Finger shape imapct on

[foxo]

I have naturally long nails too even when cut as far as possible. It’s just something you need to get used to if you want to learn guitar. The pain goes away after the first month or two anyway.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Hard to catch everything that can come up when viewing one photo and one particular chord. Maybe you are leaning the fingerboard a bit more forward than normal for the sake of the photo. On the C chord shown the center of the tip of middle finger can overshoot the fourth string and thus avoid a problem of muting the third string. Other chords you would need to place the fingertips more vertically to avoid bumping into adjacent strings (more noticeably when doing inner string pull-offs or hammers).

You are right Derek, my D chord and C chord look a lot more vertical (and the guitar neck probably was at more of an angle than I'd play if I was standing with a strap on.)





The point was though that we usually end up it with what works for us and everyone will be a little different because of anatomical differences. Hopefully we can agree that the more relaxed our hand positions are for us the better.

[BluesBelly]

Originally Posted by Peter Z

Problems with fingernail lenght?
And yes, she does play the guitar!

And a full sized deep body guitar also.
One might think she would prefer the shallow OM body.
What a Gal!

Blues

[Joe Beamish]

Dolly played open tuning, didn’t she?

Anyway, where your fingers fret depends also on your hand size and shape, which can change the angle at which your fingers approach the fretboard, and thus help determine optimal finger nail length.

In any case, wherever there’s a will, there’s a way. Give it some time.

[lar]

OP, check out this video at 6:30. He has very short nails - probably shorter than you need - but it's a data point for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5_SmAlnJcc&t=18s

[printer2]

If they had the guitars set up properly at school I would have learned to play 45 years ago. If the strings are way above the frets you are pushing against all that tension and not achieving anything till the string touches the fret. Lighter gauge strings help. And you do not need to force the strings into the fretboard, once the string is bent over the fret it should play in tune. Learning on nylon strings is easier, although a traditional classical has a flat and wide fretboard.

[lar]

"If they had the guitars set up properly at school I would have learned to play 45 years ago."

Ditto for me. I tried to play as a teenager. It was so difficult I gave up very quickly: Mom & Dad weren't happy about that!

It was a very poorly setup Yamaha FG-75. Decades later I discovered that not all guitars were like that. To this day I will not consider Yamaha guitars - the memory is that bad.

[Chotschen]

Thanks for all your advice and help! I'll keep you posted how I go!