[BarbaraM]

That is exactly what I do, though I do it on all of the chords in that song. It slows me way down, but if I played it that way enough I’d get better at it. I have always had trouble muting the D string on the C chord, and the F, well…

[BarbaraM]

Hi Mave,

If I understand you correctly, Tony is explaining things too fast for you to wrap your head around…? Or the play-along is too fast…? Both of those can be helped by slowing down the playback speed (lower right hand corner of video, hover and a little list shows up with 1x checked, but you can go up for slower speeds– .5, .75, or down for faster speeds, but for the video it does make Tony sound a little drunk). You can also repeat the video parts you have trouble with by sliding back the little ball on the progress line. If you already know this, sorry! I don’t know what you know.

Did you do the 30 Days to Play, so you know what the tab means and all that? Then all I can say is to stick with it, go slowly, give yourself some grace as a beginner. We were all beginners at some point. I’m 74, into my 3rd year, and feel I lost most of my first year due to frustrations of various kinds. I learned to be patient with myself.

You will get this, do not despair!

[BarbaraM]

Wow, excellent suggestions, all of you! I don’t know all that many songs, as I wasn’t allowed to listen to rock growing up, aside from the radio on the school bus. So I’ll have to peruse my “simple” guitar songbooks, then listen to them on YouTube.

I do throw in a hammer on this week’s Ain’t No Sunshine Tuesday lick, it just sounds better. I don’t know about modifying a D chord; I can’t make it normally, though I do manage Old Man fairly well. Might try something there in The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Lots of things to think about and try! Thanks, guys!

[BarbaraM]

Very helpful! Thanks, Pete!

[BarbaraM]

Bill, thank you for that explanation! Makes so much more sense to me now.

[BarbaraM]

At first your explanation seemed very confusing so I tried it on the guitar. But if I fret the 3rd fret on the A string for example (C note), one fret toward the body on the G string is B, not C. and going down one fret to the B string is a C#. So now it’s more confusing?! What am I not understanding?

• This reply was modified 1 week, 2 days ago by  BarbaraM.

[BarbaraM]

OK, I tried it, the “old” way of tuning starting with the low E string… I had just previously tuned it with my headstock tuner, plucking the 12th fret as previously mentioned. Every string was totally in tune with the previous, no “wah-wah” just “wahhhhh”! So the accuracy of the tuner is good. I could totally get into guitar nerddom, though I still have trouble with some of Fretboard Wizard. My tinnitus prevents me from being able to guess the key of a song.

[BarbaraM]

Yes I have seen that video! Some serious harmonics going on there! And my brother lives not far from there, in Puyallup, WA…

Anyway, I usually use my fingernail over the sound hole, never thought about using the middle of the string at the 12th fret, makes sense. The tuner I use came with my guitar (Zager); I had another el cheapo I got from Amazon that I sold with my dreadnought.

[BarbaraM]

I just ordered a sampler set of Dunlops! 6 different thicknesses. Can’t wait to try them!

[BarbaraM]

Not sure what you mean by using less of your index finger when holding between the index and thumb? I hold the pick with my index curled, and held mostly level, with the thumb’s last joint held across it, at the last joint of the index.

I checked out my collection of random picks and found one that was slightly thinner than the one I use most often, and it does sound better. I have no idea of the thickness; I’d have to dig out my late husband’s micrometer gauge (he was a toolmaker).

So, thinner is softer sounding? What is the number I should look for, and what does it signify? I’m not terribly concerned with having perfect tone, just to have it not sound like a chain saw on a metal fence post! 😀

[BarbaraM]

LOL!

[BarbaraM]

Yes! The contortions! I can’t play anything at a reasonable speed because of that.

[BarbaraM]

OMG, Loraine! I would have been freaked out if some teacher tried to cut my nails! Not that I had any, I used to bite them, and could only type (on my best day, and only once) 30 wpm, on an IBM Selectric.

I do keep my fretting hand nails *very* short, and my picking hand nails sort of “normal” (like a man’s, perhaps), but I don’t like the feel if they get any longer.

[BarbaraM]

Thanks for your replies, both of you. I believe I could have bent the metal picks I bought, but didn’t want to in case they still didn’t work for me and I needed to return them. Six and change isn’t much, but I’m retired and every buck counts.

After looking at how I actually finger pick, I realize I’m not “clawing” enough perhaps, to engage my fingernail, though I don’t generally like long nails. The pads of my fingers end up doing the work, and they get sore. On the heavier strings it doesn’t seem to be a problem. But I would just as soon not have to use a pick as I would lose the feel of the strings, which I need to develop for accuracy. I’m having a hard enough time developing accuracy with a flat pick!

[BarbaraM]

Oh yes, there are a lot of finger picks, and the metal ones that don’t have a closed shape looked like they were adjustable. But I tried to adjust them, short of using pliers in case I wanted to send them back, but I could not budge them. So they went back.

I guess I’ll just have to tough it out until I develop a reasonable callus, as I really do want to learn some finger picking songs.