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I'm a beginner and I strum and finger pick (very rarely use a plectrum at all to be honest as I'm modeling myself on a virtuoso friend who never uses one and has a mainly picking style).
When I started I went straight into learning strumming and picking. I'd say my finger picking has progressed more than my strumming with less practise, so - as has already been said - it isn't hard. I think you are best to learn the fundamentals of picking alongside the fundamentals of the other aspects of guitar playing so you can progress at it all more evenly.
Thanks everyone. It wasn't Fmaj7 I have a problem with it was just that version of it (or that type of any chord). I've seen them around more than I have wanted to since beginning to play and assumed everyone was playing them. I always went for inversions and found a way around it, from what you have all said I am best to continue that way which is, I must say, a great relief.
Peas
Are you supposed to play chords such as Fmaj7 when it's like: 1X221X or other chords with Xs. Are you supposed to pluck all the stings, play around the Xed strings or maybe mute the strings with other fingers. The muting theory seems most likely to me but I'm sure I have seen chords where your fingers are in no position to mute other strings. The plucking theory seems a little inaccurate as I've found chords such as this in the middle of songs that are all about the strumming and as for the play around them, well, I was just shooting in the dark there. Please tell me there's a really obvious and easy way to play them.
Cheers.
A lot of people suggest get-arounds and cheats for avoiding barre chords. I think these are fine if you really want to play a certain song and you just can't master the barre or a particular chord but I think you should always face up to the challenge even if it seems impossible at the time. I thought barre chords seemed unrealistically impossible and then one day they just fell into place.
One thing I think that helped me in retrospect was the fact that I have two guitars - one with very high action which is a bitch to play. The bitch was a birthday present so I exclusively played on it and as I wasn't using barre chords I somehow didn't realise how high the action was (you can't even capo on 1st cause it's to high). I must have toyed around a little with barre chords on it though cause when I went back to my other guitar they seemed easy and I couldn't understand how I hadn't been able to do them before. I think the other guitar gave me a workout without me noticing it and must have strengthened up my barre.
The first song I ever learnt was Bob Marley - Redemption Song (http://www.911tabs.com/link/?1596121)
However my friend told me to just play the verse: G, Em, C, Am.
As a complete beginner I found the C a pain but the other chords were so easy and they seemed simple to change between. I think there should always be a slight element of difficulty to what you're trying to learn and while it took me a while to be able to play those four chords fluently I think it paid off learning that song first.
At the time of learning that I also used to go through major and minor chords from chord books or websites and try them in different orders to not only practise switching between the various chords but to also get an ear for what chords work well together. I guess I'm still doing that very thing but with a lot more chords.
I don't know how long I've been playing guitar for, maybe a couple of years if you put it all together but it's only the past 8 months I've been a little more committed. I first had a go at barre chords whilst waiting to go away on holiday and within ten minutes I found them easy. (For barre chords I just try to use the tips of my fingers as much as possible and also try to keep my thumb and index finger pretty much parallel). I couldn't change from an open chord to a barre chord quickly until more recently but getting them to sound alright and moving the barre chord shapes around the neck seemed a breeze. I honestly struggle with open chords more than barre chords which can be quite annoying. The one barre I struggle with is the 'B' barre shape. I have never really practised using four fingers for it as it seems too fiddly and I'm sure my hands are more suited to using the index and ring finger for it but 75% of the time I get one string too many with my ring finger, 10% of the time I'm one string short. I guess it's something that will develop with time.
I think the most important thing is that everyone will learn in their own time and at their own pace given perseverance. I'm close to many great guitarists and of them all one taught himself and was playing stuff I can't play now after only a few months, another friend of mine who is really good said he was rubbish and struggled for years but he's now played for over 18 years and you would never believed he struggled for a single day. So I always tell myself, never give up. I have days where my guitar skills (or lack of) sicken me and it's disheartening but I usually pull myself out of that by trying to prove to myself I can get past it as there were things that had me stumped in the past and I look back at them and laugh (or maybe snigger depending on whether or not my hands are warmed up).
GUITAR FOR LIFE!
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