How do I stop muting nearby strings or will my fingers reshape after some practice?

Question

I recently started learning to play guitar. I cut my nails completely, so I can press the strings. Often I need to endlessly re-arrange my fingers because I'm muting nearby strings. I correct one finger with a lot of effort, but mute some other string. :(

I don't have big fingers or anything; it's just that there is this pointy meaty part (marked in red) on each finger that lays slightly on nearby string. No matter how much I move finger up or try to bend finger away from it, it very soon touches the string.

Will this change if I continue to practice?

Answer 1

You're not going to mutate significantly. In time, you'll learn to place your fingers more precisely.

In some cases, this might mean placing the finger to one side rather than in the middle, because you might not need to worry about fouling the string on one side (e.g. if you're fretting it higher)

Another important thing is to put your fingers close to the fret you're playing. This allows you to press down less hard, which makes the fingers 'squish' less.

You'll also get better at feeling and hearing when you're accidentally muting a string, and be able to correct faster with less conscious thought - so your mistakes will matter less.

You'll also anticipate where you need to put your fingers further into the future, which will help you make fewer mistakes.

Sometimes I even have to 'cheat' a little by bending one string a little away from a potentially interfering finger! It takes a little time to get the co-ordination to do this.

Having said all that, you may well find that your fingers harden up a little, which may help you press a little less hard (which again avoids some of the squishing). It's probably only a tiny effect, but all these factors add up.

Answer 2

To add to Todd and Topo's excellent answers - I will add my voice to assure you that it will get better over time with practice. I actually have short fat fingers and I have learned to compensate.

In addition to finger placement and angle of attack, the other thing you might need to adjust is your thumb position on the back of the neck. I find that to cleanly play certain chords without muting strings I am constantly readjusting my thumb position on the back of the neck. Every chord formation gets its own thumb position. It will eventually become very intuitive to include the thumb position for certain chords as part of the finger position for that formation.

For example, I know when I play an open E major chord I need to shift my thumb to the treble side of the back of the neck to get my fingers oriented perpendicular to the fretboard. So while my fingers are forming the correct position in mid air - my wrist is rotating so my thumb can slide closer to the treble side of the neck. When I play an open D major chord, my thumb is pointed straight up at the ceiling and the tip of my thumb is not even on the back of the neck. The C chord finds my thumb more parallel with the neck of the guitar.

Try different thumb positions and thumb orientations with the chords that are giving you trouble and you may find that a shift in thumb position or angle might make it easier to get your fingers where they need to be.

Good luck.

Answer 3

It will change, but not because your fingers will change, because you'll get better at perfect finger placement. First, your minor finger corrections will come more and more quickly. Then, you'll start to put your fingers in the right place in the first place.

With daily practice, you should have much improved finger placement after 1-2 years. You don't have to wait that long to learn interesting techniques or challenging songs, it just means that at that time your playing will start to sound pretty good in a subtle way.

Answer 4

I'm skeptical about writing this as a full answer - this is mostly an addition to the excellent answers others have already posted.

As a young and amateur guitarist I had the same issues (obviously). What helped was... cutting my fingernails short.

With shorter fingernails I was able to place my fingers at a better angle without having the nail hit the fret board, and this also means less "squishing" and less accidental muting.

Since I'm a male having short fingernails doesn't concern me at all. That said, I have no idea how do female guitarists manage it (if they want to keep more "feminine" hands). ;)

Answer 5

Once I started playing banjo a great deal, my fingertips developed callouses that were significantly harder than my fingertips were before I started playing. With these callouses, my fingertips don't flatten out as much when pressing against a string. This does help to keep from muting adjacent strings.

This is not the only thing that helped. Short fingernails (as mentioned by @Shaamaan) helped. Good finger placement helped. Practice was the key to developing all of these things.

Answer 6

Maybe so obvious that no one says it but make sure your Truss Rod is adjusted correctly so your strings are not too far away from the frets. If you have to push a string down far the strings next to it is going to be high and easy to touch.