I am a newbie with a guitar help?

Question

I just purchased an acoustic guitar, I have an instruction manual for playing the major and minor cords. The problem is no matter were i put my 3rd finger 1,2,3,4th string, the meat on the third finger always rest on the string behind it. I have tried lowering my elbow, bending my wrist, raising the guitar. I can feel the vibration of the string behind my finger and it sounds awful,HELP!

Answer 1

Hold the guitar straight up and down and bring your wrist curved up so that the fingers form a natural curve. Also you may have a guitar which has strings that are too fat for beginners. Get light gage rock n'roll strings to begin with even though it is accoustic, cuz it is easier on a beginners fingers. Did you pay a tidy sum for the guitar? Some cheap guitars have the strings too far from the neck, or the neck has no steel rod in it so the neck may warp.

Answer 2

If instruction videos don't illustrate what you're doing wrong,go to a music store and have a salesman demonstrate some chord changes so you can watch. Whatever you do, practise the correct way. It's harder to unlearn a bad habit than it is to learn the right way.

Answer 3

If you are just starting, this is normal. Stick with it and you will eventually get a feel for it.

You could also start working on bar chords if your manual only includes open chords. The more shapes you try playing, the quicker you will pick it up.

Answer 4

This is very normal for beginners. Just keep going! After you have been practicing for a couple of months, you should try to improve your grip so this doesn't happen. For now, just make sure you are playing very slowly. But don't worry about this. Just keep going and as you get better, this will improve also.

Answer 5

you might try moving your thumb on the back of the neck. if you rest it in the middle of the neck it might help.