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  #46  
Old 01-23-2017, 10:43 AM
mkitman mkitman is offline
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And also; as long as your son is currently taking lessons, see if (for a minor additional fee if necessary) his teacher would mind you sitting in for a 'dual' lesson- just enough for him (or her) to get a notion of YOUR playing. They might be able to make some much better suggestions than you'll get here simply because they can SEE what your doing; both right & wrong.

Other than that, you sound like the student that every teacher dreams of; NO QUIT!
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  #47  
Old 01-23-2017, 05:26 PM
LSemmens LSemmens is offline
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I would stay away from any form of pick for the time being. I found that, when I was a beginner, my control was not as good as could be and that I did some serious damage to the finish on the sound board with those hard little things. You can always learn how to flatpick or use fingerpicks a bit further down the road.
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  #48  
Old 01-23-2017, 05:28 PM
jeanray1113 jeanray1113 is offline
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I can't speak to how your wrist/hand issues affect you, but I can tell you, as have many others already, that to new players, chords feel akin to twisting your fingers into weird positions for which they were not designed! And three weeks is nothing! You may very well benefit from a smaller guitar. Light gauge or even silk and steel strings will be easier on your fingers and decrease tension. If you haven't already, make sure your guitar is set up to be as easy to play as possible. Your son's instructor maybe able to direct you to a good guitar tech or luthier for this. You mentioned working on G and C right now-- those are good chords to start with. Add D and you have the three main chords for the key of G. Get these under your fingers before you even think about the F chord. Hang in there, it WILL get easier!
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  #49  
Old 01-23-2017, 07:48 PM
jeanray1113 jeanray1113 is offline
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I can't speak to how your wrist/hand issues affect you, but I can tell you, as have many others already, that to new players, chords feel akin to twisting your fingers into weird positions for which they were not designed! And three weeks is nothing! You may very well benefit from a smaller guitar. Light gauge or even silk and steel strings will be easier on your fingers and decrease tension. If you haven't already, make sure your guitar is set up to be as easy to play as possible. Your son's instructor maybe able to direct you to a good guitar tech or luthier for this. You mentioned working on G and C right now-- those are good chords to start with. Add D and you have the three main chords for the key of G. Get these under your fingers before you even think about the F chord. Hang in there, it WILL get easier!
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  #50  
Old 01-24-2017, 08:16 AM
roylor4 roylor4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LSemmens View Post
I would stay away from any form of pick for the time being. I found that, when I was a beginner, my control was not as good as could be and that I did some serious damage to the finish on the sound board with those hard little things. You can always learn how to flatpick or use fingerpicks a bit further down the road.
Depends on how he wants to play. If he wants to play fingerstyle, sure. If the style and sound the OP wants involves using a pick, he should start with one IMO. Better to learn control straight out of the gate. I also would not turn to open tunings to make every straight barre a chord.
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  #51  
Old 01-24-2017, 09:46 PM
jed1894 jed1894 is offline
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Thanks for all the post. Each one has very good information.

I paid a visit to GC and tried to find some of the guitars y'all recommended. Guess Xmas got the inventory slacking. Could not find any short scale guitars. I did discover something very interesting:

I picked up a left handed guitar and I could get every chord with my right hand with no problem. I am right handed, of course. Kind of frustrating to know now that I don't think my left hand will ever work correctly. I'm not even close to getting the c chord with left hand. I'm still at least a good 1/2 inch away from getting fingers in right position. I even tried putting foam between fingers to stretch them out. But, I'm not giving up even if I have to learn to play left handed--I will do that if necessary. Before that, I will find a shorter scale guitar to try. There has to be a way.

Regarding the classical guitar, I find that playing and strumming just feels better to me. I can slap the side, use my thumb to muffle strings, and Johnny Cash the thing a little. I just like the tone better I think. Time will tell..... I'm playing them both since I have them. It's all fun. I will keep reading this forum and work it out. Thanks again guys.
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  #52  
Old 01-25-2017, 08:53 AM
garysathome garysathome is offline
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A beginner mistake is having the guitar tilted too much toward you so you can see where you are putting your fingers this makes it much harder to achieve the fingering on the chords you are trying to play try just keeping guitar flatter against you and you get a better angle for your wrist. It forces you to learn the finger positions instead of trying to see where you are putting your fingers but its worth it.
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  #53  
Old 01-25-2017, 10:18 AM
Jambi Jambi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl49 View Post
I once taught someone who wanted to play while riding a unicycle.
Best line of the day.
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  #54  
Old 01-25-2017, 10:56 AM
cmd612 cmd612 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jambi View Post
Best line of the day.
Wow, how did I miss that one?!

Earl49, did the student achieve that goal? Enquiring minds want to know!
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  #55  
Old 01-25-2017, 12:42 PM
DanleyJ DanleyJ is offline
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I want to add my 2 cents worth with something I don't believe was mentioned but has helped me a lot. When fingering your C chord and finding it hard to avoid muted strings, pay close attention to each finger position. You can eliminate a lot of muted strings by turning your wrist a bit out away from the guitar neck so your fingers rest at a more 90 degree angle to the strings. So the fingers come more straight down on the string and has less chance of muting/touching the string next to it. It is easy to get lazy and let your wrist droop and lose this technique but keep at it.

I would also suggest, since you are liking just fingers on your classical, try "pinching and releasing" the strings between your thumb and index, middle and maybe even your ring finger. You don't have to hit all the strings in the chord but just let your right hand fingers fall on top of the strings naturally. Thumb on the lower strings and finger on the top 3 strings. This can be very pleasing and may lead to finger picking if you are not careful. I like to strum with my fingers closed next to each other with down strokes and the back of my nails and upstrokes with the bottom fleshy part of my fingers. The thumb is optional. Or you can pick a base note with the thumb followed by a down/up strum of the fingers and then another base note thumb. Keep this going in time and you will be strumming some great stuff in no time. Hope this helps.
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  #56  
Old 01-25-2017, 04:13 PM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmd612 View Post
Earl49, did the student achieve that goal? Enquiring minds want to know!
Yes he did. We used Open G tuning so all he had to do was a straight barre for the I-IV-V chords in the song he wanted to do. It was fascinating to watch him on stage at a folk festival strumming a guitar while riding his unicycle. He also juggled and did other tricks while riding (not at the same time with the guitar).

This very nice fellow obviously had impeccable balance skills and hand-eye coordination. But he could not keep time to save his life. I resorted to putting down the guitar, putting a recording of his chosen tune on the stereo and we marched in place to set the rhythm for him. Then we were finally able to pick up the guitar again. I think that a steady beat took more of his practice effort than the unicycle part or the guitar part.
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  #57  
Old 01-25-2017, 05:31 PM
bogdan101 bogdan101 is offline
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So let me get this straight: you and your son started guitar 3 weeks ago and you already have 4 guitars?...
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  #58  
Old 01-25-2017, 06:09 PM
lowrider lowrider is offline
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I don't mean to encourage you get another guitar, but you might be better of as a lefty. I knew a guy, long ago, who played guitar and mandolin really well. He played a righty guitar or mandy but he was a lefty. He did everything else left handed. He told me that he thought he had a advantage because his more developed hand doing the hard work.

One other thing, if you look on the used market lefty guitars are a bargain. I guess because they are hard to sell.
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  #59  
Old 01-25-2017, 09:13 PM
jed1894 jed1894 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bogdan101 View Post
So let me get this straight: you and your son started guitar 3 weeks ago and you already have 4 guitars?...

LOL. No, I have 5 .... Something wrong with that? LOL. I'm hooked brother ! If I listen to you guys, I will have a couple more by weeks end.
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  #60  
Old 01-25-2017, 09:38 PM
jed1894 jed1894 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lowrider View Post
I don't mean to encourage you get another guitar, but you might be better of as a lefty. I knew a guy, long ago, who played guitar and mandolin really well. He played a righty guitar or mandy but he was a lefty. He did everything else left handed. He told me that he thought he had a advantage because his more developed hand doing the hard work.

One other thing, if you look on the used market lefty guitars are a bargain. I guess because they are hard to sell.
Yep. Had the same thought.

I had a meeting today with my son's instructor who took a look at my deformed hand. He agrees with my assessment that it is going to be very difficult to reach certain chords with the way my hand operates. To further explain, when I make a fist my ring finger and pinky finger fold up under the other fingers. It is impossible for the fingers to move outward from a bent position. However when my fingers are outstretched they do straighten out. The problem is the two fingers were not set properly during surgery.

However I am tired of whining about my hand. I am going to learn to play this thing if it kills me. The way I see it I have two options:
1. learn to play a modified C and F chord.
2. learn to play left-handed.

One way or the other I'm going to make it work

Thanks guys

Last edited by jed1894; 01-25-2017 at 09:48 PM.
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