guitar and other puzzle questions

I guess it's just me, but I'm having to use a walkthrough to figure out most of these puzzles, tho I'm a point/click gamer at heart. For instance (without wanting to give anything away), I would NEVER have known to use only 3 strings of the guitar, much less which ones. I also read in another post that the floorboard puzzle (which I've yet to reach) requires a particular spelling of a name. What am I missing.....too many brain cells? I just can't find the logic in these puzzles, but the only complaint I have about the game is that I can't seem to wrap my mind around the 'story line'. I've got paper and pen right beside me and I write down dates, names, times, etc. I think I'm wasting my time. ;-)
For now, I'm stuck on the pocket watch; I've used all numbers related to times and dates I can think of and nothing happens, so I'm frustrated.
I just wonder if anyone else is having this issue with these puzzles. Thanks for any feedback and sorry for the novella!

yes, I am. I could not figure out the guitar strings and the little red box with the musical squares on it. I finally just gave up