Hitting only a few strings

DOSW

This is a good place for guitar advice, right?

Well, I'm picking up the guitar very slowly, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. The main problem I seem to be having is playing chords where only a certain number of strings are supposed to be hit. I can strum all six strings nicely, and with chords that use 5 strings I always use my thumb to mute the 6th string (I hope that isn't a bad habit). But I have the most problems with chords that use the strings in the middle (2nd-5th string). I always seem to end up hitting an extra string on the strokes. Is there any easy way to do this, or is it just something that I need to focus on and concentrate on controlling my strokes? Any help would be appreciated.

Thumbing My Way

I mute any top strings with my thumb too, it seems to work really well but I can't really think of anything else.

ItsEvolutionBaby74

DOSW wrote:

This is a good place for guitar advice, right?

Well, I'm picking up the guitar very slowly, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. The main problem I seem to be having is playing chords where only a certain number of strings are supposed to be hit. I can strum all six strings nicely, and with chords that use 5 strings I always use my thumb to mute the 6th string (I hope that isn't a bad habit). But I have the most problems with chords that use the strings in the middle (2nd-5th string). I always seem to end up hitting an extra string on the strokes. Is there any easy way to do this, or is it just something that I need to focus on and concentrate on controlling my strokes? Any help would be appreciated.

First off the muting thing is awful, dont do it, just keep practicing and youll go from nu-metal poseur to prog-rock master!!!

Betterman77

I've been playing for 12 years now and I find that I can hit the strings I want now without even thinking about it, I think practice is the only solution to getting better.

keeponrockin

Betterman77 wrote:

I've been playing for 12 years now and I find that I can hit the strings I want now without even thinking about it, I think practice is the only solution to getting better.

Exactly. Just keep practicing.

Hitch-Hiker

DOSW wrote:

This is a good place for guitar advice, right?

Well, I'm picking up the guitar very slowly, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. The main problem I seem to be having is playing chords where only a certain number of strings are supposed to be hit. I can strum all six strings nicely, and with chords that use 5 strings I always use my thumb to mute the 6th string (I hope that isn't a bad habit). But I have the most problems with chords that use the strings in the middle (2nd-5th string). I always seem to end up hitting an extra string on the strokes. Is there any easy way to do this, or is it just something that I need to focus on and concentrate on controlling my strokes? Any help would be appreciated.

That used to screw me up when I was starting too. It's all down to practice. And when it comes you probably won't even notice because the change is so gradual.

Pearl Jam and toast

keeponrockin wrote:

Exactly. Just keep practicing.

*nods*

Jeremy1012

thankfully for some reason I never had this problem, I always seemed to be able to weight the strokes right but my advice would just be keep practising.