Addicted to learning guitar.

By pure coincidence went to sit in my bil’s garden this aft, haven’t seen this part of the familly for six months, 16 yo nephew has always played a bit he was showing me his newish Taylor. OMG how his playing has come on, gone are the Oasis days 🙄 fingerpicking sweetly. His band are getting interest and have gigs booked locally for post lockdown.

Needless to say after Mrs Flash went to bed the acoustic is already in tune, I can feel my mojo coming back, not least because he made me play it and I’m not going to sound so ropey in front of him again (he was in drop D and I couldn’t think quick enough) The kid has raw talent, something I couldn’t even buy.
 

https://youtu.be/FGT0A2Hz-uk



By the way (I‘m on one now) did someone mention a looper, here’s KT Tunstall on Jules Holland, someone dropped out and she got the call at a few hours notice - only realised later she didn’t have time to get changed !! (That’s a girl thing) Anyone can use a looper like this is a God.

I could be wrong about this, but I think Justin Guitar was her guitar guy at this time.
 
Can some of the more experienced players help me with an issue? I'm having trouble with the placement of my little finger and getting the string it's placed on to 'ring' out. I seem to always not place it correctly on the fret and gives a dead note. Are there any exercises I can follow to help or does it just come with more practice?
 
Can some of the more experienced players help me with an issue? I'm having trouble with the placement of my little finger and getting the string it's placed on to 'ring' out. I seem to always not place it correctly on the fret and gives a dead note. Are there any exercises I can follow to help or does it just come with more practice?
Practice, practice, practice. Also try adjusting the position of your hand, maybe rotate your right wrist further forward, might help get your finger ends pointed more directly towards the frets.

Try just fingering the chord and playing it note by note. When you’re learning it will feel like you’re having to put an enourmous amount of pressure on it to get it to ring, but over time you’ll need loads less pressure. I don’t know how that’s the case but it is.

Edit: if you use your thumb to fret the bass E you will notice that you’re rocking your wrist back and forward quite a bit, watch the KT Tunstall video above and note her wrist positioning and movement when she finally gets to play after setting the looper up.

Edit left wrist sorry 🙈
 
Last edited:
Can some of the more experienced players help me with an issue? I'm having trouble with the placement of my little finger and getting the string it's placed on to 'ring' out. I seem to always not place it correctly on the fret and gives a dead note. Are there any exercises I can follow to help or does it just come with more practice?
As has been said it comes with practice and finger strength.

Also check where your thumb is, as this can have a big effect. I was taught to have it pressed against the neck and not wrapped across, that can come later when your hands are stronger.
 
Can some of the more experienced players help me with an issue? I'm having trouble with the placement of my little finger and getting the string it's placed on to 'ring' out. I seem to always not place it correctly on the fret and gives a dead note. Are there any exercises I can follow to help or does it just come with more practice?
As has been said, I'd let the practice take care of it. Practice the difficult changes slowly and regularly and it'll fall into place (y)
 
Some of you may know I bought myself a guitar just over a month ago now. I needed a something to break up the day other than getting up, eating, watching TV, going for a walk and repeat.
I wish I'd stuck at learning when I was a kid, it's brilliant. I downloaded an app called Yousician after been recommended it by a friend and it's a superb learning tool.

Really enjoying playing along and learning with the app and looking forward to the days when I can play along with some of the harder more complex songs.

Any other guitar/bass players on the board?
So many people have suggested Justin, but for me, Party Marty on youtube was the guy that changed everything for me.
I find that a lot of the tutorials on youtube are so drawn out and somewhat boring as they often tend to cater for beginners and spend
so much time pointing out where ones fingers go to make a chord shape.

Over the years I had learnt a fair few chords, enough to play lots of simplified songs, but I just couldn't get the knack of being able to
do anything with them until I found Party Marty.
For those with a similar problem to mine, who already knows a few chords, he is the one to get you strumming along in no time.
He gets straight on with it and simplifies a lot of songs and away he goes and so will you.
That's a promise.
 
Practice, practice, practice. Also try adjusting the position of your hand, maybe rotate your right wrist further forward, might help get your finger ends pointed more directly towards the frets.

Try just fingering the chord and playing it note by note. When you’re learning it will feel like you’re having to put an enourmous amount of pressure on it to get it to ring, but over time you’ll need loads less pressure. I don’t know how that’s the case but it is.

Edit: if you use your thumb to fret the bass E you will notice that you’re rocking your wrist back and forward quite a bit, watch the KT Tunstall video above and note her wrist positioning and movement when she finally gets to play after setting the looper up.

Edit left wrist sorry 🙈
Edited
 
Have a look at getting a finger exerciser on Amazon, Randy. I got one early days and it helped with my little finger.
It's muscle memory that needs training. You don't need "strong" fingers to fret notes on a guitar, assuming the strings aren't half an inch off the fretboard :)
I think a lot of beginners struggle with chords, especially barre chords, because they're trying to press into the fretboard too hard. Once you've "got it" you'll realise that you're hardly pressing down at all (y)
 

https://youtu.be/FGT0A2Hz-uk



By the way (I‘m on one now) did someone mention a looper, here’s KT Tunstall on Jules Holland, someone dropped out and she got the call at a few hours notice - only realised later she didn’t have time to get changed !! (That’s a girl thing) Anyone can use a looper like this is a God.

I could be wrong about this, but I think Justin Guitar was her guitar guy at this time.

ANYONE playing a looper live gets my highest respect. KT Tunstall is famous for that. I'm not an Ed Sheeran fan, but I saw him piece together a song live in a simliar way, and it was amazing. Both make it look so easy.

My attempts at using a looper usually involve getting the timing wrong, playing a bum note and swearing lots. I did used to have a good looper pedal with memory where you could save loops. Some of them actually turned out OK, but building up loops live is an amazing skill.
 
As has been said, I'd let the practice take care of it. Practice the difficult changes slowly and regularly and it'll fall into place (y)
Also, in addition to strength, the finger ends develop a hard skin tip too. That has a significant effect on the note tone and clarity. Just practice regularly. It will come.
 
Last edited:
Interesting that you say that. I see it very differently. It really depends on your approach.
I've played lead and rhythm in bands, but the most satisfying experience is fingerpicking solo. It takes time to learn but I do love it.
The most important thing is spend time doing what you enjoy.
I agree and often write solo instrumentals for songs I like. I play a beautiful version of field of gold.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hap
Not sure who it was that recommended Yousician on this thread, but its fantastic and exactly the thing I've been looking for.

Tried Justin Guitar, and for free its great, but Yousician is another thing entirely, I love it!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hap
Not sure who it was that recommended Yousician on this thread, but its fantastic and exactly the thing I've been looking for.

Tried Justin Guitar, and for free its great, but Yousician is another thing entirely, I love it!
It was me Jonny. Glad the recommendation has helped.

I'm enjoying playing the melody versions of a few tracks on there. Under the Bridge, More Than Words, Sitting On A Dock, Yellow etc.
 
It was me Jonny. Glad the recommendation has helped.

I'm enjoying playing the melody versions of a few tracks on there. Under the Bridge, More Than Words, Sitting On A Dock, Yellow etc.
It's given me fresh impetus, but most importantly I'm enjoying learning much, much more. Cheers (y)
 
It's given me fresh impetus, but most importantly I'm enjoying learning much, much more. Cheers (y)
That's what I like about that that app. So many different ways to play a song from just a basic riff to full lead guitar. Even finger picking on some songs for those into that.
 
Back
Top