Teaching Question

[Nola]

Hey guys. I am teaching a few relatives/friends how to play stringed instruments (ukulele and guitar).
I know how and what to teach them once their fingers move properly, but I am having a hard time teaching them the very first stage of getting their fingers to make chords. Any suggestions? Like a G chord on guitar -- the guys fingers literally will not move correctly. I even tried to place them using my own hands. Another has very fleshy fingers and the flesh/skin mute the string below. I'm not sure how to tackle this anatomical problem. Any ideas?

Once we get past this stage it'll be easy to teach.

 

[Robus]

I don't know if there are any shortcuts. It comes down to developing dexterity and muscle memory, which takes time and a lot of repetitions. If they are motivated to keep at it, they will improve.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

There are a lot of classical guitar technique books that do deep dives into the very small movements that most of us never even think about. You could start with some of those books - Aaron Shearer's is the most popular although Andre Segovia famously said it was garbage lol.