fretting problems

[danish]

i'm having trouble with this: i can't fret the strings properly. i've been working on this for about 3 weeks i guess now, and everytime i take my eyes off of my left hand, i either fret the string to far away from the fret so that the string makes a buzzing noise, or i fret the string right on top of the fret so that the string is sorta muted. i can usually get this right when looking at my hand, but i can hardly get it when i'm not.

this problem is also messing me up with my chords. especially the C chord. my 3rd finger can't seem to get close enough to the fret so that the note sounds clear.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

[cyberfret]

A lot of playing the guitar is muscle memory. If you play golf, you have a muscle memory of how to swing the club. Or if you play basketball, baseball....same deal. Muscle memory is developed through shear repetition.

First I am going to suggest a basic finger exercise. First starting on the 2nd and 1st strings, but eventually playing all 6 strings. Later you will learn some scales that will be more useful musically, but this is a good one to start with.


fingers
|
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
E:-------------5-6-7-8--|-8-7-6-5----------
B:----5-6-7-8-----------|---------8-7-6-5--
G:----------------------|------------------
D:----------------------|------------------
A:----------------------|------------------
E:----------------------|------------------



Watch you left hand as you play it. Make an effort to stay as close to the fret bars as possible. Try and remember how your hand feels as you play...how far you are stretching your fingers. Then once you have played it a few times, try looking away from your hands. It will feel uncomfortable at first because you have lost your safety net. Play it a couple of times without looking, then look back down to make sure that you are still in the right place. You may even just start with the first 4 notes of the exercise. Then do 8, etc...

Sometimes when I see students having trouble playing a C chord, it is because they are trying to have the fingers come straight down on to the strings. You are actually going to use more the left side of your fingers.

Here is more the position you want to be in.

http://www.cyberfret.com/first-fret/left-hand-position/images/c-chord-front.jpg

http://www.cyberfret.com/first-fret/left-hand-position/images/c-chord-above.jpg

Check out the chord primer lesson for some tips on chord hand position.

Chord Primer
http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/primer/page2.htm


Here is another lesson that you should check out. If you follow the exercises suggested in the lesson, you will find that your ability to change between chords will improve drastically.

http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/changing/index.htm

Again, remember that muscle memory comes from repetition, so do these exercises, and the one above daily.

--Shawn