Great to hear you are making some progress. The early days can literally be painful as tender fingertips struggle to press on the cheesewire-like strings. You need to build some calluses. Some chords are a contortion, but your fingers will learn where to go with practice. Try regular chord changes to find how to get between them. I promise it gets easier. Every guitarist you see on stage has been through this.
Getting chords to sound clean is tricky. The next stage is muting all the strings you don't want as they will be noticeable when you are playing loud. Don't worry about that for now.
C and G are useful chords too. You only need 3 or 4 to play many songs.
Enjoy making a fun noise.
Thanks Steve - Out of interest, once you're proficient, is it like riding a bike or swimming, can you can leave it for 6 months and return or does it need constant topping up (practice) ?
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Once it has become a habit you will retain it. I actually find I can play songs I've not tried in ages as my finger remember even if my brain can't. I've seen people at my pub sessions make great progress. It takes work, but it's very satisfying
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'Every guitarist you see on stage has been through this'. Yeah - that made me laugh when thinking about all the punks who 'couldn't play their instruments' !
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Some couldn't, but I bet some put in many hours before they got on stage. BTW playing with the guitar down by your knees is not easy. It bends the fretting hand at a horrible angle. Higher up is less cool, but much more comfortable.
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Yeah. One of my problems was sitting with the guitar and using the left hand to support the neck. I used a strap to reduce that dependency.
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