Re: Trouble with open chords and open E string
Just a high-level observation:
In the various photos, look carefully the angle of the fingers between the 1st & 2nd joints.
A) In the photo labeled "G chord (no problems here)", that stretch of finger is angled mostly along the length of the fretboard and of the strings.
B) In all other photos, that upper stretch of finger is angled mostly across the fretboard and along the length of the frets.
Also:
A) In the G-chord photo, the fingertips are pressing at about a 45 to 60 degree angle to the surface of the fretboard; that looks reasonable.
B) In the other photos, the fingertips are pressing at about 90 degrees to the fretboard or even more; it looks uncomfortable!
The "g-chord" photo looks a bit like fiddler's hand and like, yes, a proper mandolinist. The other photos look like a guitarist trying to play mandolin... but that's where most of us started, so it can't be insurmountable.
Keep in mind that guitarists normally assign one fret per finger, and tend to reach across the fretboard. Mandolinists (and fiddlers if they had 'em) assign TWO frets per finger, and need to reach along the length of the fretboard. If you can angle your wrist to accomplish that, as in the G chord above, the gap will probably take care of itself.
But maybe a wider nut and/or radiused fingerboard is also needed? Radius does provide more separation between pairs of strings compared to the same width of a flat board.
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
- Ian Tyson
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