Guitar Gizmos

A very good question, which all guitar beginners should ask!

The simple answer is that the end of your fingers should be used to fret the strings, bit not the tips of your fingers.

If you place your fingers vertically on the table or desk in front of you, the tips of your fingers will make contact with the surface. If you then move your finger abour 30 to 45 degrees off the vertical, the pad at the end of your finger will make contact, but not the very tip - this finger end pad is what needs to be holding down the string on your guitar.* If you continue to move your finger so that it is nearly flat on the desk you will be using the flat part of your finger - and this is what you must avoid when playing the guitar.

Playing your guitar with flattened fingers may seem liek an easy option at first, but it is simply impossible to progress like this as your flattened finger takes up too much space and covers more than one string!

*If you find that your finger nail is still touching the surface tehn you need to cut your nails. It is vital that you have short nails in order to play the guitar - sorry girls!