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Good job losing the nails. As far as all us guys not getting it , I kept mine long for utilitarian reasons, but relented when I realized how much in the way they were after I got serious about playing. Now the left hand is kept clipped to about 1/16" so my finger tips will make a "pad" when I press down on the strings. Not the same thing as beauty, but it did take some effort to give them up. I keep the right hand trimmed for classical style picks, like this: http://www.mangore.com/thing.html

I play Uke primarily, and I have run into the same issue with "which fingers" for different chords - over time you'll see that in some situations you *have* to use different fingers to get your speed up between certain chord changes, or for certain moves on the neck.

Keep at it!

For anyone who is interested in improving their singing, even just for "fun", I would suggest you look in your community for a choir or large choral group to join.

Singing in a big group will build your confidence! Often a skilled Director will give vocal instruction as part of the program, this is in essence a *free voice lesson* if you listen, and then practice and apply what you've learned. Simply being a participant will most likely improve your ability to find and sustain pitch with your voice, and improve your ear for harmony.

Don't expect instant miracles, a good voice can take as long to train as any instrument.

I can't lay down an actual $$ figure, but they are *very* expensive (for my budget, anyway ). Not difficult to learn the basics, but challenging to master. Do you have a local builder, or are you looking online?

Think about the types of music you want to play, and get one with enough scales to accommodate your needs.

If you do decide to buy, try out some different hammers - some folks do better with long, short, big heads, tapered heads... there are almost as many styles of hammers as there are players.

OK, I am finally getting the "traditional" E chord shape. I realized that my fingernails were getting in the way of me getting a good vertical approach to the strings, so I've started cutting my left nails back to nothing. That has allowed me to get my fingertips almost perpendicular to the fretboard, which really helps with cramming them all into that one fret. I've also found I need to rotate my wrist clockwise a bit from my normal position to help get my fingers "lined up".

I run out of room to do it around the 5th fret on my concert uke.

In general, I'm using a better hand position for all my chording now, and trying to defeat this E helped. I'm keeping my thumb further down on the back of the neck, which makes my hand stand off from the fretboard better. I'm getting far fewer cases of notes being dulled or deadened by fretting fingers "touching" adjacent strings. Practice practice practice!

Thanks for the warm welcome, Topdown and Cameron. I had noticed a lot of "NC" activity here... I've been lurking for quite a while, finally decided I was ready to jump in!

Topdown, if you can stand another round, I'll buy. Cheers!

Exactly - the note under the slash is your bass note. Adding it into the chord elsewhere will give you a different sound than playing it "on the bottom".

I would be bored to tears working on only one thing at a time... but that's just me.

I try to pick songs that will hold my interest over time, and teach me something new - a new chord, a new rhythm, a new progression. Mix it up, keep a few things on the rehearsal list that stretch your skills, and keep a number or two you can play well - even if it's "Wheels on the bus".

As others have said, stick with it. I "noodled around" for a lot of years, never learning more than a basic strum pattern or two and a handful of chords.

A couple of years ago, I got serious and started *really* practicing, at least an hour every day, and with specific goals in mind. (i.e. - working on a specific strum, a particular chord change, etc.) I'm at a point now where I can play quite passably if I don't sing, or I can sing along and stumble through the accompaniment.

I expect the two to come together eventually. It just takes time, patience and practice!

The A-flat is just a G chord shape 1 fret higher. You'll need to fret the 4th string for a C, instead of the open G. I usually make it a partial bar chord, like this:

Like many of the "geezers" here I learned to read notation at the piano bench as a youngster. As for tab, it is great if you are trying to figure out exactly the way someone did a certain line, or a certain chord, because it gives you instrument-specific information that standard notation can't. I prefer standard notation for sight reading, or even just "chords-n-words" for jamming.

Move on to basic theory, and you'll lose that crutch pretty quick.

Three of my fingers just will not cram into a single fret like that. I got a Concert size uke thinking "bigger will be easier" and I still don't fit. I keep practicing the position, time will tell...