Can't seperate fingers to reach frets


bcjcdisciple
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bcjcdisciple
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02/11/2011 4:15 pm
I am a very new beginner and have trouble reaching the frets with my fingers. I seem to have a different problem than most people...I don't have short fingers! When my fingers are straight, I can seperate them, no problem. However, when I bend my fingers to put them on the guitar strings, my two middle fingers close together and I cannot reach the frets. I am already using a small guitar. I haven't given up yet...Is there any exercises other than just "keep trying" that I can do to train my fingers to seperate?
# 1
MJ66
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MJ66
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02/15/2011 6:40 pm
What kind of chords are you trying to play? As you are a beginner I'm thinking you are not trying to play barre chords yet. As with any new skill you learn, sorry, it does take time and practice. When you bend your fingers they naturally will be closer together. A lot of guitar is built on muscle memory, which basically means you have to train your fingers to go where you want them to. Also keep in mind a smaller guitar does not mean it has a smaller neck. Perhaps the neck on the guitar is too thick? As far as exercises, just try walking your fingers up and down each string (one at a time) and just keep telling yourself, one finger per fret. You'll get there, just keep at it and if you get frustrated, that's ok, just put it down and try again later. Even 5 mins here and there is going to help. Don't even worry about your right hand or getting the chords to ring out at this point just get your left hand sorted out and the rest will follow.

Good Luck!
# 2
musicpeeps
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musicpeeps
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02/16/2011 7:18 am
Keep on practicing it does sound a bit quick to toughen up that quickly and sooner you will rich the fret
# 3
gowings83
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gowings83
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02/21/2011 6:32 pm
I had the same problem when I first started learning to play bass in grade school. Fingers not fully grown makes it harder than it is now but I'll always remember one trick my teacher had taught me, it may sound odd but try taking something like a VHS case (it's what was around at the time) and make lines about 3/4" apart. Keeping your thumb flat against the back work your fingers like they're on the guitar. You can sit there for hours watching TV working the muscle in your fingers. It may not work for you, but it sure helped me. I'm currently using this trick again after 7 years away from the electric.
# 4
guitarlessonsuk
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guitarlessonsuk
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02/22/2011 7:55 am
Hi there, like going to the gym...

Make sure you do some warm up excersizes.

GT has loads of warm ups, if you search for warm ups

Here is one..http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=14209


Above all it might be worthwhile seeing a guitar teacher because it may be a posture issue that can easily be resolve, but left unresolved my cause long term frustration.

Cheers

Rob
www.guitarlessonsnottingham.com Guitar lessons in Nottingham & Via Skype
# 5
JJ90
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JJ90
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02/22/2011 8:35 pm
Yeah like guitarlessonsuk/Rob says, the problem can surely be posture ( which I think it is, mentioning you got long fingers ). Be sure the position of your wrist according to the neck of your guitar is right, otherwise I would say, keep practicing, you'll definately get there :-)

Cheers!
# 6
Joe Pinnavaia
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Joe Pinnavaia
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03/07/2011 3:05 am
Playing posture is the first step in the development of adequate technique. Your sitting position is important too. If you are not currently using a strap while you play I would suggest starting with that to keep the neck of the guitar at a sufficient angle. The next issue is where your thumb of your left hand is on the neck. If you hold the guitar like a baseball bat you'll have a hard time getting to even the 4th fret in the first position. Keep your thumb behind the second finger this should make your hand square to the fretboard. This will make it easier to get to the higher notes.
I have an eBook on my site that is free to download the covers various technique building exercises at http://www.guitarlessonsbuffalony.com

All the best,
J.P.
# 7
poisonivy24
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poisonivy24
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03/08/2011 3:14 am
I agree to most of them, keep practicing, actually my problem before is my short fingers but I try hard to reach the strings and I practice more often.
# 8
hrandersoniii
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hrandersoniii
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03/11/2011 10:07 pm
Originally Posted by: poisonivy24I agree to most of them, keep practicing, actually my problem before is my short fingers but I try hard to reach the strings and I practice more often.


Shall one day rule the world! LOL
I think that's always been my problem as well.. short fat fingers don't wanna stretch from that 5th fret to the 7th fret very well at all :D EVEN WITH PRACTICE :D

finding some shortcuts here and there actually help out some.. just means I won't ever be a Joe Satriani ;D
# 9
Fluke51
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Fluke51
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03/26/2011 11:42 am
It will happen if you keep practising.
Don't put yourself down, set your sights high and go for it :)

In the early days I found recording what I could do and then recording again after each few weeks practice, helped show me I was getting somewhere.
All the tools you need are on this site.
At various points it will seem like you've hit a brick wall, just keep going, it's the same for all of us, dare I say, including Mr S when he was a beginner.

Short fingers can be helped along with a slim/narrow neck.
Try a few guitars at your local guitar shop and see if any are better suited to you.


Regards.
Den.
# 10
animoona
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animoona
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10/03/2016 12:46 am

Hi! I have been having problems seperating my fingers too. But I think I can suggest some "excercises" to help you!

Okay, so the first thing is to take your strumming hand (most likely your right) and use it to pull your fingers apart while they are bent, without the guitar. Do one space at a time. Hold them there long enough so that you can keep them in about the same position when you take your other hand away. Keep your fingers like this for as long as you can.

Another thing you might try is getting something thick and firm to place between your fingers to keep them apart. Make sure that when you do this, you have all those fingers bent. Leave them like this for a long time.

You could put the firm stuff between your fingers when you try to play a certain difficult chord, and play that chord over and over again, with the stuff holding your fingers apart in just the right position. Do this until you can keep your fingers apart by yourself. Work on one chord at a time.

You might also consider doing warm ups. You know how athletes warm up before a game or practice? They do so in order to losen up their muscles and prevent injury. This helps with coordination. Try playing around with your fingers, stretching them and trying to make shapes and things.

And I am wondering if you know how to type on a keyboard using all of your fingers, without looking at the keyboard? I can't yet. If you haven't learned, maybe learning will help your finger coordination, too. Think of learning guitar chords like learning to type. It's slow and painful at times, but you can learn the coordination.

You might also soak your hand in warm water, to losen things up. And doing so after a hard practice might help your hands, too. I'm sure they get cramped eventually.

The last thing I think you could do is a little weird.. Well... I want you to practice grabbing multiple things at once, but instead of stuffing them in your arms, make each finger grab one thing. Maybe you can get a plastic bag, fill it with something (it could be anything, pencils, a bag of chips, a tissue box, just something that's not too light, but not too heavy, either), and make only one of your middle fingers hold the loops of the bag. Move the other middle finger around, and force the finger holding the bag to stay still. Even straighten out the free finger while you still hold the bag in the other. It will take time, but this might help teach your brain to only send signals to move to one finger or the other, not both. We were all born this way. It's just some of us have learned better how to control our fingers than others.

If all else fails, try stwitching your guitar around so you strum with the hand you usually hold frets with, and holding the frets with your writing hand. Your writing hand may be more coordinated tha the other one, beause it has to do most of the work.

Oh! I just thought of one more thing. It's something I've done a lot when playing around with a pencil in my hand. What you do is get a pencil. Take one of your troublesome fingers, and old it down while all the other ones stay up. Take your pencil, and put it on the outside area of the finger you are holding down, and make sure that the inside of all the other fingers are touching the pencil. Shove the pencil down as close to the base of your fingers you can. Then bend the finger you had been holding down. The pencil will keep your other fingers from being able to bend. Do this a lot. You can even do this with different fingers while you watch tv. Keep doing so until you can bend each finger without the other ones trying to follow the one being bent. And maybe try doing this pencil trick again occassionally afterwards, for practice.

I hope these suggestions are at least somewhat helpful!
# 11
RiffNoob02
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RiffNoob02
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10/26/2016 6:58 am

I have this problem as well. I have fairly long fingers and when bending my fingers (if they are spread apart) my middle and ring come together. Is almost like if they were longer they end up making an x. Im dong lessons here and I do lessons once a week at a local guitar shop. My teacher said that its a lack of muscle thing and with time, stretching, and practice it will get easier. I know my posture is usually good and I use a strap. Ive been doing some of the warm ups for the first 10 minutes of practice and doing a decent amount of stretching and its already gotten a little easier. Check on here or youtube and you can find some good videos on stretching. Its a bit frustrating, but dont give up! Keep going and you will nail it.

peace,

RiffNoob02


# 12
Bill Fulcher
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Bill Fulcher
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11/14/2016 4:53 am

Hi Animoona! Lisa McCormick teaches finger exercises during the first part of beginner fundamentals. These exercises help to strech your finger muscles. Thus may help. Bill


# 13
Heavenly Daughter
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Heavenly Daughter
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11/15/2016 9:00 am

I can't believe that no one picked up on this. You say you have long finger but using a small guitar.

Firstly how old are you. More than 11 = full size guitar.

Very new beginner 3 chords. A , D and Emaj chords. You shouldn't have any issue with finger positions on these chords.

When doing A switch fingers 1 and 2 positions. It's a little easier.

IF you are doing finger exercises for frets in 1 to 4. YOU DO NOT NEED TO KEEP YOUR FINGERS IN THE FRETS WHILE REACHING FOR THE OTHERS. Don't try to reach fret 4 while still keeping 1st finger in fret 1.

You are a "VERY NEW BEGINNER". Very basic exercise is MORE "where does my finger have to get to to play each note correctly. It training you head to place each finger where it's supposed to touch each string in each fret. Not get my hands to reach fret 1 and 3 or 4 at the same time.

If you are doing any more than learning A,D and E chords and exercise frets 1 to 4 finger placement . I suggest don't.

Practice A D change

Practice A E change

Practice D A change

Strum and pick make sure all is clear.


# 14
lgale8
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lgale8
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09/24/2019 11:49 pm

I'm new and also having this issue - I've been using the lesson that Bill suggested - it's called "Spider Legs Warm-Up Exercise'.

I do this for 5 minutes at the beginning of each lesson. I've been doing this for a week and I've found that I can keep all three fingers down for the first few strings. I'm still working on keeping all my fingers down at once on strings 4-6 but I'm gradually getting there.

I hope you find a strategy/exercise that works for you.

Lyndall


# 15
Iman_Oldie
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Iman_Oldie
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12/27/2020 3:01 pm

Hi,

I found this thread doing a Google search and hope it is ok to revive it.

I'm having the same problem after practising daily for two months.

I can do the spider legs warm-up but once I try to reach for a different string I can't get there.

Here's an example that I think most would be familiar with.

Money (Pink Floyd).

A string second fret (B first finger) to G string fourth fret (B third finger) and quickly to D string fourth fret (F# rolling the third finger).

I have seen bass guitarists use the third finger to pinkie instead of rolling the third. I'm not fast enough yet to do that and I'm sure I could with practice but I feel I should be able to reach a two fret distance even if it is two strings apart. I've seen it done obviously, watching You-Tube tutorials.

I can play some major chords that are only one fret apart. A, C, D. B is a stretch but my index finger is on the high E string so a different sort of stretch.

I hope this all makes sense. My hands are average size I guess. Slender but not tiny.

Guitars are standard length.

I started playing a cornet when I was 10 but took my time getting to the guitar. I'm 71 ;-)

I enjoy practising though and have plenty of free time to do it :D

I'm hoping time is all I need.


# 16

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