Originally Posted by
Fulluphigh
Ok, I know this thread is the better part of a decade old, but I'm going to bring it up anyway instead of starting a new one =)
I've been playing, getting frustrated, elevating to furious, and giving up on this instrument for a decade now, and I still have this problem. 9 years on actually, and I still don't even have a chord technique. I can bang out melodies easily enough, but even the most basic of chord shapes (Like, for example, open A!) still give me trouble (Actually, chop chords are pretty easy for me... big hands?).
For example: I picked it up again several weeks ago and really wanted to do better, but as soon as I started on chords again, I started getting fed up. I decided I wanted to power through though, and as part of that I wanted a decent instrument, so I finally upgraded from my crummy rover 50 I bought off a mate in college for 75 bucks, to a properly setup eastman 315. And Lord, the difference! Suddenly I could stop the D and A strings on the same fret, with two fingers, and have every string ring out beautifully! Unfortunately, doesn't apply to the G and D strings, as the G vibrates badly with this setup unless fretted riiiight above the fret, so I still had to find a way to use one finger, and started getting frustrated after weeks of trying and videos and methods...
I only just realized after getting frustrated yet again and doing more and more digging that people don't even *do* bar chords! I thought it was hard to believe than anybody could fret two courses with one finger and have all four strings ring out clear, and then I finally fine thread of thread of people saying they just fret the inner strings of the pair and the outer ones get muted! Sure, I guess I figured out that worked a while ago, but I never liked the dull thump that accompanied it and assumed I was still doing it wrong. Why the hate filled pit nobody can mention this in their bloody books will forever elude me, but ok.
Sorry, the point of that story is: finding out that I wasn't has given me the motivation to press on and dive deep into my other chord shape troubles! It seems that all the "proper" techniques about how to play just don't matter in the slightest for chords. You'll have nonsense in method books like "No chord shape should cause any joint pain", but when you dive deep enough, you finally find people opening up here about the realities.
Anyway, yeah, I have the same issue here. There is no way I can hold my hand that doesn't mute the outer string of the E string when doing, for example, an open A chord (2250). The only way it works is if I *stretch* my flesh on the neck. I.e., I touch it a millimeter lower and tilt my hand up so it puuuulls that chunk of finger/hand fat flat. If I remove it and gently touch it back in the exact same position without doing so: no luck, it spills over onto the neck and mutes the outer E string.
I just want to make sure that it's not secretly normal, like muting the outer strings of barre chords when using one finger to fret them, and look for pointers on what to do about it if not!
(If this post came off negative sounding, that's not my intention! I just felt like dumping my life story for context hahaha. Feel free to provide feedback on anything that catches your eye in that. I'm looking forward to getting serious and taking lessons once the pandemic has cleared up, but also still kinda worried about it for the same reason I always was (once I wasn't a broke college student): I'm kinda OCD about doing things "properly" and it always seems like there is no consistent proper for many parts of mandolin technique =p I can work around it, but I'm always anxious I'll find out that I've learned something the "wrong" way for years. That kind of thing -_-)
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