Welcome to Real Guitar Live! We have a lot of great questions like What can I do to prevent my fingernails from getting broken?, Will barre chords get easier?, How can I angle my fingers to play chords without touching other strings?, and much more!

​Questions:

[2:34] 1) Is it normal to have fingertip pain during my first months of guitar playing? Am I doing something wrong? In any case, what could I do to relieve the pain?

2) What could I do to prevent my fingernails from getting broken?

3) What can I do to learn how to play a song? It has some parts that are difficult for me, some complicated chords and I do not get them right.

[7:12] I’ve been to lounge type performances where there is a person playing acoustic guitar and singing along with some type of “tracks” that has the song minus the guitar and voice. What type of equipment are they using? I wouldn’t mind having something like this.

thanks, your program is great

[18:27] I have watched some rhythm guitarists who during parts of their songs seem to play open chords in the upper part of the neck, sometimes as a transition between chords. I know how to play barre chords all over the neck, but what are these open chords they are playing?​

[18:20] Will barre chords get easier? I’m trying to stay with it but my left hand has tendonitis.

[22:19] I’m having trouble learning chord triads on the top strings. Can you help me?

[23:56] I am wanting to learn some hand percussive techniques for fingerstyle on a steel-string acoustic guitar. I am learning a finger. Any tips would be great.

Do you think a pick up for the acoustic guitar is needed for percussive techniques and if so what kind?

[25:46] I need some advice to play difficult songs with a fast tempo. I especially have difficulty changing from open chords to bar chords because I have to take my eyes away from the sheet music.

How should I train this?  Perhaps practice the song so well to know exactly what chord change is coming next without having to look at the sheet music?

[28:43] With barre chords, sometimes my fingers can’t reach the notes they need to no matter how hard I stretch. Will this get better with practice?

[31:31] How can I angle my fingers to play chords without touching other strings?

[33:19] I am a member of Real Guitar Success, and we don’t talk a lot about the names of notes or reading music in the lessons. Will we talk about this down the road? -Tim

[39:19] My strumming patterns don’t sound good! How do I make them sound good, especially the up strums?

Can you give us some good strumming patterns?

[45:04] I use light strings, but wonder if there’s an advantage to go heavier?

[47:20] Please talk about the surf technique.

[47:46] When should I change strings?

[51:20] Are there different strums for different time signatures?

[57:25] What is the story of your Yamaha guitar? What is your gear preference?

[1:00:23] Do the nylon strings wear out quicker than steel strings?

[1:02:16] How do you hold your hand for fingerpicking? Do you rest your hand against the guitar?

[1:04:18] How often will you be doing these lessons online?

[1:05:35] Did you ever think about giving up guitar when you first started?

[1:07:20] Please tell me how to strum for any song.

 Links Mentioned:

Finger Tapping and Percussive Techniques:

How To Finger Tap Acoustic Guitar III p1/2

How to Slap, Tap and Pop on Acoustic Guitar with Justin King

Band-In-A-Box – I use this. It’s great for creating your own “tracks” to jam with. Someone also mentioned Garage Band for Mac users.

Best Acoustic Guitar Amps under $400 I did some research and wrote a post on what I believe to be the best self-contained amps that can be used to play guitar and sing along with background tracks.

Links for RGS Members (login first, then click on the link):

Hand Stretching Exercises for Guitarists

Learning Notes On The Guitar Fretboard

I also have an extended course with exercises and quizzes being edited as I write this.