Hello- I am new to Guitar!! Here are my thoughts?

Hello ... I am new... I just bought a Yamaha beginners kit... I have wanted to play for years... and decided to try and beat the cheap one up before I invest in a better one. and now the boredom of winter has brought me here... I am very excited to get going... I want to know if it is common for your fingers to feel like they dont fit on the strings for everybody to start out... or if my fingers are too big???

I hope to dedicate at least an hour a day minimum following through with the online courses... is this enough time to dedicate?

Also... the tips of my fingers are sore... I am sure this is common... but my question is... do people protect their fingers ever? with tape or band-aids... I am also thinking of this because it may help the flesh of the tips of my fingers from interfering with other strings as I am learning...
Hope to hear from other beginners... and pro's to let me know their thoughts...
Thanks
Eric- a.k.a. HubbaHubba

Hello Eric,

Welcome from a subscriber of 3 months (although I've been playing for a couple of years now).

You'll get some great help from GT - I wish I'd found it when I first started!

What you are experiencing is what everybody I've ever known who took up guitar found.

As far as your finger tips are concerned, it's just a case of grin and bear it. You'll find that after a couple of weeks your skin will harden and the pain will be gone (unless you stop playing for a few weeks).

When it comes to practicing, I find it best to keep on for as long as you can
maintain concentration otherwise you won't be taking anything in and will just be wasting your time and it will become a chore.

I am sure that you could sppend a lifetime with this site and not absorb all the information available.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Hey Eric...
Dave gave you the popular opinion.
If you want to look further, try putting "finger pain" in the search box. You will get a ton of suggestion that people have tried. But I still go with Dave's opinion..
Good Luck and don't fret the fret pain..

Hi Eric,

As a newbie myself (fours months in and loving it!) I know exactly how your fingers feel!! Just as was mentioned before, go with it. If you can work through the pain now, you will harden your fingertips before you know it. Mine were excruciating until about a month ago, when the callouses got thicker. I just kept going, and now there is no pain except a bit after a long practice session. Its weird, because the callouses peeled (sorry, that sounds gross!) and the tips were soft again. But they don't hurt - I think they desensitise aswell. The callouses are there, but not as thick as before. Keep the nails short too, I find I am filing mine all the time these days just to keep them short! Its amazing how quick they grow when you don't want them to!

GT is great - I'm so glad I found it! I'm at the end of Fund.1, just mastering F Major and B and speeding up the chord changes. Then its on to Fund. 2!!

I grab time to practice when I can, there's no set rule to how long or how often. I play every day, but children and animals restrict me somewhat! Thats why GT is so good - its always there, whenever you need it!

Good luck! :) :) :) :)

Originally Posted by: HubbaHubbaI want to know if it is common for your fingers to feel like they dont fit on the strings for everybody to start out... or if my fingers are too big???

There are some guys out there with pretty big meat hooks for hand sand they get around pretty good. It's the beginning stages of playing, you're fingers don't feel natural. Eventually you fond your way around and all that stuff the seemed to get in the way no longer seems an issue.

Best part, once you have that comfort level comes, it never goes away. Once you get it, you will always feel comfortable playing even if you stopped for some years (like I did). It's like being an athlete, you can always to the skill you used to do. You just do it better with training. My point is that once you are over the 'comfortable playing' hurdle, it stays with you and you never have to relearn it. Like an athlete, if you take time off, you need to train to get back to your playing still but in the end, the core ability remains.

Last thing i would say is that you should pay close attention to the things here in the Fundamentals course about the ergonomics of playing such as guitar placement etc. If the guitar is in the right placement for you, you don't have to fight the instrument, just the skill of playing.

Thanks for the others who have posted their advise... thank you! I am looking forward to my finger tips hardening... and now it seems my wrist, and fingers dont line up... its almost as if I have contort my arm and wrist and wrap my fingers ... is there an excercise... and is this normal? I so want to be able to play... and now that I have time to devote... i dont want to get frustrated... any suggestions on how to align my stiff wrists and large fingers... (sound rediculous) but its a struggle...

Hi,

Advice from above on fingertip conditioning etc not withstanding, I think you should go and have a lesson with a teacher... They should be able to help you with general posture.

Pain in the wrist is always something to worry about and if you're just beginning you don't want to learn how to contort yourself in to a position that works, it should be comfortable if a little alien at first.

The short answer is to have the guitar resting on your left leg if you're right handed, and hold it at such an angle that the headstock is more or less at eye-level - the higher you have it the more natural your arm should feel in playing position. It might even be worth using a strap even when sat down so you can get the guitar at a better angle.

I'm suggesting a teacher because someone being able to see you will probably be able to come up with a more precise diagnosis. Finger tip pain is to be expected, as is some discomfort in the fingers after prolonged playing as you build strength, but pain in the wrists worries me...

I have big shovel hands so can identify with the initial problem, it's also worth looking at different ways to play chords that may give your fingers more space.

Hey man, I wouldn't worry too much about your wrists feeling stiff or sore. If your wrists do start to get sore always make sure that you stop playing because you can damage your wrists quite badly.

Before I play I always warm up my wrists. Here is a video on some hand stretches, I couldn't find the one I was looking for but this is still quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I63ld7wZCs

Warm up for 5 to 10 minutes by doing the stretches shown in the video and and move your fingers around as if you were playing the guitar or piano without actually using the instrument.

Hope this was helpful