Get the Plunk Out.

Hey everyone, hope you've had a good week so far.

I thought my first few posts should address some of the obstacles beginner players face when learning chords and rhythm. Please let me know other topics/areas of interest or that would be helpful by using the comment section below. Thanks! And now for tonight's entry...

If you’ve sat down to try and play a chord of any sort, you’ve probably already experienced the topic of today’s post, the dreaded “plunk.”

"Plunking" is that lovely half-muted, half-percussive sound you may hear the first time you strum a chord. Don’t be discouraged, we’ve all been there. Take a deep breathe, relax, and try out the following:

1. Be sure your fretting fingers are arched nice and high on the strings. Feel the strings right under the very tip of your fingers. Think of a ballerina on her toes. This prevents the fleshy part of your fingertip from muting or half-muting any string behind it.

Check the thumb position of your fretting hand. Make sure it is slightly behind the neck and slightly angled away from you. The natural inclination will be for your hand and wrist to drop slightly. This is good! Don’t resist it. This is what will help you achieve curved/arched fingers.

2. Are you feeling the burn? No? Then you need to press down harder on the strings. Harder?! you exclaim, are you insane? Yes. Now press down. That’s right, there are now deep grooves imprinted into your fingertips. You want that.

Strum the strings a few times and see if there is a difference in the sound. If the plunk still exists, hold down the chord with your left hand (right, if you’re a lefty) and play the individual strings with your right (left, if lefty). Doing this will reveal which string(s) is at issue. Press those particular fingers down just a wee bit more and see what happens. I bet you will hear a difference.

3. Okay, you’ve tried both 1 & 2 and the plunk will not relent. Check where you are placing your nicely-arched, super-grooved fingertips. If they are in the middle of the fret or hanging out towards the upper fret marker or nut, then you have found the problem. The best sounding note or chord will come from fingers placed low in the fret (or just behind the bottom fret marker). It’s just how the instrument is made. On chords such as A major or Esus4 (where there are three fingers taking residence in the second fret) just do your best to fit them mid to low in the fret. Another way to think of low – the direction in towards the body of you or the guitar!

See! That was easy (yeah, right). A word of caution, you can strum those strings with all the gusto on the planet and all you are doing is making the plunk LOUDER and putting your strings at risk for breakage. It is the positioning of the fretting hand that solves the plunk issue, not the intensity of the strumming. So go easy on the strumming thumb or pick, your hand and strings will thank you for it.

Remember that this playing business takes time and patience. You may do all three things listed here and the plunk persists. Play through it anyway. I promise, as you practice consistently there will be a moment when your D chord will sound like a D chord and all that bright sunshiny major goodness will coming chiming through. It then might resort back to plunka plunka, but the first step of progress will have been made. You will end up with more chord and less mute as you go.

Oh, and one final thing, the "bzzwzz." (Yeah, we’re real technical here at rock it, sister.) Buzz can be caused by many of the same issues as the aforementioned plunk, but, it can also be an issue with the actual instrument. If you hear a buzz coming from the bass strings on particular chords or notes, and you are sure hand/finger positioning is not the issue, have your guitar checked out by a professional. The action (aka distance between string and fretboard) may be out of whack. This is nothing to be alarmed about and is usually an easy fix. Will post more about this next week.

Until next time, my sisters and brothers. Feel free to comment or vent away. We’re here for you, and we understand.

oh, the burning, the arching, what on earth have I gotten myself into?

Hey everyone and welcome!

After much prompting from my music pals and students, I decided it was time to get this blogging show on the road.

I'm going to do my best to get something new up once a week, usually related to playing the guitar, or to music in general. Will also be updating the video and ply yourself lists with new recommendations. I hope to get a few other guitar playin' folks to contribute a word or two (or three), and maybe even, gasp, a podcast?!

If there are topics, tips, or specific songs you'd like help with, please feel free to leave them in the comments or email me.

Stay tuned and hang on sisters and brothers, here we go!