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.
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”.
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
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.
If I’m interpreting these pictures correctly, the first picture is what Tom Gilroy calls a pincer grip and the second is what he calls a power grip. There’s a thread about it around here somewhere.
I agree. The power grip makes everything easier as long as the geometry fits. For example, I can’t play barre chords with it. IIRC the muscles used for a power grip are much stronger than the ones used for a pincer.
something like this?
Hey my man, just curious as to where your thumb is in all of this? For me, when I fret - the thumb is always kind of following the first finger (from behind the neck). The inner part of my hand never touches the neck, contact is pretty much only the thumb and the fingers. Chords or single note playing, you could fit another small guitar neck into the space there! lol Thumb acts as a reference point I think for me. When I do any lick using fingers 134, my second finger (traffic finger) kind of shoots up. This doesn’t affect my notes too much, but if I avoid 1-3-4 and replace it with 1-2-4 or 1-2-3 things are little less cumbersome in the left hand when it comes to furious legato powerups…
Tom Gilroy has some very, very cool and interesting thoughts on efficient digital cycles and LH fretting ideas.
Ok so…I wanted to share my opinion on the topic/discussion and I wanted to preface it by saying how this opinion is formed:
I’ve been teaching guitar for a living for the past twenty years, wide wide range of students from lots of absolute beginners and small children to professional players that already have music degrees and are regularly performing, and I’ve spent a LOT of time looking at people’s fretting hands, playing a variety of genres, and trying to coach them to make adjustments that will make their playing better, and I’ve tried VERY hard to not be dogmatic about things and instead really look at whether something is working or not, and NOT just assume my theories are correct because they seem logical to me. I think the last thing is the hardest part because it’s so easy to be guilty of confirmation bias and not realize it.
I’m not trying to claim authority, I just want it to be clear that I’m not coming from a place of simply “my teacher said this” or “i think this is probably the right way, and this is the wrong way”, this is my experience out in the “real world” just looking at what a LOT of people’s hands are doing and problem solving in real time, over a long period of time, with a lot of different students.
OK that being said - I never say “always curl your fingers” or “always have your finger joints be in this angle” and of course never “always have flat fingers” - I would never say that, because:
So I definitely instruct on this topic a lot but how curled I tell a student to be varies greatly on all the above, and what we’re trying to play in that moment. Hell, there are often times in single notes where I’ll coach a student to try to have one finger less curled but another finger more curled, it just depends.
All that being said, here’s what I think IS most valuable about this topic:
I WOULD say, if a passage is giving you trouble or not feeling as easy as you think it could be, it’s worth experimenting with the degree of angle in your fretting fingers…it’s possible less curvature could help, and it’s also possible more curvature could help.
Personally, when I play with flatter (not flat flar, just not so curved), my legato feels more fluid and I feel my entire hand way more relaxed. It also helps with keeping noise under control because you learn to dampen other strings with the rest of your finger why the tip is playing a note.
Doesn’t George Benson fret with quite flat fingers? I vaguely remember Benson answering a question about it in an interview, now if only I could remember which interview.
I mostly think about things like: pinch vs power grip, mobility up and down and across the neck, leverage for bends, “soft and hard” strength or “snappiness”.
There is middle range where if I move either too flat or too curved other things fall apart. A certain flattness and flexibilty come into play when playing barres. Frank Gambale’s playing is exemplary in this regard.
