Just a small guitar question

[Armistice]

SO I was at Sam Ash today and was talking to my dad about fret board construction. The Fender Squire I use has a curved fretboard and string configuration. My friend has an Ibenez and the f'board and strings are set flat(I have trouble playing his guit)

My question is why is the f'board and string config. either flat or curved? Is there sound reason... able to make the board a tad narrower for smaller hands? I was just curious because I have trouble playing the flat version. Or is it just preferance of feel?

Thanks :D

[Kevin]

i'm really not used to playing a curved fretboard, but my guess at why it's curved is because it's easier to do a bar chord on.

i just find them weird to play

[Jodez]

Hmmm even though my finger dexterity has dramatically improved from when i first started (i couldnt even hold a g, but i still cant hold the F,, any tips?) someone told me that my fingers were to short to play guitar. In some ways i wish there was a smaller fret board/spaces, but i think its a good challange. Even tho i dont think ill be able to play certain things :p dammit

[Jawn]

Some people will say short, stubby fingers won't work on a guitar, but my dad manages ok. Some people also say you need to use your pinky finger when playing, but Eric Clapton manages without doing so. You are just going to have to work your way around it, you'll be right.


The easiest way to play F is to play it as a barre chord.

[Jodez]

How is that done Jawn?

[damo0945]

like this...
F Barre Chord
e|--1
B|--1
G|--2
D|--3
A|--3
E|--1

you play all the 1s with your 1st finger, 2 with your 2nd and 3s with 3rd and fourth, like a standard major chord with two extra notes

[mel_bound]

Piccy!

http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/pictures/barrechord.JPG

It took me a very long time for it to be not completely painful. Just keep practicing!

[Jodez]

My fingers are shit :p i still havent mastered them holding down things like that over a couple of strings, i havent got the strength, hence when i try to play All Torn Down for example i cant :p

[Jawn]

the only remedy for that is to practise! practise! practise! and when your done practising, you practise some more!


There aint no easy way out of the guitar. If you are looking for an easy way to do things without having to practise a lot, you are going to be dissapointed. So if you can read the tab or chord chart for F and you know where the fingers go, that's it. There isn't an easier way, you just gotta practise hard until your fingers get strong enough to do it.

[Astoria!]

Piccy!

http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/pictures/barrechord.JPG

It took me a very long time for it to be not completely painful. Just keep practicing!

Nice nails :P

[lachlandavis]

To answer you armstice, The configuration of the frettboard is based on a number of factors, the Wood, the sound, the feel and the type of guitar.

Now my Ibanez strat has a fairly flat frettboard, and its very easy to solo quickly on it. Now i played a cheaper guitar, (a yamaha, lol) anyways, it was built like a strat, just like mine, but i tried to pull off a few licks and it was impossible, it felt like my fingers were sticking to the frettboard.

I asked around, and had a look at the guitar and it had a curved frettboard, Now in general, for any guitarist, I would recomend a flat frettboard, much easier to play, i am unsure why they make curved ones,

Maybe they sound different, not sure

[mel_bound]

Nice nails :P

Not mine! I googled that. Mine have chipped black polish on them :p

[tanguyen]

Nice nails :P

Hot accent... :D

[Julian]

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1172/hendrixbarchordjd6.png
I play my barre chords like this cept with my pinky on the 3rd fret of the a string. I can do it both ways but I find it way easier doing to like this.

[Strider]

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1172/hendrixbarchordjd6.png
I play my barre chords like this cept with my pinky on the 3rd fret of the a string. I can do it both ways but I find it way easier doing to like this.

Do you mean with your pinky on the D string? All you gotta do is drop your 3rd finger onto the A string and you've formed the whole barre chord along the 6 strings :)

[Kevin]

i find using the thumb in a bar chord is really awkward, i've only ever done that in one song because it's unable to be played any other way

[WHITE FALCON]

i only bar with my thumb when playing like a jazz chord of sort.

but i do it alot when im playing lead oh and i do it when im playing a power chord aswell.

[Julian]

Do you mean with your pinky on the D string? All you gotta do is drop your 3rd finger onto the A string and you've formed the whole barre chord along the 6 strings :)

Whoops, yeah I meant the d string

[Johnny_Wah]

woah that's trippy

[Armistice]

Piccy!

http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/pictures/barrechord.JPG

It took me a very long time for it to be not completely painful. Just keep practicing!

Hmm... I never thought that it hurt. However, after playing chords a lot, then my thumb musles get tired and cramp because in order to counter my fingers pushing the strings down, my thumb is pulling back towards me... but sometimes it's not a problem

Julian: Using your thumb is cheating, lol

I got a chord chart book thingy for Xmas, yah

[mel_bound]

Hmm... I never thought that it hurt. However, after playing chords a lot, then my thumb musles get tired and cramp because in order to counter my fingers pushing the strings down, my thumb is pulling back towards me... but sometimes it's not a problem

I squeeze my thumb against the neck, clamping the other fingers down. I think the thing that hurt most was the strings cutting into my pointer finger, but now I have callouses and it's all good. I taught myself all the chord shapes, so I probably did something wrong too :p

[Julian]

Thumb pride!

[Kevin]

Hmm... I never thought that it hurt. However, after playing chords a lot, then my thumb musles get tired and cramp because in order to counter my fingers pushing the strings down, my thumb is pulling back towards me... but sometimes it's not a problem

try practising without holding your thumb behind the neck, it'll take some getting used to, but it's a good exercise

[Strider]

i find using the thumb in a bar chord is really awkward, i've only ever done that in one song because it's unable to be played any other way

I used to only ever barre all my chords with my first finger. But to play a lot of fingerpicking stuff (Especially Tommy & Chet), it's impossible to play without using your thumb. It definitely feels more awkward at first when you've been playing it with your finger, believe me I know haha

[Armistice]

try practising without holding your thumb behind the neck, it'll take some getting used to, but it's a good exercise

A lot of the time, my thumb isn't even "in front" of my fingers. It somehow makes it's way towards the head. That could be part of my prob though, lol

[damo0945]

i do that a bit, don't pay a lot of attention to my thumb but lately i seem to be bringing it over the top of the neck as well and muting the top string for power chords on the A string, which is useless cos i mute it with my first finger as well. sort of puts the pressure across my hand rather than the thumb though. I think i usually take the pressure around my thmb joint any way.

[Armistice]

try practising without holding your thumb behind the neck, it'll take some getting used to, but it's a good exercise

Tried it and it sucked! lol I couldn't even play. I couldn't even really hold the strings down :p