Might work for some stuff, doesn’t work on guitar for me. Can’t bend with flat fingers, mutes notes I don’t necessarily want to mute especially when cross picking. Rejected it immediately as not a useful technique.
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Also legato feels pretty much impossible. In fact, I can’t see any benefit to flat fingers at all…
That’s my take on it. Great for some stuff, not for others. Definitely any complex chords, we need curvature to not mute the other strings in the chord. I do think for single note playing flatter fingers are useful. Eric Johnson uses very flat fingers for his solos, yet his bends/vibrato are among the best in the business. I’d have to check his playing and see how he negotiates the change required when bends come up.
Pulloffs…yeah. That’s gonna be hard. The “all hammers” legato technique that Marshall Harrison, Rick Graham et al use…probably possible and we’d get the needed dampening help that comes from flat fingers that’s so important. In this videos, I’d say Marshall’s fingers look pretty flat:
But, I guess that’s where the technical mumbo jumbo comes in, because I’d call this flat relative to the curved fingers classical guitarists have to use in the bulk of their playing. Maybe to someone else, Marshall’s fingers don’t look flat at all.
Same thing here, Rick’s fingers look flat-ish to me,
but that’s just “relatively” speaking. I don’t know I’ve ever seen anyone play with their fingers completely “straight” so, I don’t know how flat we’re talking here. The above 2 monsters don’t use what I’d call “curved” fingers though.
At any rate, there’s probably going to be very few times anything is useful in all situations.
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Yeah see to me, they look… normal… whatever that means haha. Flat-ish index for muting, but the slight curve in the others. This really all depends on what the op means by flat. I’m taking it literally, and I don’t think that would be a good idea.
Agreed. Flat like a pianist might use at times seems….odd.
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A pianist might want to use flat fingers to make the keys go down slower, thereby achieving a softer more mellow sound.
But Horowitz did it all the time. It simply was the way his technique was.
For piano - fine. For guitar? Without some visuals or examples it seems….really odd.
This is obviously my personal opinion and not mags tho I have thought about the “flat” finger idea for awhile. I do think it helps, but perhaps it’s not what mag is on about?
On piano though, you need to curve the fingers so that you can cross your thumb under. Scales and arpeggios and most classical pieces would be impossible.
Yes there are a few exceptions where people have chosen to play that way. It’s very far from ideal though!
Whether my fingers are curved or flat has no relation to how far they are from the strings or how far they have to travel to fret a note.
Whether my fingers are curved or flat depends on what and where I’m playing.
Do I need to let every string ring out? My fingers will be curved.
Do I need to mute surrounding strings? My fingers will be flat.
Am I playing notes on the 5th and 6th strings? My fingers will be flat.
Am I playing notes on the 1st and 2nd strings? My fingers will be more curved.
Am I stretching across several frets? My first finger will be super curved while my 3rd or 4th finger will be nearly flat.
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Does ‘flat fingers’ mean fretting with the fingerprint part instead of the tip? Or does it mean using a power grip instead of a pincer grip? Something else? It’s a pretty vague description.
Moderator’s hat on:
@357mag, I think some of your responses here can come off as dismissive or passive-aggressive. Maybe you didn’t mean that, so it’s something to keep in mind for the future.
As far as I can see, people are genuinely trying to engage with the topic you created, but are a bit confused as to what you mean.
After years of forum experience, I can say that trying to describe these things in words can lead to confusion. Even just a picture or a diagram can be tremendously helpful.
Same reason why we hesitate to give advice on technique based solely on words, and we insist that people post videos of their “technical difficulties”.
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Just because a technique works for you, doesn’t mean it works for everyone. That is the entire point of this forum, and Troy’s work.
For me flat fingers, due to my hand shape, which is not square would force me to move my pinky much much farther than with a slightly curved shape. It simply doesn’t work for me unless I want to give up using my pinky, which I don’t because my hands are also small and I can’t even reach 5 frets with my first 3 fingers comfortably.
I also find using the muscles at my first joint don’t offer me enough strength and velocity to hammer on and have clean notes. I’m sure if I develop the technique a bit I can find a use for it, but generally I don’t think it’s going to work inside my bag of tricks. I’ve learned to throw away what doesn’t work very quickly and it’s helped me become a much better player quicker.
Everyone is different, and that’s a good thing. I’m sure some people will find it very useful and integrate it into their style.
I wanted to post a playing tip for everyone. If it works for you, that’s a good thing. If it doesn’t then explore something else.
Let me define “straight fingers” as “my finger joints aren’t bent [except for the knuckle].”
So given that my knuckles are very close to the thin E string, how can I actually play with straight fingers? If I use the tips of my fingers to press a string, am I not forced to bend many joints? Any photos would be great, as perhaps this technique is good for me, but I’m having trouble trying to figure out what it would look like.
Moderator’s hat part 2:
I took the liberty of editing or deleting several posts above, essentially removing the “mild conflict between people” part so we can keep this topic on track.
On that note, if anyone feels like another user is treating them unfairly / rudely, can I ask you all the favour of using the flag button and letting the moderators know what happened. We’ll then evaluate the situation and act accordingly asap. Tempting as it is, please do not take the matter in your own hands, otherwise this forum will quickly become like… the rest of the internet 
Thanks for the understanding!
Back on topic: as said before, I think this topic will greatly benefit from some visual examples — even just existing youtube videos of famous players demonstrating different degrees of flat VS crurved fretting fingers, for example. This is so we can all agree on what we’re actually talking about 
End of speech
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Unfortunately, not answering any questions about your original post means exploring your idea is basically impossible.
We’re trying to understand.
That’s what I was wondering, and I think why I considered the clips of Marshall Harrison and Rick Graham to be more “flatter-than-curved”. I think for me, I can only do curved, or “flatter-than-curved”. If I’m pressing with the finger tips (needed for chord work or else we dampen the strings) that’s my “curved”. If I’m playing lead, I’m on the finger print part and then I’m in that “flatter-than-curved” posture. The exception would be string bending where I curve again.
I think I would be in this ballpark also. I wouldn’t be fully flat unless I’m barring something.
My index can be quite flat for muting purposes though.
Here are two photos. I held the guitar in my left hand and tried to fret as if I was going to play a three note phrase. I have just played the first note with my index finger. You will notice that my second finger which is the next finger required is hovering in the air. The Macro lens I used may not show it hovering very high but it is a little higher than what might appear here. That second finger hovering in the air is not good. Now it has to come all the way down, and if I want to play that phrase fast, I will hear bumpy playing.
Now the second photo shows a flatter finger. It does not have to be totally and completely flat of course. I’ve just flattened it somewhat and the finger is closer to the string. Again the lens I hope shows this.
That is what I meant by my initial post. Try flattening a finger if you see a finger hovering way too high in the air.
Hope this helps a little. If it works for you great. If it doesn’t then explore other avenues.
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