Hi and welcome Jimmy Fats
Good on you for picking up the guitar again, there is a certain amount of finesse that you will develop when fretting strings that will enable you to get past your finger width problem for sure, I have never met a hand yet that wasn't able to...the upside of such a finger shape is you can use them for left hand string muting if you play electric guitar which is a big bonus
What type and quality of guitar are you playing?? - a quality guitar with a good set up and low action will make playing soooooooooooooooooo much easier, the other kind of guitar I refer to as 'cheese graters' and will not play them.
Ok so hints and tips, I will give it a whirl...
practise fretting notes on the very tips of your fingers, make sure finger is well and truly bent at the distal(first) joint
when fretting the important aspect is that the fretwire and string makes a perfect connection - so you are only using your fingertip to facilitate that connection, use as little effort as possible, just enough and no more. Place finger just to the left of the fret so this connection will be strong as possible with minimum pressure applied.
be patient for results - look for small improvements each week - not a "crap one day and perfect the next" approach and congratulate yourself for having the commitment to attempt this difficult task.
Well that's all I got for now - sometimes my explanations are kinda confusing so you are welcome to ask for clarification of anything I have mentioned.
Happy playing!!
PAD
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