Hello from the Rose Capital of Texas

Hey I'm George am new on here a beginner at 57 years old. About 3/4 the way through intro #1 . I love all kinds of music old or new. Love listening to Derek Trucks , Stevie Ray, Clapton ,BB . Blues especially . My fingers just don't move like they did. Is there some type of dexterity exercises I can do to help ? By the way Christopher is awesome an easy to follow if only my fingers would . LOL

Hi George Carr
Welcome to GT.
Rose capital of Texas.. Is that the home of the Oil Palace on Hwy 64..
And the now extinct ("The Music Store" dial "595-band") on West Gentry
Here are a few exercise videos..

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=14390

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=18581
This is first in a series that you'll soon come across
I do one when away from the guitar is to tap each finger to thumb while stretching the fingers apart as much as I can.
good luck

Yes it is home to the Oil Palace. Many of great artist have performed there. not sure about the Music Store on Gentry though. I have only lived here for 5 years , so I'm still learning about her.The Azalea's are in full bloom now . Sure is pretty here. Thanks for the help I need all I can get.

Welcome George!

I called San Antonio home for 35 years before making my way to the banana belt of Montana. Still have my taste for Earl Campbell's Hot Links but they're increasingly hard to find up here. Don't have azaleas or Tyler roses either but Montana stole my heart away from Texas none the less. But I digress... :D

The site below is top notch and offers all kinds of great instruction...I often use it as a fine, free supplement to our unbeatable GT. The finger stretch exercise at the link is outstanding. It builds flexibility, strength, and stretch and can be a superb way to practice and imprint proper fret finger technique. I spend about 20 minutes a day on it, six days a week.

http://justinguitar.com/en/TE-007-FingerStretch.php

Hello George and welcome to the forum!

Hi George,

We've got roses and bougainvillea blooming over here in southern California, spring has sprung! Great to hear you're starting guitar, if you enter "stretch" and "dexterity" in the GT search field you'll get some good lessons to help your fingers become more flexible.

Thanks for all the help. I've been to San Diego Neal it was nice , loved the weather there. Saw lots of sand dunes before crossing the mountains that was a trip on my motorcycle was ready to be on the other side. LOL. I started doing the ones that Compart suggested they seem to be helping . Did those off and on all weekend just to get my fingers going. Can tell it's helping my fingers get sore. have been practicing about 2 hours tonite. Going slow at it just trying to get the basics down. Working on House of the Rising Sun now on the lower and middle strings. Then get the joy of starting cords. Did A major a bit hard to get my fingers crammed in tried different finger arrangements. Again thanks , all help appreciated .

There's nothing like bike ride on a sunny southern california day!

That sounds great, glad you found help. If you're fingers are getting sore that's a good sign that they're getting a working out and you're headed in the right direction. If you feel pain, please give your hands a rest. Gotta take care of those puppies!

Thanks Neil , I did have to take a break to let my fingers rest. Then I was feeling guilty about not practicing. So now I'm studying the notes on the neck when I'm not practicing . Not sure if my brain will get it. LOL

ahh, that's a good substitute for practicing.
Funny..guilt vs. pain
I like to use octaves to visualize other notes on the neck. That way when you learn one note, on say the low E string, it's easy to visualize another note and twice the learning.

Here's a video on it:
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=14317

WOW! that's awesome Neal ! I watched this several times about the third time a bell went off on what your saying . WOW is all I got to say. Thanks a bunch! I will have to do this.

Ding! Glad I could help :D

This thread is two pages long and I still don't know which city is the rose capital of Texas! ? lol Austin? San Antonio?

Nothing here about guitar music, except at the feastival below.
Tyler, Texas.. about 90 miles east of Dallas. I don't know who proclaimed it to be the rose capital.
If your interested check links below.
http://www.festivalonthesquare.com/

http://www.visittyler.com/roseseason.php

It's also on the national historic registry for their azalea trails. I'm from Mississippi where the dirt is rich but Tyler has the biggest azalea's I've seen.