Hand size question

I just started learning last week and am going through the pain of getting my finger tips toughen up at this time. I have been concentrating on learning the C cord for several days and keep laying my fingers on the strings. Having a hard time keeping my 1st finger on the second string while trying to get to 4 and 5. I'm new sorry if I discribed it wrong.

Since I'm new at this I did not think to ask at the music store about hand size and length of the neck. Being new I don't know if it's just me (probably is) or if I bought the wrong type of guitar (Ovation 257). Is there a chart or some sort of guide to help out newbies, "if your arm length is this and finger length this we recomemd you start with this size guitar".

I just want be starting off in the right direction.

Thanks for any sugestions. Now time for some more pain on the fingers.

Thanks
Ed

Well, join the club!

I had the same problem when I strated out. The problem you're facing is lack of streching in the finger. This is absolutely normal at first.

The thing is you're asking your fingers to strech in ackward positions. This will only become better with time. As you play more and more, your finger will strech and you'll be able to play lots of chords.

It's always hard at first to get use to these new positions but don't fear, it's the same for all of us.

You'll also find it harder to play on an acoustic guitar then on a electric. For this reason I always recommend learning chords on a acoustic first. Then when you play the electric, you'll have a better control of your chords.

hope this helps you out.

Benoit is absolutely right,unfortunately you are forcing your hand into unfamiliar positions - mine used to hurt so much i ran then under warm water and stretched them phsically - it hurt 'cos that was almost 20 yrs ago and i can still remember the pain. Hang on in there and try playing for short periods first then lengthen your practice time.

Re: "if your arm length is this and finger length this we recomend you start with this size guitar".(etc)

No, most people get a guitar by trying several and seeing which fits- BUT, there are two scale lengths (commonly!) Fender, which is 25.5" (648mm) and Gibson 24.75" (628mm) and you may find it's easier playing a Gibson scale length neck as the strings are less taut and take less pressure to fret- but then "feel" varies greatly with individual types as a couple of my fender copies feel easier to play than my gibson copy.

Numerous factors such as "height"/depth of neck [ie what size it is at a certain fret,say 22mm at fret 12 for example] and width of neck come into play here,as ddo string thickness etc,etc,etc.

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/japan/el_guitar/neck_guitar/as_dimension.jpg -may ilustrate my ramblings better than i.

Fender used to make student models which had short scales and were easier for learning on - hence student- You may want to try looking for a Fender Bullet to play,
- Sorry i don't know Ovation's usual scale, but acoustic guitars are harder to play at first , because acoustics usually have thicker strings than electrics.

Ask a guitar teacher or friend if you can borrow theirs or go back to the store and play about with some electrics (strats,teles,les pauls and sgs) to get an idea what they are like.

I only found out about different scale lengths a while back and found it makes a lot of difference.

Fight back and buy a slide for when the fingers get tired :D

Good luck.

Thanks for the responses. I'll just work through the pain and hopefully next month will be better.

I never though learning the cords would be easy. I just never realized about having to actually get my hand to stretch out.

Thanks for the inspritation.

Ed

Anytime, just come back to the forum whenever you need help or if you think you're getting nowhere.

We've all been there we can help.

As a little tip I wouldnt necessarily practice just one chord over and over again. This is forcing your hand into a painful static position. I would recommend alternating between a C and a G chord. The G chord stretches your hand differently and should loosen the muscles up a bit more. Its still gonna hurt though :(

Something I found was useful was buying one of those hand excercise things (mines a "Gripmaster" haha) these are designed to build up the muscles in the hand (I think the gripmaster ones are distributed by D'ARRIO) I use this when I'm watching TV or at work or whatever and it makes a noticable difference in the muscle strength in your hand.

Hope that helps

Neal

indeed,welcome ... and take it easy on those fingers :)