Student Questions - Episode One "Finger Questions"
Student Questions - Episode One Video Transcript
Hey, guys. What's going on? On today's episode, we are answering your questions and the questions that we find online. So stick around, check it out
So as we've gone along and tried to find the best beginner guitar content to share online, naturally, we come across questions that people are asking o those “also asked” questions down at the bottom of the search engine results.
So we've aggregated some of those and, you know, we're looking at the comments on other people's channels and any comments you guys send in on our website or here [on YouTube]. We'll include them here. So the aim of this is just to create a space for you to ask whatever questions you have about learning guitar or things that you might want to consider as you get in deeper, playing guitar.
This is a space to answer those questions. So, I got some right here, and here we go.
Question #1: “How do you stop hand cramps when playing guitar?”
So how do you stop hand cramps when playing guitar? The hand cramps are a signal that something is off. I mean, obviously because you're asking it, right?
It could be something like tight muscles in the shoulder or down the arm. I'm not a doc, so I'm not going to get into a lot of that stuff, but it could be something as simple as:
What's your posture? Check it. Are your feet planted on the ground firmly? Are you sitting up straight, right?
Is the strap pulling you down? If your strap's not long enough when you're in a seated position that can pull you down and tweak your posture.
Are you pressing too hard on the fretboard? If your fingers are turning white, that's a problem. The blood's rushing out of your fingertips.
You're probably using too much pressure there, so check those things, troubleshoot them, and get those things worked out.
Question #2: How do you move your fingers faster on the guitar?
How do you move your fingers faster on the guitar? You know, a lot of this stuff, there's really not any secrets other than just putting in the work.
You see these “guitar secrets” videos and they play a million beats per minute… No. I mean, playing guitar is like any craft, you have to put in the work. You have to diligently practice and you can get there. There are not any secrets or shortcuts, specifically if you're struggling with getting yourself up to, or past, a certain BPM (or beats per minute) that you're practicing with.
Again, like the hand cramping question, go ahead and check what you’re body is doing:
What's your posture like?
Is your picking too hard?
Are you going too deep on the pick in the strings?
Again, how much pressure are you putting with your fingers?
Can you manipulate that so that it's a little bit lighter?
How high are you lifting your fingers off of the fretboard?
That's another thing to check. And actually, practice lifting your fingers only the amount that's needed because the closer your fingers are to the string, the less they'll have to move to get that speed across the neck. Like a lot of people, even advanced players, but especially with beginning guitar players, you're going to tense up when you're trying to play faster than what you're typically comfortable with. Tensing up is actually the exact opposite of what you want to do.
Counter-intuitively, you're going to want to be more relaxed when you play. When you get to certain speeds, like Al Di Meola, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tosin Abasi, or Lee McKinney, Jason Richardson, etc., any of these crazy shredders that you see, it's a lot like an F1 car. You have to have all of the parts working perfectly in order to get these, you know, super shred things. The setup of your guitar should be done properly. Your posture should be done properly and your technique needs to be at a certain level.
All of these things take time to build up. So if you're just starting out don’t set a goal to play as fast as one of these shredders. Slowly build up to it. Create some accomplishable goals and get there slowly over time.
Yeah. That's it. There's no secret sauce. It's just putting in the work, you know, as disappointing as that might be. That's the truth.
Question 3: “How can I make my fingers more flexible when playing guitar?”
How can I make my fingers more flexible when playing guitar? To be honest, I don't necessarily know what you're talking about this. There's a couple of ways we could go with it. Again, it could just be how loose your fingers are when you're playing or how do you actually have a long stretch when you're playing to get some extended cords.
Part of that is just knowing your neck and actively working on having your fingers at the correct spacing on the frets so that your hand just gets used to playing on that guitar.
Also, this is one of those things where if you're starting out cold, warm up a little bit before you try to tackle these longer stretches or extended chords because you're dealing with really tiny muscles in your fingers.
So, don't overwork them and don't ask too much of them right away. You wouldn't just walk up to a squat bar, put on all the weights without having warmed up or. You’d built up to that, right? That's sort of a natural disaster waiting to happen if you go and do that cold.
And part of it too is just, again, putting in the reps, getting your fingers used to playing on your guitar, finding out what aspects of the guitar fit better with your biology.
If you have huge hands, do you want a fatter neck? If you have smaller hands a thinner neck with a smaller scale length, or how long the fingerboard is, may be better suited to you.
All of these things add up to how you feel about how you're playing, right Sometimes really small things make a huge difference.
Question #4: “Do you need long fingers to play guitar?”
Do you need long fingers to play guitar? No. Again, it just goes to what's going to be comfortable. If you have really long fingers and a really big hand, you're probably going to want a bigger neck and a longer scale length.
But, you know, I can only speak in generalities, right? You have to find what feels right. You have to find the guitar that feels good in your hand and go with it. Again, just practicing and getting it going.
You know, you might have some limitations...If you don't have long fingers, you might not be able to hit some really extended chords or, you know, you might have to employ some two hand-tapping where the guitarist you're trying to copy might be to do it with one hand. You might have to do it with two.
But that's just learning the craft, learning how you do it. And, you know, that's part of the fun. That's part of discovering it and creating your own tone with what you have. So, short answer, no, you don't need long fingers. Just play. Just play.
Don't let questions like this get in your way of actually doing something fun.
Question #5: “How do you play guitar with fat fingers?”
Similarly, question five, last question of this. “How do you play guitar with fat fingers?"
The same thing as question number four, find a guitar that feels good. You know, you probably going to want a wider neck. Not necessarily as deep in terms of the curve of the neck, but you’ll probably want it a little wider if you have fat fingers, so there's more spacing between the strings. But again, these kinds of questions, they don't matter.
They're just us getting in our own way. So, again, just find a guitar, get your fingers on it, figure out what feels good, figure out how to do it so you can work towards whatever goals you're trying to accomplish, and slowly get there.
Don't let these types of things get in your way. You know, fat fingers might influence the guitar that you play and what naturally feels good in your hands. It might influence how big the picks you use are, you know, you might not want to use one of those tiny jazz picks, but maybe you go with a larger one.
But, again, just play. Put the reps in and just don't get in your own way.
I hope these were helpful. Go ahead and ask any questions that you might have on your playing down in the comments below if you're on YouTube or drop us a line on beginningguitar.com at the Contact Us page and we'll be happy to showcase whatever you ask and try to answer your questions so that you can play guitars as well as possible.
There will be a transcript of this video along with any links to recommended resources or other blogs, other articles to check out. And, you know, since a lot of these had to do with moving your fingers or making your fingers flexible, we'll link over to the finger-independent blogs that we have on the website.
So if you're unfamiliar with those, go check those out and have fun practicing. Keep shredding! Thanks.