Unintentional pull-offs when changing chords/strings
Hi everyone, especially the more experienced players,
I’ve just started playing guitar again after an eight-week break — and before that, I had taken a break of more than ten years.
So I obviously need to rebuild the calluses on my fingertips and get my fingers flexible again.
However, while practising chord changes between Em, C, G and D, I’ve noticed that my fingers tend to “stick” to the strings when I lift them. This causes unintentional pull-offs and makes the open strings ring out.
This is especially annoying when I’m playing picked melodies, because those unwanted notes can ruin the whole thing.
I’ve read different advice online: lifting the fingers completely vertically, briefly releasing the pressure while still touching the string before moving the finger away, or muting the strings with either the picking hand or the fretting hand, depending on the string.
My fingernails are already filed down as short as possible, right to the nail bed.
So now I’d like to ask you:
How do experienced players deal with this?
Anyone who has the time and motivation is also very welcome to attach a short video so I can see the movement in detail. I’d really appreciate that.
I do have a guitar teacher, but lessons are expensive, and with two children — a baby and a toddler — it’s not that easy to disappear for two hours and travel across Hamburg. Before asking him, I thought I’d first make use of Reddit’s combined knowledge and experience. 😅
Thank you very much for reading and for any advice.
Have a great week!