Hello everyone; glad to be part of this community.
I played guitar as a teenager in the 60s and put it away for almost 45 years. I’m playing again - albeit with stiffer fingers - and want to improve upon what I know and sound more musical and not so mechanical when I play.
Welcome Dan!!!
The key is doing it, and singing while playing.
Singing forces the guitar playing to keep up.
Also, imho, the strumming hand is the soul and the spirit of your song.
Again, keep playing, and be free and flowing… just do it!
Yeahhhhh!!!
Rene
Dan, welcome to the community forum. Don’t let your fingers slow you down. I started again on the first module at the age of 66. I find that the more I play, the less stiff my fingers become. Just follow Justin’s advice and slowly warm up your fingers at the beginning of each practice. Have fun playing songs.
Hi Dan, welcome! All that matters is that you are playing again and hopefully enjoying yourself. It’s a solid foundation to want to improve on what you know so I wish you all the best and much fun
Hello Dan, and a warm welcome to the community. So nice to have you here .
I’m sure, playing the guitar will improve the flexibility of your fingers over time.
I wish you lots of fun along your guitar journey and hope to hear more from you .
Welcome to the forum Dan. Don’t worry about the hands, with practice your dexterity will improve.
A hero of mine (Mississippi John Hurt) played wonderful guitar in his twenties, and then reverted to being a sharecropper for 30-40 years, until he was rediscovered when he was in his sixtees, and played the guitar wonderfully and dexterously.
And if it is all to no avail, I recall reading that Banjo players developed something called clawhammer style, which basically was an adaptation for people that did hard agricultural work with scythes, and shovels and rakes, adopted, as their hands had been molded over the years to these implements. And they did make wonderful music with it! Just have a listen to Rhiannon Giddens recordings, just to mention someone.
Hi Dan, welcome. At the beginning is just being able to do it; expression comes later when the player is able to deliberately adjust his or her playing to suit the mood of the song or piece. It can take time to develop the hand dexterity (stiff fingers or not), but also the ability to hear his or her own playing. Good you’re playing guitar again.