I Need Help in these areas: Fingernail Strength, Composing Techniques and Help, and Helpful hints...

Re: I Need Help in these areas: Fingernail Strength, Composing Techniques and Help, and Helpful hints to become a better Fingerstyle guitarist

feeds@kickapps.com (gtrfinger) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:17:51 PST

A bit of study of harmonic theory wouldn't hurt. There are some good user friendly books out there that dont require advanced knowledge to get started.

Re: I Need Help in these areas: Fingernail Strength, Composing Techniques and Help, and Helpful hints to become a better Fingerstyle guitarist

feeds@kickapps.com (Howard M Emerson) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:59:42 PST

whouston33wh wrote:

Hey everyone,

I recently started playing fingerstyle guitar two years ago after listening to Andy Mckee. I found out about many other fingerstyle players as well and I started to compose. I am just having trouble writing because I compose based on chance. I randomly play different chords in different tunings and if they sound good, I integrate them into the song. Yet I find that I am losing some creativity and I just keep moving from chord to chord with no change. I need some tips on song composing and maybe a few style techniques that could help me improve.

Also, Fingernails are a big issue for me as well. I try hard to maintain them but they always break at acertain point. What are some good ways to strengthen your nails? I have also heard of people using fake nails as well. If anyone can help me, feel free to answer.

Thanks a lot!
...

Re: I Need Help in these areas: Fingernail Strength, Composing Techniques and Help, and Helpful hints to become a better Fingerstyle guitarist

feeds@kickapps.com (Paul Kucharski) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:21:41 PST

In regards to composing, I imagine it may be stating the obvious, but the main thing to concentrate on when composing is to construct an appealing and coherent melody. One of the biggest problems I see in a lot of fingerstyle compositions is that while they have a lot of great fingerstyle pyrotechnics they lack a compelling, discernable melody. Seek to build a melody with your chord changes and you'll be well on your way to writing music that will appeal to the vast majority of listeners (those who could care less about how fancy our fingerstyle technique is).

I Need Help in these areas: Fingernail Strength, Composing Techniques and Help, and Helpful hints to become a better Fingerstyle guitarist

feeds@kickapps.com (whouston33wh) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:43:40 PST

Hey everyone,

I recently started playing fingerstyle guitar two years ago after listening to Andy Mckee. I found out about many other fingerstyle players as well and I started to compose. I am just having trouble writing because I compose based on chance. I randomly play different chords in different tunings and if they sound good, I integrate them into the song. Yet I find that I am losing some creativity and I just keep moving from chord to chord with no change. I need some tips on song composing and maybe a few style techniques that could help me improve.

Also, Fingernails are a big issue for me as well. I try hard to maintain them but they always break at acertain point. What are some good ways to strengthen your nails? I have also heard of people using fake nails as well. If anyone can help me, feel free to answer.

Thanks a lot!