I had a similar problem when I was learning guitar. I had my grandma's old steel string guitar, and the action was so high (the strings so far away from the fretboard) that it took a lot of strength to press the strings down to the frets and it was difficult to get a note to play correctly. After a month or two my instructor had me try a different guitar, and like magic, I was able to play the song I was learning all the way through with no effort at all.