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[feeutfo]

....guitar.   just to try.

Brother is very musical, works in a sound studio etc.

He was playing away to Blackbird. And quite well it has to be said.
Few tunes later I asked if he could play Nirvana come as you are. Paused, little practice, then just played it. Did sound like a fairly simple tune, to which he agreed.

Later i picked up the thing to have a go.


How on earth do people play the guitar? It's impossible. Rub your stomach, pat your head. But times that by six strings and 10 fingers. Only two of which would even remotely do what they where told. My little and ring fingers are NOT independent. This is required.

But after half hour my fingers where bloody saw from the strings.

Stupid bloody instrument.  


How on earth do they do it?

[STMO123]

I thought that was gonna be:

Picked up a............




..........nice young man last night.

[YZ250]

We've got a Guitar, a Banjo and a Keyboard.....................and I can't play any of them. 

[feeutfo]

I always presumed a bass guitar would be easiest to play. But now i know a keyboard based instrument is much easier. ...not that I'll ever play that either.

[feeutfo]

I thought that was gonna be:

Picked up a............




..........nice young man last night.

And you just had to click on it didn't you.

Your a sick puppy Esta.

[the alarming man]

....guitar.   just to try.

Brother is very musical, works in a sound studio etc.

He was playing away to Blackbird. And quite well it has to be said.
Few tunes later I asked if he could play Nirvana come as you are. Paused, little practice, then just played it. Did sound like a fairly simple tune, to which he agreed.

Later i picked up the thing to have a go.


How on earth do people play the guitar? It's impossible. Rub your stomach, pat your head. But times that by six strings and 10 fingers. Only two of which would even remotely do what they where told. My little and ring fingers are NOT independent. This is required.

But after half hour my fingers where bloody saw from the strings.

Stupid bloody instrument.  


How on earth do they do it?

is that not the idea of a plectrum to stop them hurting???

[horsecow]

I was teaching myself the banjo before the accident, quite a bit easier than the guitar.S tarted off on a four string and surprising how quick you can pick it up 

[Big_Al]

....guitar.   just to try.

Brother is very musical, works in a sound studio etc.

He was playing away to Blackbird. And quite well it has to be said.
Few tunes later I asked if he could play Nirvana come as you are. Paused, little practice, then just played it. Did sound like a fairly simple tune, to which he agreed.

Later i picked up the thing to have a go.


How on earth do people play the guitar? It's impossible. Rub your stomach, pat your head. But times that by six strings and 10 fingers. Only two of which would even remotely do what they where told. My little and ring fingers are NOT independent. This is required.

But after half hour my fingers where bloody saw from the strings.

Stupid bloody instrument.  


How on earth do they do it?

is that not the idea of a plectrum to stop them hurting???

Think Chris means his fretting fingers Mark     

[albitz]

....guitar.   just to try.

Brother is very musical, works in a sound studio etc.

He was playing away to Blackbird. And quite well it has to be said.
Few tunes later I asked if he could play Nirvana come as you are. Paused, little practice, then just played it. Did sound like a fairly simple tune, to which he agreed.

Later i picked up the thing to have a go.


How on earth do people play the guitar? It's impossible. Rub your stomach, pat your head. But times that by six strings and 10 fingers. Only two of which would even remotely do what they where told. My little and ring fingers are NOT independent. This is required.

But after half hour my fingers where bloody saw from the strings.

Stupid bloody instrument.  


How on earth do they do it?

is that not the idea of a plectrum to stop them hurting???

[/highlight]
Plectrum is used by the right hand (although I rarely use them at all),its the fingertips on the left hand which take a hammering when learning to play.I also suffer from it as I rarely pick the thing up more than once a year these days,so Ive gone all soft.
Im also left handed but play right handed,which given my unusual "style" of playing puts more strain on the left hand and fingers.

[feeutfo]

Yep, it's purely pressing on the strings to get a note. It's like a cheese cutter wire accross your fingers. And you have to press hard, so the string meets the metal fret, or you don't get the right key.

...not that you'd of noticed by the racket I was making.

[Big_Al]

Yep, it's purely pressing on the strings to get a note. It's like a cheese cutter wire accross your fingers. And you have to press hard, so the string meets the metal fret, or you don't get the right key.

...not that you'd of noticed by the racket I was making.

beginners should string up with an ultra light gauge set of strings, say 8 - 38  (thou) as these are lighter to press to the fretboard.

got 11 -48  on one strat of mine & 12 - 52 on another    Real MAN strings   but they sound great

typical 11 gauge string size as a guide would be 11  14 18  28 38 48  . .11 being the skinny one 48 being the fat bugger 

[feeutfo]

Think he mentioned something about strings. As you say.


Some if them have wire wrapped around the wire, as opposed to a single string on the higher notes. That doesn't help either.

Presume they do that for acoustic reasons? Other than that zipping noise between notes ?

[Big_Al]

Sore fingers are all part of learning the guitar Chris .

Beginners nowadays have got it easy compared to when I &others my age were learning .

The guitars today are all pretty well built with a decent "action ". Action being the distance of the strings from the fretboard .

In the old days it was easier to fret the notes with your boots as the strings were so far away from the frets 

Learning guitar is summed up in the 3 p's    Practice, Perservere & more PRACTICE 

I remember writing an instrumental tune that we played in a band years ago . I called it "Blood On The Strings" in honour of all the

pain we budding guitar players went through learning 

[dbug]

Tell me about it - still got the calluses on the finger tips of my left hand from years back

[feeutfo]

Was there a guy who wore his fingers down. Literally?

I did notice his guitar had the strings quite close, compared to my Dads old guitar that's 40 odd years old. There was a real ramp on the neck compared to the strings. Although my brother prefers that guitar as it has a bigger gap between the strings/a wider neck. Fat fingers don't help either.


The thing that made me pick it up? The woodwork. Beautiful grains and inlays. Mat finish. Plus the noise of course.