Guitar fingerstyle

Viken

Hi, I've been playing the guitar for about two years at this stage. Just finished the Leaving Cert and want to make some progress with it this Summer. So, a few questions:

1) What is the best position to hold your hand in when finger-picking? At the moment I rest my wrist on the bridge as I would when using a plectrum. I've been told by two more experienced guitarists to hold my hand off the guitar and over the soundhole. What's the point of this? I've always been more comfortable resting it on the body, I want to know if it's worthwhile changing my hand position.

2) Would it improve my playing by including my little finger more? At the moment I'm in the habit of only using it when absolutely required....which is not very often, and as a result it's quite weak.

3) Where should I start in learning music theory? At the moment I'm thinking I'll learn off the names of each note, and plenty of scales to go along with that. What other beneficial things can I do? [EDIT: Just spotted the theory threads, which provide some useful websites on the matter].

4) What are some good fingerstyle songs to learn? They don't necessarily have to be instrumental. At the moment I know Classical Gas, Spanish Romance, a few classical pieces, Street Spirit, Dust in the Wind, and a few other bits and bobs. I'm far from an advanced player, but I'm willing to put in the time and effort to learn something challenging.

Thanks in advance for the help

Nozebleed

1. you should place you hand wherever is most comfortable. i personally dont rest my hand on the guitar at all. my thumb may sit on a string from time to time though.

2. you dont use your pinky ever..no need. you should pick with thumb,index and third finger..eventually you will build up the finger muscles and get more control over the hand. your fourth finger will kind of follow the third when you pull two strings together.

3. im playing 15 years and i dont read music..i never had the interest in that side of things. you'll find your own way..creatively i mean.

4. learn a song by mississippi john hurt called Creole belle. it's really easy,once you get your head around the picking..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFg3TW5FpfU

Fowler87

Have been playing mainly fingerstyle guitar over the last year and have found a different dimension to my guitar playing than when I strummed out various triads, barre chords. Alot more conscience to what notes I'm picking now and the similar patterns, chord sequences emerging. In that way, defintely learn some theory. Its not the be all in playing guitar but it will go a long way in helping you transcribe your own stuff in the future.

Check out justin guitar on youtube, some great tutorials on his site too. Also that Sungha Jung (asian kid) is insanly talented fingerstyle guitarist of alot of modern music. Good luck:)

loyatemu

dylanchords.com has a lot of good tabs and tutorials for playing Dylan's fingerstyle stuff and the guy who writes it also has a blog where he goes through various techniques.

smooshmonster

Resting your hand on the guitar dims the sound, as does resting your thumb on the string. This is bad technique. You want your forearm off the board.

Nozebleed is right, you don't use your pinky ever. You use p (thumb), i (index), m (middle) and a (ring). practise alternating; p i m a, p a m i, then move on to p i p m p a, and so forth. When practising your scales, alternate scales using i m, i a, and m a. This should help improve your technique.

Start with the ab guide to music theory. The pink book is available at most music shops in Ireland, and you can pick up workbooks to go with it.

Ragtime is great for fingerpicking style guitar, if you're not into the more classical side of things. But if you're playing Romance you're pretty advanced already. Unless you're playing a beginner version of it, that is not an easy piece! You could look into studies by Sor, they sound great and are good for building technique.

Viken

Hi guys, thanks for the excellent replies. Haven't checked this forum in weeks.

smooshmonster wrote:

Resting your hand on the guitar dims the sound, as does resting your thumb on the string. This is bad technique. You want your forearm off the board.

Is it alright to rest your wrist on the bridge, as you would when playing with a plectrum? I don't touch the board with my forearm or press my thumb against the string, I'm just concerned about a more fundamental re-working of my forearm/wrist/hand position....I feel uncomfortable holding them all suspended, hand across the sound hole. So I'd like to stick with my current position....unless it sacrifices the sound of course. What do you think? Thanks again.

Cheers to Fowler, loyatemu and Nozebleed as well.

KeithTS

smooshmonster wrote: »

Nozebleed is right, you don't use your pinky ever. You use p (thumb), i (index), m (middle) and a (ring). practise alternating; p i m a, p a m i, then move on to p i p m p a, and so forth. When practising your scales, alternate scales using i m, i a, and m a. This should help improve your technique.

Not quite true, a lot of flamenco players incorporate their pinky in picking patterns, it lends itself to 4 note tremolo rather well, also used for rasgueado.

In standard clasical playing however, it should never be used.

Hayte

Nozebleed wrote: »

1. you should place you hand wherever is most comfortable. i personally dont rest my hand on the guitar at all. my thumb may sit on a string from time to time though.

...

2. you dont use your pinky ever..no need. you should pick with thumb,index and third finger..eventually you will build up the finger muscles and get more control over the hand. your fourth finger will kind of follow the third when you pull two strings together.

The maxim I went by was "one finger, one fret" and "one finger, one string". You may not want or need to play pieces that require you to use all of your fingers on both hands right now but that can change.

It is not a rule since rules can be broken, but I felt is was good system to get into the habit of, as you can break from it later on if you need to. I guess its different if you learn pima which eliminates the pinky (where its used for anchoring/stability?).

But it also depends on what you mean by fingerstyle. Some modern fingerstylists absolutely use their pinky for picking and in some cases it is absolutely necessary to use it for stuff like rasqueado etc.

I've seen some classical players who were taught never to use their pinky in pima. Ialways felt it was easier to learn guitar with your pinky and then not use it when you have no need for it, than it is to learn guitar with 3 fingers and then run into some situation where you need to use a 4th but can't. Then again, if we are talking about developing habits, maybe it becomes hard not to use your pinky even when you shouldn't? Shrugs.

The reason why I don't rest my wrist on the bridge is that it limits the freedom of movement in my picking/strumming hand and sometimes prevent me from using my ring finger and little finger. It also means that I can only ever pick/strum near the bridge so I will always get that twangy bridge sound. If I wanted to get away from that sound I would literally have to pick my hand up off the bridge to play closer to the sound hole. This creates a problem because now your wrist and poise is completely different so picking feels different and you will play inconsistently.

The idea of playing with your hand not resting on any part of the guitar is so that you can play at any point along the length of the string, and your hand is always in the same position. If you ever need to readjust your hand it will only be very slightly. Again, its not a rule I suppose because rules are meant to be broken?

I think rather than say "don't do this" its better to think of it like "you can do this but if you do, it opens this door and closes this one". I mean, I've seen pima players that do additional exercises involving the pinky (pimac and pimas) so in the end, doesn't it come back to one finger one string? (except where 3 fingers will do?)

thecatspjs

I think you should practice playing with your hand suspended over the sound hole. If you can do this, you should be able to comfortably switch between different positions at will. I have been playing for 14 years and the best advice I can give would be to try everything. Some weeks I wanted to be a blues legend, other weeks I wanted to be a classical genius, and by emulating all of these different styles I now feel I can shift to any position I feel like. It does a lot for your playing dynamics (which can be overlooked by guitarists).

martinedwards

Viken wrote: »

Is it alright to rest your wrist on the bridge, as you would when playing with a plectrum? I don't touch the board with my forearm or press my thumb against the string, I'm just concerned about a more fundamental re-working of my forearm/wrist/hand position....I feel uncomfortable holding them all suspended, hand across the sound hole. So I'd like to stick with my current position....unless it sacrifices the sound of course. What do you think?

I'm not a fingerstylist, but I build guitars.

the bridge drives the top and that's where the sound comes from.

think loudspeaker.

magnet/coil & paper cone, right?

in the guitar the bridge takes the place of the magnet & coil, the top is the paper cone.

if you stop the magnet and coil doing thier thing then the paper cone ain't gonna move to it's full extent and you'll loose sound.

likewise with the bridge.

you wouldn't set 5 pounds of steak on your loudspeakers, so don't set 5 pounds of meat bone and gristle on your bridge!!

Viken

Yessir. Thanks for the advice all.

Nulty

I play a little fingerstyle and learned to play with hand suspended, not touching.

I'd recommend:

Blackbird - The Beatles
Vincent - Chet Atkins
Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You - Led Zeppelin