Glad you found a solution you are happy with.
I did actually move on fairly early onto 123, sorry Justin.
Michael
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Hello,
I am a complete beginner with guitars and I have two questions:
- Is it ok to push a string a little bit up? For example in A chord can finger 3 push the string a little bit up just so string 1 isnât affected? or should I try to keep all strings straight?
- Sometimes I feel with my finger the string below, however the sound is the same. For example in A chord, finger 2 (is on top of string 3) can feel string 4, however the sound is normal. Is this a problem or is it expected for this to happen?
Thank you in advance!
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You should avoid pushing the string a little bit up, and avoid pressing too hard on the strings, because this will cause the note to be a little bit out of tune (sharp). As a beginner, I wouldnât stress too much about this, but it should be your goal to not push the string up or press too hard when fretting a string.
Later on, youâll learn about 1/4 tone bends (also called curls) where you will want to do push a string up or down on purpose.
In the A chord, since you are fretting strings 2, 3, and 4, all at the same fret, this is not a problem. However, on the D chord, your ring finger frets the B (2nd) string at the 3rd fret, and it cannot touch either the high e (1st) string or the G (3rd) string, because it would mute the notes being played on those strings.
Hope this helps!
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Thank you for the quick reply, this definitely helps!!
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Iâm new to this and am having difficulty pressing down hard enough with my first finger. I feel like Iâm pressing as hard as I can but still hear a subtle buzzing every time I play it. Any advice?
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Hi @felixthecat_13, it sounds like your finger tip might be too far from the fret. Your first finger should be as close to the fret as you can get it. The tricky part with the A chord is that your 2nd and 3rd finger are in the way, so you have to create as much space as possible between those two. Put your 2nd and 3rd finger as perpendicular to the fretboard as possible. Experiment with sliding your palm further forward under the fretboard to help with this.
In any case, you shouldnât be pressing hard on the strings.
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Hi Felix, @LadyOfTheCastle advice is excellent. Another challenge beginners sometimes encounter comes from the guitar itself. If you havenât done this, you might take your guitar to a local guitar shop (preferably a smaller shop owned by musicians) and ask about getting it âset upâ for a beginner to play. Sometimes folks have guitars with strings that are thicker than needed (many beginners, myself included, start with 10-gauge strings on acoustic, and 8 or 9 gauge on electric), and the strings can be too far away from the frets (action). Anyway, it usually doesnât cost too much for a set up, and youâll get a new set of strings in the process.
While youâre here, consider heading over to the Introduce Yourself topic and tell us a bit about yourself!
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This could well be the problem.
One issue I ran into with Justinâs 2-1-3 fingeringâŚ
It was hard to get the G string (under the first finger) to ring properly on certain guitars, because that finger is so far from the fret and so close to the nut. This happened on my $1000 CDN Martin, and my girlfriendâs $150 Denver. Lowering the action and lighter gauge strings fixed it on both guitars. âSilk & Steelâ strings on the cheaper guitar helped it even more.
You shouldnât need to press hard to get the strings to ring properly.
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There was this thing that was driving me insane with this chord
I play the chord and it is just fine, my strings are in tune and all is well
but when I go to check the strings in the chord one by one, the B string always sounded kinda weird. I couldnât tell why, it was giving the correct note (which is C# I believe, I checked with the note detector thing) But there was something that was just different and I was worried I was doing something wrong and kept moving my finger around to try to fix it
But I did some reasearch and it turns out the B string is a tiny bit weird anyway, as it is only 4 semitones away from G and not 5 like the other strings
I also found out about something called âthin but not wound stringsâ which I honestly didnât really understand
I just hope Iâm not going insane hehe
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Hey dude,
Feel free to post a video shot of the âweirdâ sound if youâd like me to have a look/listen. 
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@MG_Rain I think that @LeeMB has given you a good suggestion. It is possible that there is a problem with your guitar or the setup, so that there is a bad fretwire or bridge problem that would cause a slight buzz in the B string tone.
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Oh sorry I seem to have missed the reply.
I got more used to it now and it makes sense
I believe it may just be a quirk of the tuning system because it only sounds weird when I am doing chord perfect and it sounds kinda unexpected compared to the other strings
Hereâs a video in case I am missing something.
Thank you for the help
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Hmmm, that does sound a bit weird.
What notes does it do this on up the neck?
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I mostly got used to it now, may be the fact that it is a nylon string too.
It is most apparent on the open string. but now that I expect it, It is not too bad to be honest.
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Hi, and thanks for your amazing instructions! I am completely new to learning the e-guitar and Iâm finding your lessons really helpful to get a feeling for the instrument etc. But I have a question: you always talk about finger pain. However, those donât hurt as much as my wrist⌠Do you have an idea how I can change that or maybe an instruction on how to place my hand/wrist in the right way?
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see some of the comments starting here:
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Thank you!
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How do I stop my hand from accidentally resting on the E string? I think my hand position is correct, but when I play through a chord string by string, everything sounds goodâuntil I reach E. About half the time, itâs muted because my hand is touching it.
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Hi @magnus89, the easy but not so helpful answer is: âBy keeping your hand away from the Eâ. Try to determine which part of your hand touches the E. The 2 most likely problem âareasâ are either your index finger or your ring finger. Once you have determined the cause, try to find out which position leaves the E free, by shifting your hand and fingers little by little in different directions. 2 things that are likely to help, is 1) sliding your palm a bit further under the neck so your fingers get a bit more space and you can place them more perpendicular to the fretboard, and 2) keeping the palm of your hand a bit closer to the underside of the fretboard without touching it, which again gives your fingers a bit more space. Once you have found the correct position, pay special attention to this when doing your chord perfect exercises. Youâll get there!
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Hi John
fwiw.
Itâs ok to mute the E string. It is a viable A chord.
That said it is good to be able to let it ring clean as youâll need that high E in some music. Other music (songs), muting the high E sounds just fine.
Myself. I play A chord as a one finger barre.
Generally the high E is muted. If I want it to ring, I gotta play A with 2 or 3 fingers. Oh, in saying that. Consider playing the A chord with 2 fingers using one of the fingers to play 2 strings. This will keep you away from the high E too.
Then if ya ya wanna go crazy. Play a one finger barre of A and let the barre hold down the E string @ F# note. Thatâd be a A6 chordâŚ
Good luck.
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