Fretting Hand Technique Variables

Playing Technique
#1

It’s seemed to me that a lot of instruction found online for the fretting hand centers around issues of finger strength. Recently I’ve begun to think that’s a gross oversimplification of the many ways the fretting hand can be a limiting factor in guitar playing. So I thought I’d get a thread going in an attempt to compile all the ways the fretting hand can impact one’s playing, with the hope that doing so will reveal many other things we can do to improve our fretting hand problem solving instead of/in addition to buying some sort of finger strengthening device. I learned every one of these variables from the forum, but I hope others will add their thoughts/corrections:

In no particular order:

-Finger re-use
-Synchronization with picking hand
-Lifting vs. barring
-Fretting hand finger interaction/confusion
-Pure strength
-Unwanted muting
-Accuracy/finger placement
-Slides/position shifts
-The E-B-G string clusterf*ck
-Death lock grip stress

2 Likes
#2

I never even heard of synchronization being an issue for guitarists until many years after I started playing guitar and I read about it on the internet. I had just never met a guitarist who had that problem. Maybe it’s just something some people have and others have to work at achieving. You know how some people have a better natural sense of rhythm than others? Why couldn’t this fall under the same category of it being something that comes naturally to some and with difficulty or not at all to others? It seems likely to me.

To me it comes down to something pretty simple: If you fret after you pick the string you won’t articulate the note. So if somebody has that problem, it’s obvious when they’re doing it and when they’re not.

What is the EBG string cluster****? That’s one I haven’t heard of before now.

The most important thing I’d add to the list is vibrato and bending technique. That’s vital.

Another important thing I’d add to the list is economy of motion. If you lift your fingers higher off the strings than necessary you’re wasting time and energy as well as slowing yourself down. Economy of motion is something I haven’t seen discussed a lot on this forum but to me it comes down to this: Why do more work than necessary to achieve the same thing? Keep your fingers close to the fretboard. Doing more work than necessary takes more time than doing only the precise amount of work necessary and slows your playing as a result.

1 Like
#3

What I mean here is how we have to accommodate the guitar’s tuning, especially on those three strings (although, I guess it’s mainly the G-B strings). We have to deal with going from perfect fourths to a major third back to a perfect fourth, and maybe this can pose difficulties in fretting. I think @hamsterman referenced this in @edlstoff’s picking thread.

@Acecrusher I like your comment about economy of motion in the fretting hand. I agree with you, but I can’t square this with the observation that large motions in the picking hand yield faster speed compared to smaller, more economical motions. I’m curious what others think about this as well!

#4

Economy of motion works with respect to both hands. The principle is the same: Doing more work than necessary will slow you down. More is not better, less is not better. The precise amount necessary is best.

1 Like