Can you give me some tips for playing chords on acoustic guitar?

Question:

Can you give me some tips for playing chords on acoustic guitar?

I just began teaching myself to play acoustic guitar. I can get the picking right, the single notes. I'm having a hard time playing chords.

My fingers end up accidentally touching extra strings, keeping them from ringing properly.

Does anyone have any tips to help me?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It's been my experience that the ring finger is the most difficult to train because it has to form and lock over other strings to build chords--not cords.

For the first two years of my guitar playing I would wake in the morning with my ring finger pressed solidly flat against the palm of my hand. Opening it up resulted in two loud cracks each time.

Other than my thumb that I use for chords, my small finger is the most well-used of the bunch in many situations. But since I play fingerstyle, using all fingers, they all get a workout.

As mentioned previously by other posters, you must work slowly and surely at forming each chord--the toughest being the F major chord in the first fret. Once you get that right, the whole fretboard is open for you. Remember that anything done right isn't done overnight. It takes heavy concentration, willpower, and dedication to train your fingers to do what you want them to do on the guitar.