My Fingers Hurt

I’ve always wanted to play guitar. When I was 18 I bought an electric. When I first slung it over my shoulder and tried to put my hands on the strings it felt so foreign to me that I figured there was no way in hell that I would ever be able to learn how to play. Of course way back then there was no internet and no easy or cheap way to take lessons and I decided I had better things to spend my time and money on, so I gave up the dream. Occasionally over the years I would think about maybe giving it another shot, but somehow along the way I managed to convince myself that I did not have the innate ability needed to be able to play guitar and it was simply an impossibility for me.

About a year ago my thinking started to change on that and I decided that now was the time for me to finally give it a real shot. I dug out my sister’s old acoustic from my parent’s attic and purchased “Guitar For Dummies”. Whenever I want to learn about something new, if there’s a “Dummies” book out there for it, I pick it up. They’re usually a very good starting point if you don’t know anything about something you want to know more about.

The old acoustic was in bad shape. First of all, it was a child’s guitar, as it was purchased for my sister when she was about 9 or 10, so it was very small. It was also missing the fourth string, so I was not going to get anywhere until I replaced that string. I decided that I would not even bother opening up the “Dummies” book until I did that.

Just about a year went by and I still had not replaced the string. But a few days ago I really got the itch and decided to open up the “Dummies” book and peruse it. I immediately determined that I was probably better off picking up a new guitar and the more I read the more I wanted to get started. I did some research, talked to my cousin, who has been playing for about 25 years, and yesterday I went to Guitar Center and picked up this.

Of course I got the black version, but you knew that.

I took a half day from work yesterday and went home and spent about 2 hours with it. I then spent about another hour with it last night.

Here’s what I have determined so far. Playing guitar is fucking hard. I’m not just talking about LEARNING how to play chords, I’m talking about actually playing the chords.

There are 3 parts to fretting, or fingering as us guitar players call it, the chords. The first part is making sure that you get the correct fingers on the correct strings, once there you have to make sure that none of your fingers are accidentally touching any of the other strings or they’ll be muted and they won’t sound when struck, and finally, you have to make sure that you’re pressing down each string hard enough to the fret so that it will ring true when struck and not twang or buzz.

This is not as easy as all of these pro guitar players make it look. I didn’t expect it to be easy but I was surprised at how hard it actually is. It’s not only difficult but it’s downright painful. Pressing the strings to the frets hurts, a lot. Fortunately the “Dummies Book” does a very good job of preparing you for this. They talk about how much it hurts and how you will need to develop calluses on the tips of your fingers before you will ever be comfortable fingering a guitar. They also explain that you need to develop strength and flexibility in that hand before you’ll really be able to finger the strings correctly and that the best way to develop all of these things is to just keep at it.

So that’s my plan. I haven’t even gotten to the actual striking of the strings yet. Right now all that I am doing is placing my fingers on the correct strings in the correct frets for each chord, starting with the “A” family chords. I’m not even worrying about changing chords yet, just getting my fingers in the correct position for each chord and by doing so developing the strength, flexibility, and calluses I will need to be able to do this easily, or more easily anyway, and also trying to develop a feel for the placement. Right now, I can’t finger the chords without actually looking at what I’m doing.

I keep thinking back on other things that I’ve learned in my life that seemed really difficult at first, but with a lot of practice and repetition have become second nature. I’m sure that can eventually be the case with this as well. I’m actually very excited about it and am really looking forward to improving, but right now I know 2 things: it’s going to be a slow process, and my fingers hurt.