Hi Im new

Im using a spair school's guitar that I just got today. I saw your website and immediatly tried it out. I went through all the videos and im having trouble moving my fingers and strumming with all the strings. Just seems like alot of string in one area and my fingers always land on the wrong string doing the basic my country tis of thee song

Don't worry.
We all went through frustrations at the beginning in one way or another.

I remember when I got my first guitar, all I could do was a D chord for about the first 3 years and it wasn't until I got a new guitar for xmas that things finally started to click.

Ok thanks. Would you mind linking a video for each of my problems because I like doing things in order of how I should do it. I really want to be serious with this. Also whatever lessons you think I should master first, please link in order.


Here are my difficulties

1. Finger positions, my fingers feel really awkward when I do the correct chords. sometimes I have to manually bend my fingers.

2. Transitioning, this is made up of not doing well witht he positions in the first place and memorizing the chords. There is so many it impossible to memorize all those.

3. When I strum a note then go to transition it cuts off the sound and doesnt seem right. Like on country tis of thee. I do the first note twice and when i go to the third the previous cuts off and sounds bad.

Thanks

I'd probably suggest going though the fundamentals courses first. That'll give you a general idea of the basic ideas necessary to get a general understanding of how to place your fingers according to the generally 'acceptable' way of how to play beginner guitar.

From there, you may want to advance a little into alternate fingering positions and strumming techniques that involve using fingers to mute unplayed notes.

Once you get a good handle on those, it's probably time to move on to barre chords, This will open up the whole fretbard for you and allow you to transpose chords to other keys..

At the same time as all this, try to have fun experimenting with actual songs and attempting leads and scales. All the while keeping in mind that the end result is to male melodic music and give the listener an emotional experience.

A lot of guitarist tend to bog themselves down with theory and scales and kinda forget that the main aim of music is to impart an emotion and feeling to the listener.

Hence, my suggestion to work on theory and scales to a certain point... but then just go nuts and improvise your butt off occasionally to renew your feel for why you took up guitar in the first place :)

Hi Ajense,

Welcome! I've been following this post. It's helpful that you were so specific about the problems you are having. While I agree with Kevin that the Fundamentals Course is a great place to start your structured study, I also have some lesson suggestions that target each of the problems you mentioned specifically.

1. For finger strength and flexibility and hand position, try the Spider Legs Warm-ups. The very first one in the series focusses on hand position and finger stretch - this might help you with forming your chords.

SPIDER LEGS” WARM-UP EXERCISES
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=621

2. For your chord transitions, try this:

ACOUSTIC CORE CONCEPTS: HOW TO MAKE FASTER CHORD CHANGES
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=463

3. For the tone of your notes as you go from one chord to the next, try this:

ACOUSTIC CORE CONCEPTS: HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR TONE
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=474

And, as Kevin suggested, the Fundamentals Course will set you up on a good structured path for learning the basics.

Let us know how it's going - and have fun!
Best wishes, Lisa

As you heard from the instructors themselves Fundamentals 1 and 2 are incredible. That is where I started and worked my way through those slowly at my own speed. Not only did I want to be able to play the lesson itself but understand why I was playing it. I wouldn't skip these or breeze through them. These will give you the basic fundamentals you will need for everything else.

You don't have to work your way through these exclusively before trying anything else. In addition to the fundamentals try the links that were provided and as you become more familiar with the site pick a few more to add to your practice schedule.

As a beginner myself thats what I did and am doing. Don't be afraid to go back to previous lessons in the fundamental courses either. I got stuck and struggled on the chord changes and didn't progress at all for about 2 weeks. Then I skipped ahead but always kept those hard lessons I was struggling with in my practice schedule. So instead of being stuck and standing still I worked on chords plus I kept moving forward.

You have found the best place to be in my honest opinion. Not only are the lessons and instructors here second to none, but the folks here on the forums are always eager to help and all are some of the nicest people I have ever "met"

Good luck and keep at it. Things that feel "funky" now you will do soon without even thinking about it,

Ed

The great thing about online learning is that it doesn't need to be linear like in a classroom situation.. but it does help a lot to begin with a structured approach to get the foundation/fundamentals. I know that I am a lot like you in that I feel I need to do things in a certain order but once you get to a certain point you will find that you can make your own order.. As long as you stick to that order which you decide for yourself, you'll do fine..