some chords. It all seems to help and I am seeing a steady improvement everytime I pick up my guitar.
Thanks again and happy playing.

Adam.

Hiya,

I'm a novice/beginner too. Just started in May - been practicing for about an hour or so every night (thought that was pretty good, until reading some of you practice 4 hrs/day!!). I usually practice until my fingers hurt, and I can't take it anymore. I've gotten some decent callouses, but still can't take much more than 2 hours at one time.

I've got some rather mind-stumping questions (at least, well, they are for me!)

You see, I've been playing for months, and I'm only now getting up to learning the notes on the fourth and fifth strings - yep, I'm up to page 25 in the "Mel Bays Modern Guitar Method - Grade 1 (Expanded Version)." I'm kinda frustrated, because I want to play chords, but they haven't introduced that yet. I bought a book on TAB/chords - but they lost me on the 10th page, chapter 2 - How to Read and Interpret the Notation Used In this Book.

Well, I've discovered a few things ... the first being, most people I listen to who play the guitar well, can't read music, and ... I have absolutely no musical talent, what-so-ever ... but my greatest epiphany is that I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with it, except to play (duh!) ... well, I mean that I don't have a specific style of music that I am dying to play - I don't salivate over certain musicians, wishing to emulate their solo, I have no idea what type of songs I want to play ... just that I want to play the guitar, and be able to sing along (maybe). Hey, I've gotten applause from singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with my 5 year old! (That's about my speed at the moment.) Anyhow, my mom decided to give me a guitar lesson for my birthday - paid for 1/2 hr at her local music store. I spent that time feeling incredibly inept and useless. He did give me a chart on chords, and some tips for finger exercises on stretching. Unfortunately, I've discovered that spending time on the practices he suggested has severely affected my ability to play the guitar, period. I need to stretch my fingers more, hit the strings closer to the fret, and come in straight on, rather than sideways, In short ... I suck.

I also have this incredible need to have someone tell me that I'm doing fine, and that I'm actually getting better. I agree that regular lessons might be a good thing for my playing, if not for my ego ... but I live in a rural area, work 50 hours a week, and have children. I'm not exactly financially able to commit to such a regimen of study. So, will Guitar Tricks offer me the help I need, or am I in waaay over my head? Is it possible to continue on as I have been, teaching myself with the book and DVD?
-WildFyreKT

ABSOLUTELY!
Everything I have learned I learned...through Guitar Tricks. I have been playing since August so a little less time than you but I am guilty of practicing a few hours a day.

Its incredibly affordable compared to private lessons (no way I can afford those either but I really wish that I could) The Beginner courses here are outstanding. They are laid out very well and each has tons of video lessons that make it easier to see and follow along too. Having said that you can defiantly take as much or as little time as you need to progress. Plus starting with the basics it doesn't matter what type of music you eventually want to play it all starts at the same place.

Think of it this way. You can study, learn, play till your fingers bleed with the instructors here anytime you want 24/7. If something confuses you such as TABS not only can you directly ask an instructor you have all the great people here at the forums willing to help you out.

I personally think it is the best decision I made and I think you should try it. Worse comes to worse you can always try a month and if it is not for you cancel and you're out a few bucks. I doubt you will cancel.

By the way I had withdrawn a few books from the library the day I picked up my guitar. The other thing I noticed using Guitar Tricks is you don't have to read a sentence (look at the book) then stop look at the guitar get one finger in place look at the book again because I had forgotten where the next finger went hahaha. With the video lessons it is much easier for me to see and hear what I am supposed to do so in short it is faster I think.

Guitar Tricks has my vote give it a try I think you will really be happy you did,

Ed

Originally Posted by: WildFyreKTI also have this incredible need to have someone tell me that I'm doing fine, and that I'm actually getting better. I agree that regular lessons might be a good thing for my playing, if not for my ego ... but I live in a rural area, work 50 hours a week, and have children. I'm not exactly financially able to commit to such a regimen of study. So, will Guitar Tricks offer me the help I need, or am I in waaay over my head? Is it possible to continue on as I have been, teaching myself with the book and DVD?
-WildFyreKT

If you're not having fun with playing, that's all that's important. No need to commit to a regimen if it doesn't fit your life. That would only make you unhappy with playing. A hobby player sitting around for the fun of it shouldn't feel like it's a chore. You should just enjoy the process of learning it at whatever level and time commitment you have.

I like Guitar Tricks. I played very seriously for a long time and taught for a while. Rule number one, lots of guitar teachers take themselves way to seriously and assume every player has high aspirations. I like the tone here. While I was teaching my wife to play from the ground up, I came here because it really offered a lot to a new player and in a manner that is more satisfying then Mel Bay and less boot camp-ish than your average local teacher.

I think that there is no single way that you have to learn guitar. I went to the 'hey, that's kinda neat. I wonder of I can play it' school of guitar. It worked for me. I only really took a few lessons ever. I felt teachers were trying to teach me their style. Had I had something like Guitar Tricks, much cooler and at your own pace...and cheap too.

Re usefull practice away from the guitar:
Try drumming your fretting fingers in different rhythms and combinations. At the most basic you can try:
1234, 4231
123, 321
The above is easy but still very usefull for developing speed and agility...

But the following ones are seriously challenging and will mess with your head for ages:
1324, 1324
4231, 4231
1423, 1432
4123, 4132
The above patterns are deliberately confusing and the same principal behind Progressive Matrices you might find on a tough IQ test.

These excercises really helped me a lot, they are very awkward and get your neurons firing - when you can do these without losing rhythm and pattern then you will find things like sweep picking and string skipping a lot easier when you get to that level.