Sorry, I don't know the answer to any of those questions, I don't have much to do with chords

I just wanted to say hello and welcome

Do whatever makes the most sense.

Sometimes the easiest way to play a song is actually not correct and can hurt you in the long run. I would get a good teacher for at least 6 months, trust me its worth it.

Hey there!

When you post tab stuff on the site use < pre> and < /pre> without the spaces.

so instead of

-1------

-0------

-2------

-3------

you get

--------
-1------
-0------
-2------
-3------
--------

As for the chord thing I'm not sure you're asking yourself the right questions. When you think about fingerings here's my main concerns (and I'm sure others will voice their own views or tell me I'm wrong XD)

1)comfort/reach. You want to be able to easily and fluidly DO whatever shape or fingering you need to do. If it's too dramatic a change in too short a time with awkward fingering it may not be very playable.

2)Leading into next note. This is similar to the last thing but basically you need to think "what are the next few notes I need to hit and where will I need to move to do this?" Can I position my fingers so that these notes are ready ahead of time? Can I make the distance I need to move shorter? Can I keep my hand in a similar shape and just slide up/down the neck?

3)Sustaining notes. I got a lot of shit for this because until recently I wasn't holding bass notes down long enough. Be mindful of how you need to position your hand so that you can keep certain notes going and that your performance doesn't sound stuttery or staccato.

Hope that helps, welcome to gametabs!

...I'd say worry about the duration of the notes. Tablature doesn't usually help as much as sheet music with this, so you'd have to hear the song firsthand. Does it hurt, in any way, to fret the chord? o.0 As far as the Melody and Harmony, that tends to vary. I don't think it would hurt to fret the whole "C" chord, but again, depends on what you're playing. ^_^;; I don't think I can help you at all with the tab examples.

post script: Welcome to Gametabs ^_^

It depends...you need to view it in context. What comes after the chords you are talking about? For example the first chord, I would only fret the notes needed UNLESS there were other notes from the chord coming right after it. In that case it would be easier to fret the entire chord and not have to move your hand again. The same goes for your second example. If there was an E coming up on the 4th string, I would just hold the full chord form and not have to move again.

It's mostly about comfort and the easiest way to think and answer these questions on your own is to always remember "Economy of movement."

When playing guitar, you get the most out of moving the least.

Wow, thank you all for the quick answers.

@Rook

Hello, thanks for the welcome.

@Yogurt

I have been trying to figure it out by looking at it logically and seeing which makes the most sense. I've gotten to where I can play the song but since I'm not experienced I'm just worried I'm not doing it correctly. My fear is that I'll end up hurting myself in the long run. Unfortunately, I can't afford a teacher right now. However, that is in my plans for when my financial situation improves. I'd still like to play for now but I don't want to start lessons and have the teacher tell me I've been doing everything wrong.

@karathrow

Thanks for the formatting tip. I edited my original post with the pre tag. I agree with you on the chords. When I've been trying to figure it out on my own those are the things that I've been concerned with. In fact, that is why the question started in my mind. I was trying to play an F chord, which I barred at the first fret, that changed into another chord where I couldn't change fast enough because of the awkward position and distance. I found that if I just fret the couple of notes in the F chord instead of the whole thing I could easily make the change, but then I thought to myself that it must be bad form to do it that way. I also have that sustaining note problem right now. I'm glad I'm not the only one. It's something I'm trying really hard to fix.

@yashakenkyaku

I'm very familiar with the songs I'm trying to play. I can't learn a song unless it's embedded into my brain. It always amazes me the people who can just read a piece of music and play it. No, it doesn't hurt at all to fret the chords. I'm at work now, but later tonight I'll try to find a better and longer example of tab to post.

@Kabukibear

That makes a lot of sense. There isn't any notes in each of those chords that follow, they immediately switch to other chords. I'll try an post a longer tab tonight. I really like that saying "Economy of movement." That sounds like something I should always be thinking when figuring this stuff out.

This brings up another question. If I don't fret the entire chord I tend to get lost after a while. The chord is the thing that keeps me from getting lost on the fretboard. When I start only fretting two notes of a chord I tend to lose track of the chord and things get harder to remember. Does this happen to a lot of people? Any tips to combat this? Or is it just a practice, practice, practice kind of thing?

Thanks again for all of the help.

It sounds like you are maybe overly reliant on your index finger. One thing that helps is when swapping between two chords or fingerings is to lead with a different finger. Think to yourself "Am I consistently screwing up with a specific finger?" Practice just moving that finger back and forth or leading with it while swapping chords.

Memorizing is difficult, I will give you that. For now, since you are just starting out, keep that music in front of you! Read read and read again. Eventually, as you are reading, you'll find that you are seeing but not reading. Your hands know where to go.

With strumming, it's about chords every few measures but with fingerstyle, you need to break the habit of thinking in chords. Deal with each note, slowly, as they come. To build some confidence in this area try taking just one measure at a time....slow it down to a crawl. Whatever you want to get to lower it to -150%.

Each.

Note.

Look.

Where are your hands? What fingers are you using? Carefully. Analyze. See.

Can you whistle the melody, fully, when not looking at the music?

Can you finger the piece, fully, without striking a single note?

It's awful, but if you want to learn a piece you need to LEARN IT.

Learn the notes so you can forget them! You don't need to think about them! They are just a way of expressing what you choose.

Once you are there, your heart is your limit.

I practice a measure 10 times in a row with no mistakes before I move on. I then practice the next measure until I can play it 10 times with no mistakes. Once I get there, I play the first and second measure together. If I can play them 10 times with no mistakes I move on. I do this for each measure. Once I master a measure I put it back into the whole and test it against what I have learned. It's slow and boring, but if you want to play with 0 mistakes, this is one way to envelope yourself in the music. Just a thought, and how I do it.

@karathrow

Great idea. I hadn't thought to look and see which fingers I was leading with. I think my index and middle are pretty good but my ring and pinky aren't yet. I'll switch it up and try all my fingers.

@Kabukibear

It seems like such an obvious thing but it hadn't occurred to me that I should be thinking of individual notes now instead of chords. You just opened my eyes, seriously. I probably would have just kept going in my old way, struggling. I will try slowing it down to one measure at a time too. Currently I usually take a four or eight bar chunk, which is easy when strumming but hard with fingerstyle as I'm now finding out. It doesn't matter to me if it's slow going, time is one thing I have a lot of.

Thanks for all of the tips. I was going to post another tab example but I think everyone helped me enough to continue on for now. I'll be back if I have anymore questions. Hopefully someday I'll be able to contribute some tabs to the site.