• Registered: 07-04-08
  • Posts: 3

Topic: Hi New & Learning

Hi All

Been learning for about 2 weeks, bought a Yamaha Pacifica & am following The Complete Guitar Player by Russ Shipton.

Really enjoying it, struggled at first even playing one decent chord but am geting better every day. As per the book I am just learnt chords A, D & E at the moment & am currently learning to upstrum. My poor fingering of chord D is really noticable on the upstrum, but to be honest unless I practice each chord individually there is a bit of buzzing & dull notes here & there.

Getting better all the time though, after about 30 minutes practice I get these grooves pressed into my fingers from the strings & cant play the chords as cleanly as the first 20 minutes or so. They are starting to toughen up a bit though & I hope when they have hardened my fingertips will be a bit narrower when I'm fingering the chords instead of squadging over more than one string.

Anyway as you will have obviously gathered its very early days, but learning the guitar is great I just love that little Pacifica!

Thanks for reading

bainbridge

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  • From: Essex, UK
  • Registered: 31-03-08
  • Posts: 34

Re: Hi New & Learning

Welcome Bainbridge,
          You seem enthusiastic enough which is a really good thing, will keep you practicing for ages. I remember breaking my fingers in, getting them toughened up after hours of playing. When I played in a band once we used to do a cover of Freebird, used to kill the fingers, they started falling apart towards the end of the song, which is why we left it as an Encore.
Play around with the chords you've learnt, strumming different ways you'll be supprised how many variations you'll find. After all Status Quo have been doing it for years LOL.

Regards
Delboy.

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3 Reply by Olly

  • Olly
  • Olly
  • Site Admin
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  • From: UK
  • Registered: 24-11-07
  • Posts: 1,448
  • User Karma: 34

Re: Hi New & Learning

Welcome to the forum.

Great to meet another person that sounds so enthusisatic about the guitar.

The great thing about where you are now is, with a little dedication, you can learn new things every day to add to our playing and really see the improvements.

If you need any help then there are some great guitarists around here that know their stuff and are keen to help


Great stuff

Olly's Website

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  • Registered: 07-04-08
  • Posts: 3

Re: Hi New & Learning

Thanks Delboy & olly default/big_smile

Getting a lot less buzz & duff notes now, not as good as I would like but much better. Its great turning on the distortion on this little 10w Marshall amp it seems to disguise my errors a bit! Though when I am practising properly I do have distortion off.

Have been playing around with the 3 chords I know & its good practice I reckon because I'm now just planting my fingers on the fingerboard instead of putting down my index finger first to guide the other fingers into position.

Onto the next song now, Candle in the Wind......WOW!

Anyway thanks for the advice so far.

Bainbridge

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  • From: Rimouski, Québec
  • Registered: 23-01-08
  • Posts: 45

Re: Hi New & Learning

Finger hurts at the beginning, but don't give up, your building callouses and brain muscle... Practice, it will get easier soon...

About the chord you're practicing, It is important to get your finger in the very good position and try to get the clearest sound possible.

The buzz you hear... is it about your finger position ?? because, maybe your instrument need an adjustment !!!

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  • Registered: 07-04-08
  • Posts: 3

Re: Hi New & Learning

Hi milennium_03

The buzz is me not pushing hard enough with my index finger when fingering an A, but like you said muscle memory is slowly beginning to kick in & its starting to feel more natural.

Was really struggling to get a clean sound when fingering D, could only do so by stopping playing & moving my 3rd finger around to avoid the 1st & 3rd strings, this dull D was really noticable when upstrumming but I got home tonight & had a go & yippee I'm getting it in the right place while playing.

Going straight from E to D with an upstrum is still producing a dull-sounding D but i think thats because I'm having to move my 3rd finger over from the 4th string to the 2nd instead of simply sliding it along the 2nd string (as with A to E). More practice though & I will get there.

Struggling a bit with the pick shifting around in between my fingers whilst I'm strumming, if I hold it too firmly I dont get a smooth strum but if I'm gentle it tends to turn sideways so by the end of the accompaniment I'm no longer using the pointy bit or sometimes I drop it! Got 3 different sized picks & am experimenting with them.

cheers

bainbridge

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  • From: Rimouski, Québec
  • Registered: 23-01-08
  • Posts: 45

Re: Hi New & Learning

You don't have to push your string very "Hard" or make a lot of pressure. Be sure to place your finger on the right place in the case right after the fret, this might avoid buzzing !!

Here another tip... at the beginning, if you have difficulty with chord transition and getting the finger position place at the right place...

When you change from one chord to another, the last strum you do, just play it "open string" and be ready to have your finger place at the right place for the next chord, this way, you'll learn the right position, and you won't need this "open" strum very soon and be able to play it continously...

I suggest you after major chord, learn some minor ones you'll be able to play more songs...

Ask any question you might have, we'll be please to help you out !

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