Best place for fingers when fretting a note?

The general consensus on where to put you fingers when fretting a note is “slightly behind the fret.” or slightly to the left of the fret (for right handed players.). This generalization sounds like good advice, especially for beginners who are missing frets or putting fingers on the actual frets. Does everyone disagree with this generalization? Any exceptions? Video examples? Does a couple millimeters to the left or right make a difference? In my own playing I’m wondering if the actual pressure on the fret is more important the actual finger placement, as long you are not touching the fret itself…other ideas? thx

It doesn’t really matter much, as long as the note sounds out. thats the beauty of fretted instruments. The closer you are to the fret the more it will ring out, but in my opinion as long as it’s comfortable and is the note you intended its a non issue. The guitar has that wild nature that we all love because it’s not a definitive note, might as well play a keyboard if you want perfection in tone. And it’s something that works itself out over time. Thinking about it too much will slow you down.

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I don’t have time for a full comment now, but here’s some bullet points.

No.

Many.

Sure, I’ll dig some up for you later.

Yes. I’ll try to make a short demo video tomorrow or later today.

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You could spend three hours trying every possible permutation and then share your conclusions here! Why not?

This was something I never really thought about until I started playing more acoustic recently with a set of 13’s :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Very quickly I found I had to adjust my finger placement to be right behind and actually partially touching the fret, that way I can play way longer without tiring my hand out as it requires a lot less tension. I feel like this is also a good habit when playing electric but I’ve been playing 13 years and only just encountered this so I can’t say if it’s really that important on electric!

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