Guitar Guitar strings hard to press?

[WoWitzStella]

Hi, Synners! I'm an absolute BABY in the guitar world. I started wanting to learn guitar because of syn and well, i bought a beginners one (low budget) cuz alot of reviews said it was a good guitar to start with.

But im having trouble with pressing the strings. I have to put alot, ALOT of pressure.

My boyfriend also just started guitar but he went and tried to play mine to compare mine with his guitar. He said one or two strings feel too "stiff" and are hard to press. He doesn't know whats the cause of this cuz he's new to this too. The shop i got it at is closed because of lockdown.

I will put some pictures and i hope someone can help me! ❤

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

If you're an absolute baby in the guitar world, that's why the strings are too hard to press

The action set up of the strings (height of string from fretboard) looks okay to me, maybe even a little low. If one or two strings feel "stiff", it could mean the strings are old. If it's a factory guitar that was bought a while ago, the strings are probably old as dirt and need to be changed

It hurts like hell and takes a few weeks of decent practice to ease the pain a bit if you're a beginner. I'd suggest starting what you can and when you can, change the strings

 

[WoWitzStella]

If you're an absolute baby in the guitar world, that's why the strings are too hard to press

The action set up of the strings (height of string from fretboard) looks okay to me, maybe even a little low. If one or two strings feel "stiff", it could mean the strings are old. If it's a factory guitar that was bought a while ago, the strings are probably old as dirt and need to be changed

It hurts like hell and takes a few weeks of decent practice to ease the pain a bit if you're a beginner. I'd suggest starting what you can and when you can, change the strings

Ah! You're the best.
I did think "hmm.. maybe its just because im new to all this" but i thought something was wrong with the strings. Well, i'll keep on practicing and if nothing changes after a bit, i'd have to get new strings. But im ready for a new adventure and ready for painful fingertips! wooo!!

thank you for your reply! <3

 

[Jeremy Healey]

All what RedMage said! When I started and for years and years after, the tips of my fingers would always be tore up.
One thing I would like to note is that there is different gauges of strings! Anything thicker than 10 - 46 for me is too much! It can also be a matter of finding your preference of strings. The ones on your guitar you have there don’t seem to be overly heavy though so it’s probably the first point made

 

[Forgetabull]

A side on picture around the twelfth fret will given us a better idea of what your action is set to. As you can see from this picture, the action was very high when I got this guitar so would have been hard to play before I set out up. If I recall correctly that's a stack of four 0.5mm picks and a 1mm pick giving us a 3mm action...

 

[William B.]

stack of four 0.5mm picks and a 1mm pick giving us a 3mm action...

How many is enough for proper action?

 

[Forgetabull]

I like to have my action between 1.5mm and 2mm at the twelfth fret.