gFY guitar heroes..

[crockett]

I picked myself up a used acoustic Guitar to try and learn while I travel. Despite the fact that I know I'll soon be a rock god and women will throw their panties at me, my pinky finger doesn't seem to agree..

When I try to play, it's like my pinky finger's mind is elsewhere and just can't be bothered to do his job.. Anyone have any tips on how to train my pinky finger to do what it's supposed to do? Is this a normal thing to have to deal with, when you first start out?

[dyna mo]

it will come around. slow the tempo down to a manageable speed.

[dyna mo]

this thread would go to 2 pages if Minte still hung out here. :-(

[bronco67]

I learned barre chords first (plus the basic open chords). It can help you learn to play songs faster.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by bronco67

I learned barre chords first (plus the basic open chords). It can help you learn to play songs faster.

wait, you can handle barre chords first? well that's just fucking great.


i still can't do barre chords perfectly, where every note rings clear. those and speed are my last hurdles 2 years into learning. well, those and getting guitar memory learning down better, being able to memorize every note is very difficult. it's not like learning a passage out of book, or poetry etc. brain memory, muscle memory, hand position memory, brain to hand memory. it's all fun work.

[crockett]

I'm just wondering if I'd be better off with a left handed guitar. I'm actually left handed, but I do most things right handed. However I feel like I have better finger control with my right hand. (Ie if my right hand were my fret hand)

I'm not sure if it's due to me breaking my left arm a few times as a kid or not, but I just can't seem to get that "indepentant" control of my left hand pinky finger. Well not enough to proper play chords or stuff like that.

[dyna mo]

trust me, the small finger is the last one to come around. you've never used it in your entire life. all the songs in my repetoire require bending strings with my pinky and it's taken focused hours and hours and hours and days and days and days and months and months to get the control in that finger to bend even the little e string.

[pomperipossa]

try this: spread the hand apart as much you can for about 10 sec. Repeat 3 times. Try to play the difficult part again. Pause every 5 min for 30 sec and do the hand stretch..then try it again over and over until you get it..as soon you get "it", STOP for 10 min...have a cup of tea..then try again...you'll be surprised...

ps. I heard of people using rubber bands just to get the fingers to not act by themselves when practicing..

This is a joke: More hard core guitar players practice every gang sign they can to get the fingers/chords right ...lol..

have a great day!

[crockett]

Heh.. Ok, guess I'll just have to start exercising my pinky finger.

Thanks all.

[jgabra62]

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and use a guitar teacher for a little over 5 years...I can tell you that this is totally normal.

Practice the pentatonic scale for 10 minutes a day...with a metronome.
Also practice the 1234 Exercise...it was something I had my students do as a warmup every day for 3-5 minutes. I still do it myself even after 20 years.
Here is a link that explains it pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfaglMd5RA

Do these exercises every day before or after you practice other things...sort of like a warm-up and cool-down. You will notice a massive improvement in no time.

[MetaMan]

Why do I need a stupid ass guitar when I can slam a couple keys on a digitized sound program and jam out a rock song better then 99% of you idiots.

[nico-t]

finally, a boring guitar thread, i missed these! Please discuss guitar brands and models for 5 pages, preferably by only 2 members like its a private chat.

Now we only need brassmonkey for a death thread or two...

[SilentKnight]

Originally Posted by crockett

Heh.. Ok, guess I'll just have to start exercising my pinky finger.

Thanks all.

(this guitar thread was way too serious)

[Sly]

Originally Posted by crockett

I'm just wondering if I'd be better off with a left handed guitar. I'm actually left handed, but I do most things right handed. However I feel like I have better finger control with my right hand. (Ie if my right hand were my fret hand)

I'm not sure if it's due to me breaking my left arm a few times as a kid or not, but I just can't seem to get that "indepentant" control of my left hand pinky finger. Well not enough to proper play chords or stuff like that.

My brother is left-handed but does everything aside from writing, right-handed. Including guitar. Go to Guitar Center and see which feels better.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by jgabra62

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and use a guitar teacher for a little over 5 years...I can tell you that this is totally normal.

Practice the pentatonic scale for 10 minutes a day...with a metronome.
Also practice the 1234 Exercise...it was something I had my students do as a warmup every day for 3-5 minutes. I still do it myself even after 20 years.
Here is a link that explains it pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfaglMd5RA

Do these exercises every day before or after you practice other things...sort of like a warm-up and cool-down. You will notice a massive improvement in no time.

Xcllnt suggestion. Like practicing free throws. Although I practice exclusively the blues scale. But do it in every key. I use it as a warmup also. Been thinking of transitioning to pentatonic.

[bronco67]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

wait, you can handle barre chords first? well that's just fucking great.


i still can't do barre chords perfectly, where every note rings clear. those and speed are my last hurdles 2 years into learning. well, those and getting guitar memory learning down better, being able to memorize every note is very difficult. it's not like learning a passage out of book, or poetry etc. brain memory, muscle memory, hand position memory, brain to hand memory. it's all fun work.

I still hit a dead barre chord sometimes, but I really worked on it to a point where I don't need that much pressure. Keeping the action low helps also.

And I don't exactly have what you'd call "manly" fingers.

[Jay-Rock]

Alternate picking and chromatic exercises. You need to practice them constantly to get muscle memory.

[michael.kickass]

Originally Posted by SilentKnight

The Shocker!

[Major (Tom)]

i just picked up my guitar for the first time since april. I was able to do 3 note per string scaled at 208 bpm 16th notes, so that's not as bad as I thought it'd be. Getting back into it is less daunting now after a big layoff like that.
ds

[PR_Glen]

Originally Posted by crockett

Heh.. Ok, guess I'll just have to start exercising my pinky finger.

Thanks all.

just work on basic scales encompassing all fingers, that's all it ever took for me, now it is second nature. had to 'relearn' with my third finger recently because i jammed it playing baseball. just something that takes some work.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Jay-Rock

Alternate picking and chromatic exercises. You need to practice them constantly to get muscle memory.

one thing that helped me learn and get better at alt picking was changing to a super soft pick. had been using jazz picks super stiff, now i use .71mm pick and my alt picking is better. i don't know if that's the right way or wrong way for learning it,but it's working for me.

i'll have to give the chromatic scale a whirl, maybe i'll put the blues scale on the back burner and focus on the pentatonic and chromatic scales, it's like starting all over really. knowing the blues scale does not help with the others!

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

one thing that helped me learn and get better at alt picking was changing to a super soft pick. had been using jazz picks super stiff, now i use .71mm pick and my alt picking is better. i don't know if that's the right way or wrong way for learning it,but it's working for me.

i'll have to give the chromatic scale a whirl, maybe i'll put the blues scale on the back burner and focus on the pentatonic and chromatic scales, it's like starting all over really. knowing the blues scale does not help with the others!

I'd stay 1mm or above. Jazz 3's are nice. i think i use 2mm

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

I'd stay 1mm or above. Jazz 3's are nice. i think i use 2mm

ive been thinking of gradually moving back up, those jazz IIIs were what i was using. i liked the max-grip, but an unforgiving pick, nice tones, but i think it was too much of a pick for a beginner like me. i've been able to get some good feel with the flexing in the softer ones and that's helped a ton with my pick attack as well as alt picking. i can tell the difference when i switch to an 81mm even! i'm looking at a 1.2mm now out of my collection, i'm giving it a whirl!

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

ive been thinking of gradually moving back up, those jazz IIIs were what i was using. i liked the max-grip, but an unforgiving pick, nice tones, but i think it was too much of a pick for a beginner like me. i've been able to get some good feel with the flexing in the softer ones and that's helped a ton with my pick attack as well as alt picking. i can tell the difference when i switch to an 81mm even! i'm looking at a 1.2mm now out of my collection, i'm giving it a whirl!

If you're starting out get a metronome. Pick a pick you cant bend unless you want to do some koom by ya around the campfire. Don't worry about your speed because I can already see you are making some rookie mistakes in your mindset which will take years to correct later. 1. Get a metronome 2. Get a teacher who also is well versed in music theory. 3. Use the metronome. That's the only way to build your speed correctly. Assuming you want to be more of a lead player than a rhythm player.
Ds

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

If you're starting out get a metronome. Pick a pick you cant bend unless you want to do some koom by ya around the campfire. Don't worry about your speed because I can already see you are making some rookie mistakes in your mindset which will take years to correct later. 1. Get a metronome 2. Get a teacher who also is well versed in music theory. 3. Use the metronome. That's the only way to build your speed correctly. Assuming you want to be more of a lead player than a rhythm player.
Ds

hey appreciated, i'm fully committed to learning what i need to learn to play what i want to play, so again, thanks. i'm also very motivated and have stuck it consistently for 2+ years now, from the beginning i've been practicing with metronome backed scales. my concern is getting bogged down in theory and losing any of the above momentum.

i'm also thoroughly into blues music, so no shredding planned here, as much as i appreciate it for both the entertainment and difficulty.

but if i'm committing some obvious mental mistakes that would hamper progress at some point later, i'd like to head that off now, i know i've changed a lot of things around over the last 2 years getting shit right(er) and now is the time. what are some of the mistakes you've noticed that i need to be aware of?

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

hey appreciated, i'm fully committed to learning what i need to learn to play what i want to play, so again, thanks. i'm also very motivated and have stuck it consistently for 2+ years now, from the beginning i've been practicing with metronome backed scales. my concern is getting bogged down in theory and losing any of the above momentum.

i'm also thoroughly into blues music, so no shredding planned here, as much as i appreciate it for both the entertainment and difficulty.

but if i'm committing some obvious mental mistakes that would hamper progress at some point later, i'd like to head that off now, i know i've changed a lot of things around over the last 2 years getting shit right(er) and now is the time. what are some of the mistakes you've noticed that i need to be aware of?

flexing in the pick. It's not good. It's deceiving you into thinking you are picking faster but you are just losing attack.
ds

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by crockett

I picked myself up a used acoustic Guitar to try and learn while I travel. Despite the fact that I know I'll soon be a rock god and women will throw their panties at me, my pinky finger doesn't seem to agree..

When I try to play, it's like my pinky finger's mind is elsewhere and just can't be bothered to do his job.. Anyone have any tips on how to train my pinky finger to do what it's supposed to do? Is this a normal thing to have to deal with, when you first start out?

Hi Crockett,

Congrats on picking up the guitar! I've been playing for about a year and a half and love it. It's relaxing, fun, and really rewarding when you realize you've just nailed a song.

To make your pinky do what you want it to do, just practice. Play scales a while until you're bored to tears. When you can't play stupid scales anyone and want to move on to fun stuff like chords, please your fingers on the chords pinky-first (on chords that use pinkies, duh). This will be hard to do at first but it gets easier.

If you really want to learn fast and have fun doing it, try this out : Riffstation - Get the chords and tabs for any song in the world!

Enter any song or group you like and it will show you how to play it. Pick a song that has chords and notes you know how to play or find easily like E, EM, C, F, G, A, D, etc. Riffstation makes mistakes once in a while and sometimes the timing and changes are off, but for the most part it does a good job, and best of all its free.

The easiest are pop songs and ballads. Some of the easiest to play are

Maroon 5 - "Animals
Faber Drive - When I'm With You"


Songs that I love to play that are easy-ish but harder for me to master are

Billy Talent - "Surprise Surprise"
Hole - "Malibu"
Sheryl Crowe - "If it makes you happy" (Requires a special G and some extra pinky work. be warned!)

Also try searching Youtube for things like "Guitar Backing Track in e major". These are fun to play, sound good, and are repetitive so it helps you to practice your fingering without letting boredom set in.

Don't bother signing up for any online courses. Instead just go to youtube and you'll find all the free lessons you want. Or if you're on a Mac, Use Garage Band to help you learn.

Have fun and congrats again!

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by DukeSkywalker

flexing in the pick. It's not good. It's deceiving you into thinking you are picking faster but you are just losing attack.
ds

Oh yeah, no, that's totally right. I've been concerned and I have gotten hooked on the squishy pick so your advices is timely and appreciated. I've been practicing with this 1.2 today and instantly realized and felt much more opp for attack. And notes playing louder and more clear. I think my error was starting with 3mm. But I have learned a lot about feel and grip using the thinner one. It allowed me to feel the pick better between my fingers, especially with alternative picking. but yeah time to bump up.

Again, thanks!

[JFK]

Originally Posted by MetaMan

Why do I need a stupid ass guitar when I can slam a couple keys on a digitized sound program and jam out a rock song better then 99% of you idiots.

[bigmeezy941]

Rock out with ya cock out haha Ive always wanted to learn to play but never gave it a full push....but tear shit up #FreeBird

[bronco67]

Is it crazy that the first song I learned to play from start to finish is Cherub Rock by Smashing Pumpkins? That was after starting and never finishing simple songs like Country Roads, Take the Money and Run, and Sheena is a Punk Rocker.

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by bigmeezy941

Rock out with ya cock out haha Ive always wanted to learn to play but never gave it a full push....but tear shit up #FreeBird

You should. It's fun, and its relaxing too. It's a little hard to get started but once you get going you'll really like it. Plus I heard that learning to play music is good for your brain too.

[dyna mo]

learning guitar is extremely hard and takes an intense amount of dedication, focus, and HARD work. If your are not prepared to invest an hour+ every day in all of the above for a good long time,even when you don't feel like it, even when it's not fun, like scales, you won't get anywhere really.