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→Left-Hand Fretting
As for the left-hand, the important thing is the ''quality'' of your fretting. (''Fretting'' is the act of pushing the string down against a fret.) You want to push the string down right "behind" (towards the nut side of) the fret, so that it is held firmly against the fret. This gets a ''clean'' sound. If you hold the string lightly against the fret or far away from it, the string has the ability to come off and slam down against the fret as it resonates, which sounds like metal hitting metal. It is noisy, making it more difficult to hear the note you are trying to play. It also dimishes sustain, causing the note to fade out more quickly. A badly-fretted note will sound like "pinck" whereas a well-fretted one will sound like "biiiiiinnnngggg". Open strings are automatically fretted perfectly and make a good reference to determine how well you are fretting; however, they do have a bell-like quality that you cannot get from a fretted note. They are also less likely to have fret buzz - there's only so well that you can fret a fret.
Try to use the tips of your left-hand fingers to fret - this flesh is a little firmer than your fingerprints and makes for a cleaner fretting. ''It may be a bit painful at first, especially on the thin strings. '' You definitely don't want your finger tips to become raw and painful or start bleeding - don't overwork them at first. Over a week or two, your finger tips will start developing calusescalluses, protecting them from injury, reducing pain, and making them firmer.
'''Be sure not to press down too hard when fretting'''. The additional tension will actually bend the string behind the fret, causing it to have greater tension and thus vibrate at a higher frequency than desired. In short, your notes will be sharp. Press down just hard enough to get a clean sound. Also, make sure you are behind the fret, ''not on top'' or even slightly in front of it. If so, part of your finger will be touching the vibrating part of the string, slightly dampening it, causing it to lose sustain and higher-frequency overtones.