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quartjester
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Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:26 pm

Wow! Great video. Thanx for the help!

Qjester


quartjester
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Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:31 pm

Bill and Marc,

Thanks for the encouragement. With all the encouragement and advice I'm getting, it will sure help to stick with it. I will try to keep you all posted to my progress. I really want to be able to finish the free beginners lessons before moving into the TARGET program.

Thanx again!

Qjester


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skaladar
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Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:18 pm

I understand your struggles as I am still quite the beginner myself. My first goal in learning to play was to simply move my fingers up and down the strings with each of the fingers on the first four frets as Neil demonstrates. It was quite difficult for my 3rd and 4th fingers to get to the strings on the 3rd and 4th fret and I learned over time that it is just because those muscles and tendons have never been asked to operate at those angles and directions before.

For this reason, a good technique is to actually start lower on the fretboard, using frets 7-10 instead of frets 1-4. As you get proficient, move to frets 6-9, then 5-8, and eventually you can move up to 1-4. Also try to keep your muscles as relaxed as possible while doing the exercise... not only your hand and finger muscles, but also your arm, shoulder, torso and leg muscles.

Another thing you might consider is to start out with a 3/4 size guitar such as a Baby Taylor, Martin LX, or Luna Safari. I bought a Martin LX for traveling with and actually love practicing with it because the fretboard is somewhat shorter, and that fact alone makes it easier for a beginner to play. It is also more comfortable to noodle around with on the couch than a full size because it is smaller. It doesn't have the full, resonant voice of a full scale guitar, but I personally find the sound quite adequate for practicing with. The Taylor and Martin are about $250-$300, but the Luna is only about $130.

I also didn't realize that different guitars have different widths on the neck. You may want to take yours into a guitar center and compare the size of your neck to the others on the floor.

Hope this helps?!?


quartjester
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Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:50 am

Thank you so much for your advice. It definitely is easier to practice on the higher frets. I have been using some of the stretching techniques that have been mentioned and I am slowly seeing progress in the ability of my fingers to reach frets 1-4, so that has been encouraging.

Thanks again for all of your input!

Qjester


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