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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → Help for a newbie
I am just starting to learn and chording seems to be a challenge. I know the fingers have to calus up but I have often wondered how to put fingers on one string without landing on another next to it. I press one string and my fingers are unintentionally touching a string one side or the other. Any tips (no punn intended).
Thanks
hi Patrick and welcome to Chordie, I have been picking guitar for over 50 yrs when I first started I had similar problems,I also teach guitar and a few things I have noticed with new students is there fingernails on there fretting hand are to long and interfere with producing a clean sounding chord another is the position of there fingers on the fretboard the angle in particular I give them one trick to help form your hand into the letter C and place it on the fretboard and play a few chords like C D G and E if your nails are cut short and you angle your fingers (this may take a few tries) you should with repetition start playing clear sounding chords the best way to tell is to form a chord and play each string one at a time(arpeggio) till you can hear every note in the chord give it a shot it may solve your difficulties 
Hi Patrick and another hearty Welcome to Chordie!
Russell's got you on the right track for sure there! Another thing that might be helpful, is to try to get your thumb as close to the center of the back of the neck as possible (even if it means getting the neck into a more upright position, like classical players).
There will be times when you will need to wrap your thumb over the top, but for the most part it is easier to get around the front and straight onto the strings with the thumb in back. Once everything falls into place and you develop "finger memory" then you can relax your stance. It is more important to play cleanly the chords you know than a whole bunch of unusual ones that don't ring true.
Practice, practice, and patience..... you'll be surprised how quickly you progress.
Once again Welcome!
Take Care,
Doug
hi everyone
my ist post, i have looked high and low for the chords & lyrics for a 60s song called "You don't know" by Helen Shapiro can anyone help.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I will: Practice, practice, practice! It will eventually come to you. We all had this same problem when we were learning. I've been at it for 44 years now, and I still have that problem sometimes. Practice, practice, practice!
More broken record:
Practice, and then practice some more.
The initial learning curve for guitar is pretty steep. You have to train your monkey hands into guitar player's hands. If you don't practice, you'll never get anywhere.
So when you're done practicing, practice some more.
And then practice.
I like music,reading. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I will: Practice, practice, practice!
hi everyone
my ist post, i have looked high and low for the chords & lyrics for a 60s song called "You don't know" by Helen Shapiro can anyone help.
Can't help you I'm afraid, but there is a thread on the forum specially for song requests, you might have more luck on there. Good luck.
Try this chap
Patrickjm (1 post), johnhedgecock (2 posts), tfsails (16 posts), ratchet (6 posts), allanh53 (1 post)
Welcome to all ya'll. Ya'll done got the right advice from some of Chordies "best of the best" when they said PRACTICE! So, get to it.
Nela
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Electric → Help for a newbie
