Article Written By “Friend of Mike Walsh”
Proper Fretting Hand Technique
By Vishaal Kapoor
Description: There are many aspects of proper fretting hand technique that we need to be aware of when playing. Without knowing what these elements are, you could be holding back the rate of your progress. Here you will learn what those elements are and exactly how to fix poor fretting hand technique.
Tags: best guitar lessons in KL, guitar teacher in KL, guitar technique, guitar progress, lead guitar technique
Note: Please link all images to https://guitarkl.com/
Proper Fretting Hand Technique
Your fretting hand’s role is more than just to hold down a note on the fretboard. There are micro-details of fretting hand technique you could be unaware of that may be holding you back. Focusing on these finer details will reduce the tension in your fretting hand and make everything feel more effortless. Here we will break down some of these micro-techniques in detail and explain how exactly you can work on them.
Fretting Position
It is important to be aware of exactly where you’re fretting on the fretboard. The right way is to fret as close as you can to the fretwire without actually touching the fretwire. There are a few reasons as to why this is the most ideal fretting position. First, fretting this way requires the least amount of pressure on your fingers in order for a note to ring out. Fretting lightly will produce a nice sounding note. It also produces the correct pitch for each note. This point is more obvious on the lower frets. Simply try to fret as far as you can from the lower frets (or as close to the previous fret as you can) and you will notice that the note produced goes slightly lower in pitch.
Consistent Part of Your Fingertips
When playing lead or chords, you want to make sure that the fingering you are using is consistent throughout whatever you are playing. You should not only make sure that you use your fingertips and not your fingerprint, but also make sure you’re using the same part of each fingertip as much as possible. This does not apply to barred notes where you are fretting multiple notes on the same fret. Keep this in mind initially when playing anything on the instrument until it gets
Minimal Pressure
This point ties together with the first point in this article. Not only should you fret as close to the fretwire as possible but you should also use the minimum amount of pressure needed to produce a note. To identify exactly how much pressure is needed, simply just touch a note in the right position and gradually increase the pressure until a note starts to ring out. The pressure you use the moment a note is ringing out is the optimum amount that you need.
Now, there is no way to ensure that you use exactly the same pressure each time on every note. Just use this as a guide to how much pressure you actually need for a note to ring out and try to stay close to that range. In most cases after doing this exercise, you will notice that you have been applying extra unnecessary pressure.
Relaxing Off The Fretboard
In addition to all the elements mentioned, you also need to ensure that right after fretting a note, your fingers need to relax off the fretboard instead of flying off. The reason for flying fingers is excess tension bulls-up in your fingers. When working on relaxing your fingers off the fretboard, make sure you're not mistakenly using tension to keep your fingers close to the fretboard. This is counterproductive since tension is still being used. When relaxing off, your fingers should be nice and loose or flexible, not stiff.
Proper Thumb Position
Your thumb plays a crucial role in proper fretting hand technique. The position of your thumb changes depending on what you’re doing on the guitar. For lead and scale runs, generally your thumb should be aligned with your middle finger and placed behind the neck, pointing towards the ceiling. It should follow your hand and move slightly up and down the back of the neck as you move across higher and lower strings. For chords, your thumb should rest behind the neck or be used to mute the low 6th string if necessary. When you are performing bends, your thumb should come over and grab the top of the neck.
In order for your thumb to smoothly transition between all these positions, it should be nice and relaxed when resting behind the neck. Tension in your thumb will restrict what your other fingers are doing and may lead to injury in the long-run. Your thumb should also never point to the headstock and always point towards the ceiling regardless of what it is you’re doing.
Focus on each of these areas of fretting hand technique until they get built into your permanent muscle memory.
Learning to play guitar on your own can be frustrating and challenging,
especially if you don’t know what to do. Having a great teacher makes
the whole process more fun, enjoyable and gets you real results fast.
Solve your guitar-related problems at GuitarKL, in Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. Visit https://guitarkl.com to become an awesome guitar player.