calling all musicians

[AmazonQueen]

ok so i have NO idea where to put this so feel free to move it...

is there anyone out the who has trouble stretching your hands out to reach the chords? like i cant reach the 2, 4, 5 fret all at once...it sucks cuz its hard to play some song because of it...and also how did you find YOUR voice, i sing good to music because i sound like artists but when i sing without music unless its a song i know REALLY REALLY well i cant sing it very good...any advice?

[Eljoria]

Wow I sing songs like as if Im the singer. I can copy their voices. Glad to know someone who is the same.

I have troubles too but don't let it get you down.

[Snufkin]

Fret stretches are just something you get better with over time, I've found. It used to hurt me at first just doing a simple power chord. Just practice finger movements on the hand you use to hold frets down with and eventually you'll be able to do it a lot easier.

As for your voice, I find that I used to do the same. The way I managed to break out of it was by finding artists who all had the same accent as me (Scottish), listening to them and seeing how they were different, then found my own voice.

[Union Of V]

Indeed, it just takes time for your hands to readjust. It might be helpful to, as an excercise, play through the widest chords you can think of (ie the ones that require the most open hand position) one after the other, then switching between those that require open and closed hand positions.

[xxxAJxxx]

Originally Posted by JamieRage

ok so i have NO idea where to put this so feel free to move it...

is there anyone out the who has trouble stretching your hands out to reach the chords? like i cant reach the 2, 4, 5 fret all at once...it sucks cuz its hard to play some song because of it...and also how did you find YOUR voice, i sing good to music because i sound like artists but when i sing without music unless its a song i know REALLY REALLY well i cant sing it very good...any advice?

I have the same problem

[-A-]

Ah, I believe you need some wisdom from the oh so wise -A-. jk

Anyways, here are somethings that can help.
-Scales, scales and more scales
-slow things down if your figerpicking
-stretch your hands/fingers
-clip your nails
-PRACTICE! and when you think your perfect at it... PRACTICE MORE!

as far as the voice, it takes time to sing and play at once, on key. Your guitar can also out of tune or you maybe need someone to sing in harmony, with you to sing on key when playing.

Any other questions?

[savealife723]

long nails definitely don't help at all, so if you have longer nails, trim them up.
definitely practice your scales.
keep practing and soon you will be able to strentch to reach the chord.

that was my problem at first, but i kept practing and i got it eventually :]


with my voice,
it definitely takes a while to practice and be comfortable singing without the music because it's not there to guide you.
but practice practice practice with your voice and sing some scales with a piano or something.
after it gets used to it, you will be fine to sing without the music (:

it just takes a lot of effort and practice.

[AmazonQueen]

thanks guys apprieciate the advice, what are some stretches i can do?

[mIssIng:nO]

use your fingers on your strumming hand to spread the fingers on your other hand open, stretch them as long as needed (i do 10 seconds, 2 times for each 2 fingers).


also, If you find you can only sing by mimicking others voices, you may not be suited to actually sing your own songs when you get that far, because your "natural" voice may not be good for the type of music you make, I realized this a while ago and now I don't really sing when I play, but who knows.

[AmazonQueen]

Originally Posted by mIssIng:nO

use your fingers on your strumming hand to spread the fingers on your other hand open, stretch them as long as needed (i do 10 seconds, 2 times for each 2 fingers).


also, If you find you can only sing by mimicking others voices, you may not be suited to actually sing your own songs when you get that far, because your "natural" voice may not be good for the type of music you make, I realized this a while ago and now I don't really sing when I play, but who knows.

yeah i've noticed i have a good singing voice if im singing my own more acoustic emotional songs...but when i try to sing my own songs in "exparimental/hybrid" as we call it which is a mix oh nu-metal, hard rock, alternative metal, horrorcore and rapcore all together it doesn't sound good...i just don't really have good flow...like idk hwo to explain it they all seem to sound the same no matter how you sing it if you know what i mean

[niente_]

Never played guitar properly but I had problems reaching some versions of certain chords on a piano. Similar thing I guess?

[Union Of V]

Originally Posted by niente_

Never played guitar properly but I had problems reaching some versions of certain chords on a piano. Similar thing I guess?

Worse actually, since often you've nailed the two outside fingers but one of the middle fingers won't stay where it should As well as the usual piano stretching exercises, I find "finger independence" exercises work really well for getting the middle fingers to break away from the others.

[TheWhiteTornado]

I'm a bit of a newb at guitar and I had a little pain to try and play this epic part from Halo (Machine Head ftw). I think it just takes getting used to it as I can now get it pretty easily (though I'm having a little trouble using my pinky to only go three frets, haha).

As for my voice I kinda don't have a very good singing one (I guess if I wasn't so used to being monotone I could get it to mimic Howard from Killswitch Engage). I kinda just have to find a way to find a lower note that matches the high ones that I can't actually reach.