Higher Landrons - Eric Johnson's Fretting Mechanics and Strategies

[Tom_Gilroy]

@eric_divers

Hi, I’m one of these, I never contacted you for a second lesson because applying the principles you taught me to things I was already playing made for an almost instant transformation.

Hi @eric_divers, that’s absolutely fantastic to hear. I was a little surprised not to have heard back from you, but I’m delighted that the reason is that the first lesson had such a positive impact.

For anybody reading, I can’t promise these kinds of results to everybody. I have to meet you where you are.

@eric_divers

I’m pretty much satisfied with my picking technique now – or at the very least, satisfied with my ability to learn lines that used to seem completely out of reach.

This is my goal for every student. To get you to this point, as quickly and directly as I possibly can.

I never withhold information to keep students “on the line” for more lessons. I have never held anything back from students unless I feel it’s likely to result in confusion, misunderstanding or distraction from something more immediately important.

I never claim to have all the answers, and if you ask me something I don’t know I’ll tell you so directly. I’ll give my best answer to my current understanding, and I promise that I will never bullshit you.

@eric_divers

I was so amazed I’ve considered writing up a post about how dramatic the transformation was.

It would be pretty great for me if you did and I would very much appreciate it.

[eric_divers]

I’ll work on such a post, then, hopefully with some video examples of things that used to feel impossible (inside gilberts in particular).

I apologize for not emailing you back earlier, and for hijacking your thread. Carry on!

[Tom_Gilroy]

@eric_divers

I’ll work on such a post

Excellent, thank you.

@eric_divers

I apologize for not emailing you back earlier, and for hijacking your thread. Carry on!

No worries, I’m definitely not upset that you commented to give a positive review!

I haven’t been active on the forum for a while. I’ve mostly been focused on Jiu-Jitsu for the past few months, I was promoted to Black Belt in December. I’ve actually considered writing up a post about how my time in BJJ has influenced my approach to playing and teaching guitar, but that’s not a high priority for me just yet.

The next big project, I think, is to write up the ideas on movement phase, hand synchronisation, etc, that we talked about in our session together. I also mean to write a updated article on Shawn Lane and the Efficient Digital Cycle principle (which I very much intend to rename) now that I have a much deeper understanding of the material and a lot of my own original vocabulary based on the concept.

[eric_divers]

@Tom_Gilroy

The next big project, I think, is to write up the ideas on movement phase, hand synchronisation, etc, that we talked about in our session together.

I think this would be hugely helpful to a lot of folks. I’m biased, of course. I do find that those concepts complement an understanding of the CtC basics very well.

[tommo]

@Tom_Gilroy great stuff thank you! After reading your section on muting and string noise I listened back to this performance and realised… oh my god, there is basically ZERO string noise in the entire performance. Like not even once a random open string ringing for a few milliseconds.

- YouTube

[joebegly]

Peak EJ was one of the cleanest players ever. And as Tom mentioned in his write up, this is a cranked Tube amp EJ is playing through. I love all the modern (digital) amp modeling technology, but anyone old enough who’s played a cranked amp with a saturated distortion tone knows what a challenge it is to keep sympathetic string vibrations in check (as opposed to the digital stuff).

What I can’t fathom is how he even achieved this with single coil pickups lol! It was hard enough with humbuckers for saints’ sake!

[Tom_Gilroy]

@tommo

@Tom_Gilroy great stuff thank you!

Thank you. I knew that it would take some time for forum members to read and absorb the article when I posted it, but I’d be really happy to read everybody’s thoughts when they’ve had some time to consider the ideas presented.

@tommo

After reading your section on muting and string noise I listened back to this performance and realised… oh my god, there is basically ZERO string noise in the entire performance.

I don’t think people fully appreciate how incredible a feat this actually is.

@joebegly

Peak EJ was one of the cleanest players ever.

Absolutely. Others have certainly reached similar heights, but I don’t believe anybody has ever been better. Eric Johnson was a perfect guitarist.

[Ruefus]

One place Eric had to have learned how to play clean is his love of Chet Atkins.

I do not mean to detract from EJ in the slightest.

But…Chet Atkins played squeaky clean (zero distortion)……and……

Nothing.

Before you ask, or suggest it……No. He did not use flatwounds.

[Tom_Gilroy]

@Ruefus

I do not mean to detract from EJ in the slightest.

But…Chet Atkins played squeaky clean (zero distortion)……and……

Nothing.

Sure, but this goes both ways. Playing cleanly with loud amplifiers and distortion presents different challenges.

In the ACL performance, EJ is playing through a 100W Super Lead Plexi, a 150W Steel String Singer and two Twins. All of them loud.

[Ruefus]

I 100% agree. It’s a similar challenge, but the mechanics are much the same. I throw zero shade on EJ. His amps are ridiculously loud making them extremely touch sensitive.

When you listen to Chet - there is nowhere to hide even the slightest string scuff. A tone that clean, even with string mutes, will ‘show’.

[jpntrbng]

Holy crap. I signed up to CtC just today. The CtC content is excellent as always, for a long time lurker on YouTube like me. And this is awesome. Thank you! I hit a speed barrier with my picking and my fretting is inefficient and not as fluid as it needs to be.

[MrSnrub]

Hello Tom

I’ve created an account inspired by this post! There is so much material in there that I can’t wait to dig into. However just for clarity in my mind, I wanted to confirm what you meant by fretting with the finger pads rather than the finger tips. I was always taught by my original guitar teacher (a EVH loving super shredder type) that fingertips were king, and have spent 15 years honing a technique based on fretting with the absolute tip of the finger.

However, just for my clarity, the suggestion for the Eric Johnson style ‘finger rolls’ that you discuss in depth in the lessons, to allow for maximising downward picking with the 1 & 3 fingers is to fret with the pads of the fingers, which unless I’m mistaken are as per the below? Ie, the area that would be fingerprinted if I’d ever had a run in with the boys in blue?

I appreciate this a simple question, but just wanted to be sure before I spend real time on the concepts you describe!

[Tom_Gilroy]

@MrSnrub

I appreciate this a simple question, but just wanted to be sure before I spend real time on the concepts you describe!

It’s actually not all that simple!

@MrSnrub

I think the contact points you’ve marked here are too close to the finger tips. With these contact points, it’s unlikely that you could effectively damp the lower adjacent string or perform a descending roll effectively. You likely won’t have enough flesh to damp or roll onto, and the distal phalanges (last bones of the fingers) are unlikely to get flat enough to the fretboard for fluent rolling.

Look at Eric’s finger placement in this picture:

Here, Eric is fretting the B string with his 2nd finger. Notice that the distal phalanx is very flat, the plane of the finger nail is almost parallel with plane of the fretboard, and the contact point is underneath the nail bed. The high E string is damped with the lower area of the finger pad, and the G string is damped with the edge/tip. Eric’s fretting posture is slightly angled here, his fingers aren’t parallel with the frets, but when he plays closer to parallel he maintains the damping contact on the lower string with the fingertip and damping contact on the higher string with the lower area of the pad.

So, there’s really three contact “zones” per finger. The default contact zone is the “sweet spot” which achieves this damping effect, but with a subtle shift of his fretting hand, Eric can roll to the lower string at the high contact zone (closer to the tip) or to the higher string at the low contact zone (lower towards this distal phalangeal joint).

You might find that by fretting like this, a very small amount of skin “spills onto” the fret (the width of the fingers is maximised when the fingers are flat). This is perfect; it creates a subtle muting effect (like an impossibly light palm mute) reducing brightness and softening attack. This is absolutely integral to Eric’s touch and tone production.

[saintelsewhere]

Great article Tom.

I’m wondering if you can compare and contrast EJ’s fretting strategies and contact points with those of Frank Gambale. I do recall Gambale mentioning in his CTC interview that his index dampened adjacent string while fretting.