Guitar Jam

Fingerstylin': Fingerstylists, Meet Your Fretting Hand

By Mike Roberts
Happy 2007, Pluckers! I hope you’ve been diligently practicing the right hand (picking hand) technique we discussed in previous columns. Now that you’re armed with those skills, what better way to ring in the New Year than with a primer on fretting hand* technique? (*Your left hand if you’re a righty, vice versa for southpaws.) I can’t think of a single thing, so let’s get started.

For many guitarists, fretting a note means sticking a finger on the appropriate fret. That’s sort of like telling a pilot to land a plane by aiming for the runway. (Granted, the stakes are somewhat lower when playing the guitar.) In reality, landing a plane is a procedure of many steps which must be followed precisely, with many variables to be accounted for: altitude, air speed, flap position, landing gear, etc. There are likewise a multitude of variables for fretting a note, just as there are for plucking one. Just as a pilot goes through a checklist before taking off and landing, there’s a checklist I like to use for fretting hand technique—a simple reminder of all the variables we need to keep in line. And wouldn’t you know, it comes with its own handy mnemonic!

This Would Be A Perfect Plan:

Thumb
Wrist
Balance
Arch
Placement
Pressure

Here’s how it breaks down as you fret a note:

•Place the pad of your straightened (but not tense) thumb in the middle of the back of the guitar neck. You’ll probably need to roll a bit to the left side of the pad in order to keep the thumb straight. This is important: by straightening the thumb, you can pin your hand in position with only slight pressure from your much-stronger arm. Bend the thumb, and it will need to tense in order to hold itself in place. Try it—you’ll see.

•The inside of your wrist faces your bicep. Relax, and don’t twist. Keep the wrist straight or only slightly bent.

•A balanced hand position means that all four fingertips can reach the fingerboard with equal ease. Good thumb and wrist positioning is a critical starting point. The blade of your hand should be parallel to the guitar neck. Keep some space between all the fingers. It’s normal for the fingers to tilt a little to the side (fingers 1 and 2 toward the headstock, 3 and 4, toward the bridge), especially fingers 1 and 4. As you apply pressure, the tilt increases.

•Arch all four fingers gracefully and comfortably onto the fingerboard. It will help to maintain a space of about inch between the blade of your hand and the bottom of the guitar neck. Arching efficiently transfers power from your hand and arm into your fingertips, and gives you fullest control over your movements. (Notice what happens if you straighten your fingers and lock your knuckles: tension and loss of dexterity. Bad!)

•Place the tip of each fingers just behind the target fret, as close to the fret as possible without touching it. Certain chords will require you to compromise a bit here; just get as close as you can.

•Find the appropriate amount of pressure in each finger—no more, no less—to produce a clear, beautiful note when plucked. An excellent way to achieve this is by thinking of pressure as coming from the weight of your fingers, not from muscle tension. A good arch enables you to channel the superior weight and power of your hand and arm.

Try this somewhere in the middle of the fretboard (maybe 5th or 7th position—i.e., with your first finger on the 5th or 7th fret), with all four fingers fretting adjacent frets on the same string. Here’s what it should look like:

Exercise
Hold this pose. Burn it into your muscle memory. Stay relaxed, as always. Take your hand off the neck, then repeat all the steps as many times as you can, until the hand position starts to feel comfortable (it probably won’t at first). For now, this is all you need to do. You don’t need to play a note; just strike the pose. Next time we’ll add some notes to this exercise. In the meantime, bring this hand position into any playing you are currently doing, keeping in mind that you may need to un-learn some habits. Above all, be patient with yourself—your efforts will be well worth it when your hand is skimming over the fretboard like a waterbug, speedy and tension-free!

Other Fretting Hand Positions
‘This Would Be a Perfect Plan’ is not the only legitimate fretting hand position. Certain chords and specialized techniques like bending and vibrato will put your hand through its own little game of Twister, but this basic position is your home base. Hang out here as much as possible, and this hand position will allow you to play with the greatest efficiency and dexterity, and the least amount of stress on your hand, wrist, and forearm.

Here are a few examples of appropriate “other” hand positions.

•Tricky chords (unbalanced hand):

•Bending a note (thumb comes over the top of the neck; hand braces the bottom of the neck):

•Barre chords (first finger is straight while others remain arched; first finger can lean a little against the fret; more pressure may be needed to execute the barre—but you can relax the barre a little on strings which are fretted by other fingers):

What to Practice:
1) The above exercise.
2) Bring the ‘This Would Be a Perfect Plan’ position into your existing repertoire.

Next time:
More fretting hand adventures, including my favorite, the Zen Exercise.

See you then,
Mike

Fingerstylin': Buon giorno, Signor Carcassi!”: Classical Guitar Music with Arpeggiated Patterns - Part 2

By Mike Roberts
In our most recent adventure we met the venerable Matteo Carcassi, the great 19th-century Italian guitarist. This time we’ll look at two more exercises from Carcassi’s Guitar Method. They are similar in style and degree of difficulty to what we saw last time, and continue to utilize all the good right hand technique we’ve been outlining over the last few months. It is simply impossible to review right hand fundamentals too often, and all too easy to fall into bad habits, so be sure to check back to past columns to give yourself a refresher.

One difference worth noting in the C Major Andantino: you’ll have to play two notes simultaneously. All of the same rules of technique apply here, but you have to be extra careful to keep your thumb outside your fingers (i.e., closer to the headstock than the fingers) and maintain a good scissor motion between your thumb and index finger. In other words, don’t let the thumb and index bump into each other when they play notes simultaneously; they should slide past each other smoothly.

Enjoy!

(Click on notation to enlarge)

This column will be on break for the holidays, but I’ll see you again in 2007 with some left hand technique, more patterns and tunes emphasizing the right hand, some thoughts on practicing, a primer on solo improvisation, and who knows what else. Any ideas for future columns? Please feel free to e-mail me:

[email protected]

Happy Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, et al!

Mike

Fingerstylin': Buon giorno, Signor Carcassi!”: Classical Guitar Music with Arpeggiated Patterns

By Mike Roberts
In our last adventure, we brought our right hand arpeggiation skills into the realms of folky rock and bluegrass. With some American music in our fingers, it’s time now to cross the Atlantic, turn back the clock a couple hundred years, and explore the music of Italian classical guitarist Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853).

Carcassi was a virtuoso player, but he wrote many pieces for beginners. He also wrote a classical guitar method book which is still widely used today. In fact, Carcassi’s method was my introduction to the world of classical guitar, back when I was an unruly teenager channeling Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani. The exercises in the Carcassi method are simple enough to be playable by neophytes, but rich enough in musical goodness to hook a jaded rocker like the 16-year-old Mike. They are also perfect illustrations of the right hand arpeggiated patterns we have been studying. Even if you’re not an aspiring classical player, these little pieces are worth a look; you’ll find all of these patterns and chords in American vernacular styles as well.

Carcassi’s pieces often use only a fragment of a chord, taking our stripped-down fingerings from “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and stripping them down even more. Because the fingerings can be so different from the standard ones, it’s easy to lose any sense of which chord is being implied in the music. However, virtually every arpeggiated chord is drawn from, or is very similar to, a standard fingering. Hence, I’ve included the full, standard fingering of each chord above the music to show you how Carcassi’s fingerings relate to the standard shapes.

Otherwise, the rules here are the same as last time: your left hand fingering is the same as the fret numbers in the tablature (with index equaling 1, middle 2, etc.), except where noted with a numeral between the standard staff and TAB staff. I’ve given a range of possible tempos; be sure to start on the slow side when you bring in your metronome. (Notice I said when, not if! Come on, it’s good for you.) 

The rest should be pretty self-explanatory, but if anything needs clarification, please e-mail me and let me know. Enjoy!

Click on image for full view:

What to Practice:

1) Learn the chord shapes from each exercise before attempting them with the right hand patterns. Notice that Carcassi often uses different pieces of a single chord, or changes just a single note—usually the bass note (i.e., the lowest note). You don’t have to memorize every little variation, but do be aware of what chord you’re playing as you move through each exercise. There are a lot of classical guitarists who play beautifully but have no idea what’s going on under their fingers. Don’t be one of them!

2) Learn all three exercises, and check out the Carcassi Guitar Method if you’re hankering for more.

Next Week: More goodness from Signor Carcassi.

See you then,
Mike
www.hotmike.com
E-mail Mike: [email protected]

Fingerstylin': Right Hand Patterns with Real Music—Classic Tunes, and the Complete “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”

By Mike Roberts
Now that we’ve learned some right hand patterns without the left hand, it’s time to reward your patience and put those patterns to use with some real music.

Last time we looked at arpeggiated patterns: playing the notes of a chord separately with different fingers of the right hand, a specialty of fingerstyle and classical guitar music. Amongst the patterns we learned were the basic ones for two classic rock gems: “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas. Let’s revisit those patterns, this time with the left hand included.

Note: I’ve written out only a piece of the tunes; if you’re interested in learning them in their entirety, transcriptions are readily available on websites like OLGA (temporarily down due to legal issues) or Ultimate Guitar. But beware: there’s no quality control on the web, and most transcriptions range from imperfect to unrecognizable. If you really want to learn a song, you’re better off investing in a published transcription.

See Example #1

If you’re a beginner, rest assured we will soon take a closer look at left hand technique. For now, I recommend getting the chord shapes (written above the staff) comfortably under your fingers before attempting them with the right hand pattern. In the examples, the fret numbers on the tablature are equal to the finger number of your left hand (index=1, middle=2, ring=3, pinky=4), except where indicated with a numeral between the TAB and standard notation. Get those fingers nice and close to the next highest fret, and arch your fingers to keep them away from the other strings. Above all, be patient with yourself! Learning chords takes a long time; it can take months to really get them down. (I suspect some of my students would say years!)

For all you bluegrass fans, here’s an arrangement of the classic “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” using the string-skipping arpeggio we learned last time. Notice that we start working in the ‘a’ finger in measure 9. This is a complete chorus; try repeating the form with some of the variations we looked at, plus some patterns of your own. This tune, with its long stretches on a single chord, is a nice testing ground for pattern variations. Also, I’ve put the vocal melody in tablature, and I encourage you to learn that as well. Makes a lovely duet!

See Example #2

Note the fingering for the G chord: with the strings we’re playing, we only need one finger. So convenient! For those of you who are used to the standard G fingering, this may be a new fingering, and illustrates a good general concept to keep in mind when playing fingerstyle: we often don’t need every finger in the full, standard chord fingerings we’re used to when strumming. In this example, I’ve included the standard G major chord fingering on the final chord—beginners take note. That wavy line is telling you to strum slowly through the chord like a harp—in this case, with your thumb.

What to Practice:
1) If you’re a beginner, get down the chords we use in these examples: C, Cmaj7, Cadd9, G/B, Am7, G, and D.
2) Learn the “Landslide” and “Dust in the Wind” introductions, bringing in the metronome when you’ve established some degree of comfort. As always, the tempos suggested here are flexible; you should go as slow as you need to in order to play the patterns accurately.
3) Learn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and experiment with some pattern variations as you repeat the form.

Next Time: Classical Guitar Music with Arpeggiated Patterns

See you then,
Mike

http://www.hotmike.com
Contact Mike: [email protected]

Fingerstylin: The Mighty Arpeggio: More Right Hand Patterns

By Mike Roberts
What the heck is an arpeggio? Is it:

A) a delectable pasta variety
B) a wicked hot sports car
C) the sounding of the notes of a chord in succession, instead of simultaneously

If you guessed C, you’re right! Here’s your prize: a column about right hand arpeggio patterns as played in fingerstyle and classical guitar.

In pickstyle guitar, with only a single picking agent (the pick, or plectrum), you tend to play a lot of straight, strummed chords. In fingerstyle guitar, with four whole picking agents at your disposal (the pinky generally not being used), arpeggiating—i.e., playing arpeggios—becomes a whole lot easier, and is widely used to great effect. If we pluck all four strings at once, it’s a simple chord. Pluck them all separately, and you’ve got yourself an arpeggio.

In fact, if you checked out the last couple Fingerstylin’ columns, you’ve already played an arpeggio: our E minor chord, the intro to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.” Arpeggiated patterns add a whole new dimension to chords, giving them a rhythmic component and a melodic component at the same time. It’s no wonder they’re a mainstay of folk and classical music, and pop up constantly in other genres like rock and jazz as well.

Now that we’ve spent a few columns establishing good posture and right hand technique, let’s check out some of the great arpeggiated patterns that are common in the fingerstyle and classical universe. But first, let’s define a couple universal principles for right hand patterns:

1) The patterns are fundamentally repetitive. In fact, they derive their rhythmic interest and integrity from this repetition. (All the more reason to use your metronome when you practice them!)

2) For any given pattern, there are almost limitless possible variations. Elements that can be varied include the strings you play in the pattern, notes added or left out, the overall rhythm of the pattern, and the fingering. You’ll know you’ve really mastered the technique when you can vary your patterns at will, mid-song. In the meantime, we’ll check out some of the possibilities.

First, let’s build on our E minor pattern, which features a simple ascent from the bass, and descent back down. (Ex. 1a) This creates a pattern in 3/4 time (3 beats to the measure). Ex. 1b modifies the pattern to make it fit 4/4 time (4 beats per measure, often notated with a “c” and called “common time”). 4/4 time tends to occur more frequently than 3/4 time. We can also play a repeating ascending pattern without the descent (Ex. 1c), or vice versa (Ex. 1d). We can easily vary these patterns by moving the thumb to new bass notes, creating an alternating bass line (Ex. 1e and f). By the way, I’m purposefully leaving out the left hand for now—we need to focus all our energy on these right hand challenges first, and then we’ll work in the left hand.

Things really get interesting when we start skipping strings. String-skipping patterns usually still start with the bass note, then hit the other strings according to a particular pattern. For example, up 2 strings and back 1 (Ex. 2a) is especially common. Note that we use the thumb twice instead of bringing in the “a” finger; this gives us another alternating bass line between the bottom two strings of the pattern. Ex. 2b-e give some good variations on this pattern. By the way, Ex. 2c is the pattern for Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” and a good example of rhythmic variety (pausing just slightly on the last note). Next time, I’ll give you the left hand fingerings.

Finally, let’s add some simultaneous notes to our arpeggios—i.e., sounding some bass notes and upper notes at the same time. This is more challenging, so go slow, be patient, and remember to get a good scissor motion between your thumb and fingers when they play simultaneously. These patterns are a great way to incorporate some melody into your patterns. Ex. 3a is the pattern for the legendary “Dust in the Wind.”

That is merely the tip of the iceberg, my friend. The possibilities are truly endless, and I encourage you to experiment with your own patterns. Just remember that repetition with a solid time feel is the key! As mentioned last time, leave the metronome out while you’re getting comfortable with the patterns, but bring it in as soon as you can. Good rhythm should be your #1 priority as a guitar player—even more so than good technique (gasp!). Don’t worry, I’ll keep harping on this point.

What to Practice:
1) All of these patterns, eventually with the metronome.
2) Make up your own patterns as well.
3) If you’re a more experienced player, bring in the left hand and try these patterns with some chords.
4) For true extra credit, check out transcriptions of some of the afore-mentioned tunes and others with repetitive, arpeggiated right hand patterns. Some good candidates:

“Landslide” (Fleetwood Mac)
“Dust in the Wind” (Kansas)
“The Boxer,” “Sounds of Silence,” and others (Simon and Garfunkel)
“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” (Led Zeppelin)

On the classical side, check out:
Estudio #6 (Leo Brouwer)
Etude #5 in B minor (Fernando Sor)
Etude #1 (Heitor Villa-Lobos)

We will most likely come back to these at a later time!

Next Time: Right Hand Patterns Applied to Real Music

See you then,
Mike

www.hotmike.com
Contact Mike: [email protected] 

Fingerstylin': The Finer Points of Right Hand Technique

By Mike Roberts
Last time we established good posture and placement for the right hand. I used the word “troublesome” to describe right hand technique, and I meant it. It’s hard, and there are many elements to learn and remember. Hence, we take it slow.

In this column we’ll discuss some of the finer points of right hand technique, but make sure you feel comfortable with your right hand posture (and overall posture) first. Why? Every time you do something new, there’s less room in your brain to think about the old stuff. When you practice the old stuff until it becomes automatic, a part of your muscle memory, you don’t need to worry about it so much. You can focus on the new stuff, and forge ahead into the fingerstyle universe with confidence. Sure, the techniques you know will step out of line from time to time, but you’ll be that much better prepared to whip them back into shape.

Think of your guitar playing as a house: the stronger the foundation, the stronger the structure. Build it the right way now, and soon you’ll be spending your time enjoying it and entertaining your friends with it. Take pride in your craftsmanship: practice well!

I left you last time with an E minor pattern (and opening to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”), but I left a fundamental question unanswered: how do you play a note? What goes into a fingerstroke? There’s more to it than whacking the string with your fingertip or nail, my friend.

Motion of the finger
Remember, the top knuckle joint of each finger hovers over the string that finger is playing. We also want to pivot from that top knuckle joint. The other joints will flex as well, but the more of the whole finger we can get into the stroke, the more power and volume we have available.

The top of the hand should be completely still. The common blunder here is to pop the hand up with every note, which gives you poor tone and slow recovery for the next note. It should be like sitting on a dock, swinging your legs over the water. Your hand is the dock, providing solid, unwavering support. Watch the greats play, and you’ll notice right away how their hands hardly seem to move. With economy of motion come greater agility, better tone, and more power.

The three elements of a fingerstroke
As Scott Tennant says in his great classical guitar technique book, Pumping Nylon (highly recommended), there are three main elements to a fingerstroke: planting, pressure, and release. Planting establishes your control over the string. Exerting pressure determines the amount of power you give to the stroke. Releasing the string sets it in motion. Being mindful of these three steps will give you optimal tone, volume, and control over each note.

Let’s practice coordinating these three steps with each individual finger. Remember to keep each top knuckle joint over the string that finger is playing. Also, you might want to rest your thumb on the Low E string for added stability when you’re plucking with the fingers. This can help to maintain a good hand position. I do this any time the thumb isn’t active, but it’s up to you. Whatever you do, don’t anchor any fingers other than the thumb.

Go slow. Really listen to each note, and really fee all three components of each stroke in your fingers. Stay relaxed. As you get comfortable with the three steps, feel them merge into one, strong motion. All three steps should always be present, but they should flow into one another with total freedom. A well-oiled machine.

Play around with different strings. Bring the three steps into your rendering of “Nothing Else Matters.” Getting the hang of it?

Let’s try alternating two fingers now. Same principles, just move smoothly from one finger to the next, like a seesaw. When one finger plays a note, the other rests and moves into position for the next note. Finger alternation is a central fingerstyle technique, so be sure to get nice and comfortable with it.

Free Stroke and Rest Stroke
These are the two basic types of stroke. The most typical stroke, and what you’ve probably been doing so far, is free stroke. As the name suggests, your finger moves freely through the string, and glides over the strings below it (remember, this means pitch-wise, toward the fatter strings). It’s essential that you keep those top knuckle joints positioned over the strings they’re playing; otherwise you’ll have trouble gliding over the lower strings. Also, aim for the heel of your hand as you follow through, and move from that top knuckle joint as much as you can. If you have good hand posture, there should be plenty of room underneath your hand for the follow-through.

With a rest stroke, your finger plucks a string, then comes to rest on the next lowest string—like being caught by a safety net. For this stroke, you’ll need to lean your hand back a bit, so that your top knuckle joints are one or two strings lower than the strings those fingers are playing. This creates an angle of motion which will drive your finger into the next lowest string, rather than gliding over it as in a free stroke. The three afore-mentioned elements of a fingerstroke still apply.

So what’s the difference between free and rest stroke? With a rest stroke, the angle of motion allows you to get more leverage, and therefore more volume. The disadvantage is that having to hop off your “safety net” tends to increase the recovery time, so in general you can’t play as fast as with a free stroke. In summary:

Free stroke: more speed, less volume
Rest stroke: more volume, less speed

Really great players can blur these distinctions, but for most of us, these conventions hold true.

Now try exercises 1 and 2 with rest strokes.

About the metronome
Do you have one of these? If not, you need one. A metronome is a little device which keeps a steady beat for you. It’s a practicing guitar player’s single most important piece of gear other than the guitar. Practicing with a metronome will help you acquire a good sense of time, polish your technique, and keep track of your speed. I urge you to practice with it always. It’s easy: just turn it on, adjust it to the tempo (i.e., the speed) you want, and play along with it. You can get them in any music store, and they’re pretty cheap; you don’t need one of the fancy $100 models. I do recommend getting one with a volume control, though (and most of them have one).

Whenever I want you to practice with a metronome, I’ll put a tempo marking for you to use as a starting place. You don’t have to use the metronome right away. First get comfortable with the exercise, then fire up the metronome and concentrate on matching the beat. For now, don’t worry about getting faster; just make sure the tempo is comfortable for you and work on your technique. Later, we’ll talk about getting some speed going.

What to Practice for next time:
1) Remember your good right hand and body posture.
2) Practice the three parts of a fingerstroke one finger at a time, with both free stroke and rest stroke.
3) Expand to two-finger alternation on a single string.
4) Incorporate the three elements into the E minor/Metallica pattern.
5) Buy a metronome and use it! 

Next Time: The Mighty Arpeggio: More Right Hand Patterns

See you then,
Mike

www.hotmike.com
Contact Mike: [email protected]

Fingerstylin': Your Most Important and Troublesome Tool: The Right Hand

By Mike Roberts
Last time we discussed posture: the art of mindful sitting, how to acquire it and how to practice it. Good posture promotes relaxation and repels tension, and today we’re going to apply those same principles to the fingerstylist’s most important and yet most troublesome tool: the right hand. (Lefties: remember this means your left hand.)

There are a huge number of elements that go into good right hand technique, and we need to get comfortable with them before we can even think about using the left hand. So let that left arm hang out, juggle, paint a portrait, whatever it does best, and get that right hand ready to roll. We’ll start with macro elements (placement and posture of hand, wrist, and fingers) and proceed to the micro elements (anatomy of a single-finger stroke).

Placement and Posture of the Right Hand

Are you sitting in your new posture, nice and relaxed? Excellent. Whether you choose to use classical or folk posture, the right hand technique will be basically the same. In fact, when it comes to the hands, classical technique is essentially the same as fingerstyle technique, and in this column I will approach them basically the same way, while pointing out some of the minor differences that occur in practice. In the real world, you’ll find a lot of variations amongst different players, especially fingerstylists, but I find there are no fundamental differences between the techniques of the two styles when they’re done right.

Views of good right hand placement and posture, viewed from the side and from the top. Refer to these as you read the following descriptions and fine-tune your own placement.

 

Arm Placement
Make sure your arm is resting on the edge of the guitar in such a way that your hand can hover right over the strings. The bottom of the soundhole (toward the bridge) is a good place to hover, but you can try moving a couple inches one way or the other to see what feels and sounds best to you. (Plucking closer to the bridge will give you a brighter, more trebly sound; closer to the neck will give you a mellower, more bass-heavy sound.) As mentioned last time, you’ll probably end up resting your arm just below the elbow (toward the wrist), or maybe even in the crook of the elbow, depending on the size of your guitar and your arm. (The bigger your guitar and the shorter your arm, the farther toward your elbow the ideal resting point will be.)

Wrist Position
Keep your wrist as straight as possible, and, of course, relaxed. The top of your hand should be in line and parallel with your forearm as you view it from the side—and, ideally, as you view it from the top. If you’re using folk posture, you’ll probably have to bend the wrist slightly to the side to give your hand good placement on the strings, but the side-view angle should still be completely flat. A picture is worth a thousand words here, so check the photos for reference.

Hand Placement
You’ll find that keeping your wrist straight in this way means your hand needs to hover a good 3-4 inches off the strings. This allows your fingers to extend naturally down to the strings, and creates a space under your hand that your fingers can move around in. The classic blunder here is to squash the heel of the hand down against the strings, which severely limits the motion of your fingers, and gives you bad tone to boot.

Now let’s check out the top view. Your hand should create an angle with the strings which is slightly less than perpendicular, to accommodate that straight wrist. Again, you’ll probably have to bend your wrist a little to the side in order to achieve this angle. A good rule of thumb: your knuckles should point approximately at your right leg if you’re in folk posture, at your left leg in classical posture.

Fingers
First of all, those right hand fingers need names! The classical guitar world uses the Spanish names of the fingers, and this practice has crossed over to the fingerstyle world as well. In notation, the names of the fingers are abbreviated to their first letter. They are:

p for pulgar: thumb
i for índice: index
m for medio: middle
a for añular: ring
c for chiquito: pinky (this finger is generally only used in flamenco techniques...fun name, though, huh?)

While we’re at it, let’s name the strings. They are sometimes referred to by the note the open string produces, and sometimes by number. I tend to use the note names.

High E (the skinniest string), or 1st
B, or 2nd
G, or 3rd
D, or 4th
A, or 5th
Low E, or 6th

Wondering why the string closest to the ground is called “High E?” That because “high” refers to the pitch of the string, not its physical placement. High E has the highest pitch of all the strings, Low E the lowest. Simple!

Back to placement. As mentioned, your fingers should extend loosely (i.e., relaxed) down so that your fingertips (or nails, if you have them—we’ll discuss this in more detail in a later column) can rest lightly on the strings. For now, rest your i finger (index) on the G string, m finger (middle) on the B string, a finger (ring) on the High E string. The top knuckle joint of each finger should hover over the string it’s playing. E.g., the top joint of the i finger hovers over the G string. This will give you an ideal finger angle when you pluck.

Rest your thumb (p) on the Low E string. Place the thumb in such a way that it’s closer to the neck than your fingers are. In other words, your thumb is “outside” your fingers.

Now: pluck! All four fingers at once! If your placement is correct, your index finger and thumb should glide past each other like scissors; they can touch, but they shouldn’t get in each other’s way. If they bump into each other, you need to either point your knuckles more toward the ground or extend your thumb more toward the neck, or both.

To practice what you’ve learned about right hand placement, I leave you with a simple open string pattern on an E minor chord:

 

Recognize it? That’s right: it’s Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.”  Who would have thought our first fingerstyle/classical musical excerpt would be a heavy metal tune? It just goes to show you: the fingerstyle universe is immense, and ever expanding.

Note on notation:

All of the exercises and excerpts we look at will be written in both standard notation (five-line staff, noteheads, stems and flags, etc.), and tablature. In tablature, also known as TAB, each line represents a string of the guitar, with the high E on top and low E on bottom. The numbers represent the frets of the guitar; 0 means you play an open string. For more information on notation, especially standard notation, I refer you to one of the many method books available for this purpose; I usually use the Hal Leonard Guitar Method for beginners. These books are cheap (7 or 8 bucks each), and learning the basics of music reading doesn’t take long as is well worth your time. Many guitarists get by with tablature alone, but for those times when TAB is nowhere to be seen, I highly recommended taking some time to learn the basic principles of standard notation.

What to Practice this week:
1) Study the photos and descriptions of right hand posture, and find a comfortable posture yourself. Make sure to give it the four-finger pluck test, and adjust as necessary.
2) Add this to your overall posture, and do more air guitar in front of the mirror, paying special attention to your right hand.
3) Practice the E minor/Metallica pattern, and make sure that good right hand posture stays true. If you’re like the vast majority of fingerstyle neophytes, you will have to make countless adjustments at first to maintain good placement. Be mindful, and do James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett proud.
4) If you don’t already know the basic principles of standard notation and/or tablature, pick up the Hal Leonard Guitar Method or a similar text and school yourself.

Next Week: The Finer Points of Plucking

See you then,
Mike

www.hotmike.com
Contact Mike: [email protected]

Feet on the Floor: Fingerstyle and Classical Guitar Posture

By Mike Roberts
Last time we took a peek at the instruments, the players, and the wide array of musical styles that find voice through fingerstyle and classical guitar. Suffice it to say, we guitarists are living in a golden age of our instrument. I’m continually awestruck at the sheer volume, diversity, and beauty of guitar music in the 21st century, and I hope this last column inspired you to discover some of its treasures for yourself. 

And now I hope your guitar is ready to roll, because it’s time to shut the door, take the phone off the hook, and do what we came hear to do: play, baby, play!

Well, maybe not play, exactly. Not quite yet. So why the heck not? The reason can be summed up in that old joke (and I use that term loosely): Q: What’s the first thing you do in the morning? (At this point you think, “Eat breakfast, read the paper, etc.”) A: Put your feet on the floor.

That’s right. Translated into guitar terms, we can’t play a note until we know how to sit and hold the guitar. In a word: posture. To distill the message of this week’s column: Good guitar technique starts with the body. What do you do with your legs, arms, shoulders, and head while your hands are working their magic? It’s tempting to ignore this question, and many players do—and often end up with sore backs, tense shoulders, neck cricks, and inflamed joints. Being mindful of your body from day one will make you a healthier, more agile player down the road. Believe it or not, this is something you can practice, and we’ll discuss how after we examine different styles of posture. 

There are two basic types of seated posture for guitar playing. We’ll call them Classical Posture and Folk Posture. Both, by the way, will work best when seated toward the front of an armless chair. Keep your back straight and your shoulders level at all times.

Classical Posture

In traditional classical posture, you rest your left foot on a footstool to raise your left leg. There are adjustable footstools made specifically for guitarists, and can be purchased at most music stores. Trust me, they are far superior to a guitar case, a cardboard box, a stack of phonebooks, or any other alternatives you may be tempted to use. Experiment with the height of the stool; 6” or a bit more is the norm.

The guitar rests against your body at three main points:

1) The lower curve of the guitar rests on the left leg.
2) The bottom of the guitar rests against the inside of the right leg.
3) The upper bout of the guitar rests against your chest, forming a cavity of air between the instrument and your body that allows the guitar to resonate.

Resting your right arm on the top edge of the guitar while you play creates a fourth point of contact. I find that resting on a spot just below the elbow (toward the wrist) puts the hand in an optimal position over the strings.

Classical posture is used by an overwhelming majority of classical guitarists, and by many steel-string fingerstylists as well. And with good reason: it puts the guitar at an ideal angle for both hands to reach the strings without having to twist or bend uncomfortably, and tilts the soundhole slightly up for good sound projection.

The downside to classical posture is that it can produce strain in your back, due mainly to the uneven position of your legs. To address this problem, you can invest in a device such as the Ergoplay, a small stand which attaches to your guitar with suction cups and rests on your left leg, raising the guitar and allowing you to keep your left foot at ground level. They cost about $35, and are worth every penny if, like me, you like classical posture but suffer from back soreness after extended playing sessions.

Folk Posture

In folk posture—used by most non-classical players, pickstyle and fingerstyle alike—the guitar rests in two places:

1) The lower curve rests against the right leg.
2) The upper bout of the guitar rests against your chest.

Because there are only two resting point of contact in this posture, the contact of your right arm resting on the top edge of the guitar takes on additional importance, as the weight helps secure the instrument. Without it, the guitar—whose center of gravity leans toward the headstock—will tend to wobble, especially once your left hand joins the fray. As in classical posture, I find that resting the arm just below the elbow works well, although with a larger instrument, you might find yourself resting in the crook of the elbow itself. The important thing is to allow your hand a comfortable position over the strings without having to bend your wrist too much.

Footstools are not just for classical posture: I highly recommend using them with folk posture as well. Resting your right foot on the stool gives you a whole bevy of advantages:

° You can hold the guitar more securely against your chest;
• The face of the guitar will tilt up, giving you a better view of your left hand (no more craning your neck to watch your fingers), and also producing a better projection angle for the soundhole;
• You have more freedom to tilt the neck up slightly, putting your hands at that good angle to the strings we saw in classical posture;
• You take stress off of your right leg. Without a footstool, almost everyone lifts their right heel in a subconscious attempt to achieve the same end. It’s a breeding ground for charley horses, and entirely avoidable.

Which brings us to our most important point, the element of all this posture business that you can—and should—practice diligently:

RELAXATION.

It’s not just for spas and yoga studios. It’s a crucial skill to acquire as a guitar player. That’s right: a skill. You need to practice it, and work it into your muscle memory just a surely as any scale, chord, or piece of music. Playing the guitar is hard, and when we do something hard—especially something physically demanding—we tense. A certain amount of tension is inevitable. Our goal is to minimize it, and to train the body to return to a state of relaxation after tension occurs.

Relaxation begins with good posture. Your first assignment is to sit in your new posture (whether you choose to play classical- or folk-style—it’s up to you) and make sure it feels comfortable. Sit for a few minutes, and don’t play a note (put on some of your new music while you’re waiting). Pay close attention to your entire body. Does your back feel sore? Is your wrist a little strained? Is your foot falling asleep? Make adjustments accordingly, until your resting posture is something you can comfortably inhabit for a good, long while. Play special attention to your right shoulder, which is particularly tension-prone. Keep it relaxed and level with your left shoulder.

Now it’s time to play some air guitar . Put on guitar music you like and know well. As it’s playing, do your very best air guitar, but sitting in a chair with your instrument in your hands. Don’t worry if you don’t actually know how to play yet—that’s never stopped a rock star. The important thing is, as you “play,” really pay attention to your body, and consciously keep it relaxed. Relax your shoulders—especially the right one. Relax your wrists. Let your arms hang. Relax your face. Keep that good posture intact. Nice, straight back, feet firmly on the ground and/or on the footstool. Let gravity do its job. Every time you feel tension creeping in, send it right back out.

Repeat the process in front of a mirror, if you have one suitable to the task. You can learn a lot from watching yourself. Any awkwardness in your posture that may not be apparent from the lofty perch of your eye sockets will likely reveal itself in the mirror, and you can adjust accordingly.

If you already play guitar, apply this process to an actual piece of music, preferably something you know well, so that you can divert some of your focus from the music to your body. However, I highly recommend that you do the air guitar first, even if you feel like a dork. I can’t emphasize this enough: you have to practice relaxation. It’s a technique. And like any other technique, it’s best to practice it in isolation first, then gradually work it into your regular playing.

What we’re doing here—all this air guitar and yoga in a chair—is building solid technique and healthy habits from the ground up. As I alluded to at the end of my last column, good technique will set you free. It will allow you to play a wider range of music, and play it better. It’s important not to let the pursuit of technique overwhelm your enjoyment of music, but it’s also important to form good habits from the start, and to make their cultivation a continuous element of your practice. Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn’t have to be drudgery. Done the right way, it can really be fun! (In the case of this particular column, it all depends which music you choose for your air guitar session.) That’s what we’re here for, after all, and it’s my highest goal with this column to help you learn and have fun at the same time. To that end, I also invite your suggestions for creative and interesting ways to practice and apply the techniques we discuss.

In summary, here’s What to Practice:

1) Choose a posture and make it comfortable.
2) Practice full-body relaxation in that posture—while playing wicked air guitar solos, and actual music if you know it already.

Have fun!

Next Time: Right Hand Placement and Posture 

See you then,

Mike

http://www.hotmike.com
Contact Mike: [email protected]

An Introduction to the Wide World of Fingerstyle and Classical Guitar

By Mike Roberts
Before we begin playing some music, let’s look at the broader world of fingerstyle/classical guitar music, players, and instruments. A few basic questions to answer:

• What is fingerstyle guitar?
• What is classical guitar?
• How do fingerstyle and classical guitar differ?
• What instruments are typically used, and what are some of their characteristics?
• Who are some of the great players and composers in these styles?

Fingerstyle Guitar

On the most general level, fingerstyle guitar simply means that you pluck the strings of the instrument with the fingers of your right hand, on any type of guitar, acoustic or electric. The common alternative is to play pickstyle, which means you pluck with a little plastic thingy called a pick, or plectrum. Many players use a pick as well as the middle and sometimes the ring finger. This is called hybrid technique.

More specifically, however, fingerstyle guitar usually refers to music played on an acoustic guitar, which will be our focus in this column. More specifically still, it refers to music played on a steel-string acoustic guitar, sometimes called folk guitar. This is the instrument that has given voice (or at least accompaniment to the voice) to American popular and folk music for many decades.

Some design elements which are common to the vast majority of steel-string guitars include:

• Steel strings (duh), which can actually be made of bronze, nickel, or other metals
• A solid headstock (some guitars have slotted headstocks, as on a classical guitar)
• Fret markers on the fingerboard, most often mother-of-pearl dots
• A bridge which holds the ends of the strings with bridge pins (the strings also have little metals balls on the ends to hold them in place)
• A soundhole with a simple rosette (the decoration around the edge of the soundhole)
• And often, a pickguard (not that we’ll be needing that, of course).

Diagram

There are many variations of this basic steel-string acoustic design, but a few are far and away the most popular. At the top of the list is the dreadnought, a big-bodied, powerful instrument and by far the most common design these days. The only larger body design is the jumbo, played by the likes of Pete Townshend and Emmy Lou Harris. Smaller designs include the orchestra model, often seen in the hands of Eric Clapton, and the parlor guitar, a throwback to the much smaller bodies of early (19th and early 20th century) steel-string acoustics. These smaller designs are often popular with fingerstylists because they’re comfortable to play and responsive to the more subtle dynamic shadings of fingerstyle technique. However, their volume and projection usually can’t compete with that of dreadnoughts and jumbos.

See the Appendix to this column for examples of some great fingerstyle players in different genres. A trip to iTunes or your local record store will be richly rewarded with some serious inspiration.

Classical Guitar

“Classical guitar” can refer either to a style of music or a type of instrument.

The instrument
The modern classical guitar has changed little since Spanish luthier Antonio de Torres produced his definitive design in the mid-19th century. In comparison with a steel-string guitar, a classical guitar has:

• Nylon strings (which generally have a silkier feel, more mellow tone, and less tension than steel strings), tied onto the bridge instead of being held in place by ball ends and bridge pins
• A smaller body, a flatter, wider neck; a slotted headstock
• No fretboard position markers (some instruments have one or two on the side of the fretboard)
• A soundhole with an often fairly elaborate and beautiful rosette.

Diagram

It’s important to note that not all nylon-string guitars are classical guitars. Many nylon-string guitars these days are designed to feel and look more like steel-string acoustics, or even electric guitars. A true classical instrument will have all the above design characteristics, and will feel quite a bit different in your hands than a steel-string.

The music

Technically speaking, “Classical guitar music” is music written for the guitar in the Classical era (approx. mid-18th through early 19th centuries), the time of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. (See Appendix for some Classical guitar composers) The most popular classical guitar music, however, isn’t really Classical at all.

The definition of “classical guitar” music has broadened to include basically any music that’s played on a classical guitar, and it’s here we find the music that for well over a hundred years has been making people weep, cheer, and run to the music store to buy their own instrument. The music now most associated with the classical guitar is the Spanish Romantic repertoire, inspired by traditional flamenco (Spanish folk music) and made famous by the great Andres Segovia (1893-1987, Spanish), the man many give virtually sole credit for establishing the classical guitar as a legitimate concert instrument in the 20th century.

If you’re unfamiliar with classical guitar repertoire, see the list of repertoire and composers at the end of this column for some highly recommended listening.

A note on flamenco

As noted above, flamenco is the Spanish folk music which has inspired a great deal of music on the classical guitar. Flamenco guitar is like nothing else in the world—passionate, virtuosic, rhythmically dazzling. However, despite the fact that flamenco instruments and technique bear a distinct resemblance to their classical counterparts, there are some key differences which place it outside the scope of this column. If you’re interested in learning flamenco guitar, this column will set you on the right path with some technique fundamentals, but at a certain point you’ll want to find a teacher to teach you some of the more specialized techniques. (Good luck—they’re tough!)

That’s it for our thumbnail sketch of the broader world of fingerstyle and classical guitar. For further reading on the history of classical guitar, I highly recommend The Classical Guitar Book: A Complete History, published by Backbeat Books. It’s comprehensive but not too long, and has lots of great color pictures of some of the great classical instruments.

From here on out, we’ll spend our time doing what we came here to do: play!

Next time: Posture, and How Good Technique Will Set You Free

See you then,

Mike
www.hotmike.com

Fingerstylin' is published on a bi-weekly basis.

Appendix: Fingerstyle Players, Classical Repertoire and Composers

Fingerstyle and Classical Guitar for Beginners and Dyed-in-the-Wool Flatpickers

By Mike Roberts
Greetings, and welcome to the world of acoustic fingerstyle and classical guitar. A long, rich history lies behind that beautiful chunk of wood in your hands. For several centuries (so far) finger-plucked acoustic guitars have played a central role in musical cultures all over the globe, from Spanish Romanticism to Hawaiian Slack-key, from West African groove to American folk. With time, patience, and plenty of well-directed, mindful practice, these challenging styles and great musical traditions are well within your reach.

WHAT this column will be teaching you:
* The techniques, repertoire, and culture of fingerstyle and classical guitar music

WHO this column is for:
* Total beginners
* Pickstyle players who want to learn fingerstyle guitar
* Experienced fingerstylists looking to improve their technique, hone their craft, and learn some new music

HOW this column will proceed from lesson to lesson to help you become a wicked fingerstyle/classical player:
* We’ll start with technique fundamentals, focusing especially on the right hand*…
* Move on to larger musical building blocks like picking patterns, scales, bass lines, and other good stuff…
* Then start working in some real pieces of music where you’ll apply all your good technique…
* Along the way we’ll talk about some of the history and great players of fingerstyle and classical guitar…
* And also keep looking at new techniques and ways to build on everything you’ve learned so far.

*For lefty players, this means the left hand. For practical purposes I will follow the timeless guitar community practice of completely ignoring left-handers. So, for all you southpaws: fingerstyle/classical technique is exactly the same for you as for right-handers, but remember that right always means left and left always means right. It’s a crazy world.

As a fingerstyle and classical player who also plays pickstyle in a number of musical genres, my goal is to give you not only a thorough introduction to the techniques, culture, and repertoire of fingerstyle and classical guitar, but also to provide some perspective on their place in the larger world of the guitar—a world in which stylistic and technical boundaries are being rapidly obliterated.

When I ask my new students about the music they like, there’s one response I hear more than any other: “Everything.” Fortunately for them—and for you—a solid foundation in fingerstyle technique will open the door to a multitude of music, from the Renaissance music of Luis Milán in 16th century Spain to the modern folk of Iron and Wine in 21st century America—and everything in between. You can focus on one corner of the fingerstyle universe or range freely over the landscape; anything goes. Regardless of your tastes, and whether you are a total beginner or an aspiring fingerstyle/pickstyle switch-hitter, this column aims to build you into a solid player from the ground up.

Next time: An Introduction to the Wide World of Fingerstyle and Classical Guitar

See you then,
Mike

www.hotmike.com

Fingerstylin' will be published on a bi-weekly basis.