Originally Posted by: wsheldonm1990

So what I find absolutely hilarious is that I posted this earlier, then started practicing. I looked at my fingers and realized my nails were in the way. I am a man, so whenever Lisa said there could be an issue with the nails, I always thought that was a tip for women. I never realized that my finger nails were causing me to adjust how I was pressing the strings and making it very awkward to get them into position. I just did sooo much better and that was literally the only thing I changed...

D was the very first chord I learned on guitar because the first song I learned was Rush-Fly by Night and the first chord of that song is a D. So, had to overcome that quickly! My wife just started playing and sees that chord as a knucklebreaker. It is a weird chord that causes you to intertwine your fingers.

Good that you identified an issue. I mean, to play, I gotta trim my nails all the time. If my nails are tool long and I can tell, it gives me the heebies when I can feel the nail even kinda touch the fretboard. But that's my weirdness.

You'd be surprised how much keeping your nails clipped helps your playing. Sure, it doesn't make you a guitar legend but it is important.

When I was learning Fly by Night way back when (this was 1981ish), I really just started with the D chord and just held it and strummed it so my hand was used to the position. Then I moved to the next chord which most people play as a Cadd9 but I find that Em7 rings truer to the original. Anyway, while my beginner phase was not the worst, I still did it step by step. Get one chord down and then get the next down and then work on the chord change.

It's more fun to learn new songs etc but if your hands are not ready, don't get frustrated, teach them where they go and get them used to it. I've said for a long time on these boards that my beginner phase was easier than most but I also think that I just happened to take an approach that in concept was; to play this riff, what do I need to do? I need to learn D and then learn Em7 (well, then, I did play it as Cadd9). So I learned those tow chords by just strumming them. Then when I was kinda comfortable with them, work on the chord change.

The trick for guitar playing is that you're teaching your fingers where to go. That some times means that you need to stay in one place and get that down and then go on to the next place and do the same.

I still take things apart this way. I was learning a Steely Dan song and had a chord I had never played (A7#9...and it's Steely Dan so.......), I did the same thing I did in 1981...Just played that chord for a while.