Is My struggle typical?

G'day.

Some good advice from Rebels25player. Practice & more practice will get the finger tips hard & the chords working. Don't try too much too soon. Just take 2 chords, say a D & a G and keep changing from one to the other at your own rhythm, ie keep strumming to a beat in your head so you don't have to concentrate on rhythm, just the chord changes. Once you're comfortable that you can change between those two chords without stopping the rhythm then introduce another chord, like a C. Pretty soon you'll be putting half a dozen chords together without dead notes & there'll be heaps of songs to play. You might also try strumming just the top 4 strings to start with.

Good luck.

Try learning how to play appregios, ie fingering the chord, but playing one note at a time.  This will help correct any bad habits you have on your keyboard hand, by making any bad or buzzed notes stand out like a sore thumb.

I agree with most of the folks here.  Playing a guitar will take time.  With chords, it will take time for your hand and fingers to create "memory" on the fretboard.  This means a daily practice of about 30 minutes to one hour per day!  One thing you need to do, in the mean time, is strengthen your left hand! 

Pick yourself up a spring-loaded grip exerciser and use it about 30 minutes every other day.  You'll see a great improvement in holding your normal and barre chords. 

There is no easy solution to be better at playing other than practice, practice, practice!  Also, find somebody or group to jam with!  You'll be surprise how quickly you'll advance!

your fingers really will stretch the more you practice and it will get easier.

and we've all been there. when i started, i thought 'jesus christ, i'll never be able to go from G to C quickly.' but if you concentrate on just two chords and practice going between them - use G to C for instance, in a week you'll be suprised how much you've come on and then you'll wonder how you couldn't do it in the first place!

another tip is that when i first started i tended to pick all of my fingers up before putting them back down for a new chord, but most chords can be transformed with just shifting a few fingers up or down. picking your entire hand up just complicates things when it isn't necessary, try and find short cuts for easily making a new chord shape from another.

um I wouldn't call it normal not to be able to play "horse with no name" as it's only 2 very simple chords... <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_rolleyes.gif" border=0 alt="Rolling Eyes"> make sure your nails are cut down below the fingertip level to avoid hitting the strings, and keep close to the fret.  it will come eventually

One month is really not a long time so you should not be discouraged. I started playing 25 years ago and I can tell you that the only way to get better is PRACTICE! I started by learning  <b>House of the Rising Sun</b>. I drove my sisters crazy playing it over and over again. I would play for 4 - 5 hours a day and I still play at least 1-2 hours a day. It is a good song to learn early as the chord changes are smooth and help you learn about these all important chord changes. Don't give up, playing any instrument is an art and it takes work. The payoff is fantastic.... If it was easy everyone would be doing it! <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_confused.gif" border=0 alt="Confused">

The good news PD is that once your fingers learn the chords they never forget. I played guitar in my teens and then quit for 20 years. I went to guitar classes a few years ago expecting to have to struggle all over again. Amazingly the basic chords I'd learnt came back like old friends (still had to get the rest though).

Horse with no name isn't as easy as some claim. Although it's only two chords the feel of that song is in the strumming, which again you can't expect from day one.

Concentrate on E A D chords at first. You'll be able to do Johnny B Goode acoustic style with these.

Then look to learn G and C. These 5 chords give you access to most rock songs. In particular strumming A with a break to G then D will give you rockers like 'Get Back' and AC/DC's 'You Shook Me All Night Long'.

Stick with it, it's worth it.

<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText"><b>mhebert wrote on Mon, 26 March 2007 03&#58;01</b></td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
One month is really not a long time so you should not be discouraged. I started playing 25 years ago and I can tell you that the only way to get better is PRACTICE! I started by learning  <b>House of the Rising Sun</b>. I drove my sisters crazy playing it over and over again. I would play for 4 - 5 hours a day and I still play at least 1-2 hours a day. It is a good song to learn early as the chord changes are smooth and help you learn about these all important chord changes. Don't give up, playing any instrument is an art and it takes work. The payoff is fantastic.... If it was easy everyone would be doing it! <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_confused.gif" border=0 alt="Confused">

</td></tr></table>

I agree it's a great song to learn as you can start off strumming it, which teaches you timing, chord changes and introduces you to F, then as you progress you can use it to perfect your finger style and ultimately improve the accuracy of your pick work as you play it closer to the Animals version.

Firstly, i will leave big spaces so this is easy to read.

secondly, yes it is this hard for everyone. sorry to say this but youve gotta practice.

however, i dont think you should have a minimum(and deffinitely not a maximum) practising time. if youre playing songs you like then practise shouldnt feel like a chore.

i know what it feels like to look through songs you like and find(to you) impossible chord after impossible chord.all i can say is find a few songs you really like and hang in there.

also, practice barre chords whenever you can even if they sound terrible. if you keep practising they will come and you will find tons more songs you can play.

hope this wasnt as painful reading as it was writing(it's late but i feel i should be doing something <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_confused.gif" border=0 alt="Confused"> )

12345abcd3

I differentiate with people who ask about learning to play.  I ask "What do you want to do?  Do you want to play songs, or do you want to play the guitar?"

The difference is that the former will learn enough chords to play a few songs, and never learn anything else, while the latter will study their instrument, and therefore be able to play whatever they want.

I've always felt like practice was a pleasure, even if all I'm doing is running scales and other technical excercises.

[/quote]

Agree, it is fun finding out how much you can do with a Guitar.It is a struggle at first, I've been playing about a year and didn't make much progress at all in the first month. All the advice here is great, I practice every day and do warm ups playing and holding down strings up and down the fretboard, your left hand nails do have to be short or your right if your a left handed player. I'm currently practising fingerpicking which has improved my chord changing skills. It might be best to pick out a few 3 chord songs. The most important thing is to enjoy playing, there's no deadline on how quick you have to learn unless your in a hurry. Just try to improve gradually and don't beat yourself up if you can't get things right straight away.

Good Luck

Chris

Hi,

Just a couple of thoughts.

1. Learning to play guitar without being able to accompany songs is boring. Even if it's only a simple song, you can generally learn them pretty quickly and then footer with the strumming etc. It also helps get your ear into the chord changes.

2. If you are having problems with 6 string chords - then try playing 4 string chords on D,G,B & E strings ( Just miss the two bass strings out). That will get you playing songs - particularly when you need to play "F" chords. You will need to add the two lower strings in time, but it will get you started.

3. You can start with two chord songs like Jambalaya - see -

<a href="http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetsome.org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fw%2Fwilliams_hank%2Fjambalaya.pro&songbook=source&transpose=0" target="_blank"> http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url= … 2Fgetsome. org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fw%2Fwilliams_hank%2Fjambalaya.p ro&songbook=source&transpose=0</a>

Then move on to three chords. There are a number of songbooks with these on Chordie.

Try The Lion Sleeps tonight

<a href="http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetsome.org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fr%2Frem%2Fthe_lion_sleeps_tonight.crd&songbook=source&transpose=0" target="_blank"> http://www.chordie.com/chord.pere/?url= … 2Fgetsome. org%2Fguitar%2Folga%2Fmain%2Fr%2Frem%2Fthe_lion_sleeps_tonig ht.crd&songbook=source&transpose=0</a>

Not as cool as Stiff Little Fingers, but they'll get you motoring.

4. And just keep going - or, as we say in Belfast, "Keep Her Lit".