How do I place notes in smaller increments?

“I can’t seem to get to place notes where I want them”

That is because MuseScore uses pre-determined engraving rules, and that’s what decides the relative note spacing.

If you want the notes to be spaced wider apart, then you need fewer measures (bars) per system. In that case you can use a system break in the measure after which you want to jump to a new system.

Handbook on Formatting : musescore.org/en/handbook/4/formatting
Handbook on Systems and horizontal spacing : musescore.org/en/handbook/4/systems-and-horizontal-spacing

[EDIT]
You can also select measures across a few systems and try the effect of these menu options:
Format > Stretch > Increase layout stretch
Format > Stretch > Decrease layout stretch
Format > Stretch > Reset layout stretch