Newbie Fingers

fustiar

New Metal Member
Nov 22, 2002
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I've been "playing" guitar for 2 years without any lessons or tips from anyone except the book "guitar for dummies" and I think as a result I have been developing with bad technique...

My dilemma is that the fingers on my fretting (left) hand will not remain close to the string. Say I'm using my index finger to fret a string, my other fingers all rise up away from the string to at least 1 inch above, with my pinky going almost straight. It is involuntary.

Because of this, I can't play things fast at all and I am constantly making 'mistakes' where my finger can't come back down from its height to fret a note in time when I pick the string. And so I can't seem to play in time with a metronome..

When I try to forcibly keep my fingers just above the frets, my hand gets tense and stiff and I end up getting sore. It's really quite frustrating and I don't know what to do. It's hampering my desire to play guitar at all.

Just so you know, I have really small hands. My middle finger is only about 2.6 inches long and the bottom edge of my palm to the tip of my middle finger is about 6.75 inches long.

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Can anyone here help me or give some advice on how to solve this problem?

It would feel like going to the doctor if I need to take proper formal guitar lessons and have someone assess this hampering trait of mine.

Thanks
 
I'd reccomend just relaxing your hand and playing scales or whatever really slow while also concentrating on keeping your fingers near the strings. Slowly build up speed as the new technique becomes habit and before you know it you'll have nice relaxed fingers very close to the strings. Remember practice is the key to everything with guitar.