Finger is muting string while Playing chords.

[Mikey7889]

I'm not sure what the issue is here. Are my fingers fat? Is it ultimately my technique? I'm not sure how to solve this problem. It's really difficult to play chords because the tip of my fingers keep touching the open strings and muting them, making the chord sound flat and dull. I've always had this problem playing guitar.

 

[redlipsofdeceit]

Well, I guess it's just a matter of practice and experience. I've had the same problem when I started playing a few months ago. It still happens sometimes, but I got way better tho.

 

[idssdi]

In principle you want to have the angle at which you press down as close to 90 degrees as possible, that should fix at least part of the problem.

 

[AdLeIaVdE]

For me personally it was helpful to use my other hand to help place my fingers on the right strings in the beginning. Some chords just felt kind of weird and it helped knowing how the right placement of the fingers even felt. After doing that a few times my left hand was able to play the chord without help and with a relatively clean sound.

 

[Mikey7889]

For me personally it was helpful to use my other hand to help place my fingers on the right strings in the beginning. Some chords just felt kind of weird and it helped knowing how the right placement of the fingers even felt. After doing that a few times my left hand was able to play the chord without help and with a relatively clean sound.

That's really good advice, thank you.

 

[William B.]

Most of the time you want to keep the joints on your fingers arched and try to use the tips.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

What the others said.
If you're still struggeling with it maybe record a close up of your fretting hand and show us exactly what you do, that could help figure out where the problem comes from

 

[Calvin Phillips]

If you cant play the chord. Pick the notes seperate.like an arpeggio. Thatll help give you strength to press the full chord down. There are chords I still cant play full. But I can pick the notes. Working progress.

 

[ari.mac]

I think that in the end is a matter of practice and building up "good habits". Try to pay extra attention to how your finger are positioned, and strum the chord, if it sounds ok, make sure that you land on that position while playing as much as you can. Go as slow as you need to. That's what I did and things got better

 

[Forgetabull]

Practice makes your chord changes more effective/easier. Also if you're a new guitarist.. consider having the action checked/fixed on your guitar. If the action is high it can be difficult to get those chords to work, especially bar chords like 'F'.