Guitar Lesson Four - Left Hand Technique

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Guitar Lesson Four - Left Hand Technique

Left Hand:

In order to make full use of the CLASSICAL HAND POSITION (review lesson 1 opens in new window), it's important to understand FINGERBOARD POSITION.

Fingerboard position is the fret which your hand is centered around.

Let's take a look.

Suppose you were to play the following four notes at the fifth fret with the fingers indicated:

This is considered the 5TH POSITION.

Understanding position pretty easy, so long as, you aren't required to play any notes outside of a four fret span. It's simply a matter of where your first finger is located.

The only "rule" that applies to position playing is that each finger handles any note on any string on the same fret. In other words, the index finger, in the above diagram, would be responsible, not only for the A at the 5th fret of the low E-string, but for any note on the other 5 strings that happened to be at the 5th fret.

The same goes for the other fingers. The 2nd finger is responsible for the 6th fret, the 3rd finger is responsible for the 7th fret, and the 4th finger handles the 8th fret.

Lets say that you wanted to play the C major scale across the strings from the low E to the high E. This is easily accomplished in 7th position (1st finger at the 7th fret):

But, what happens if we need to play a few notes that land outside of an easy four fret spread?

In those cases, the index finger is required to stretch one extra fret down, and the pinky is required to stretch one extra fret up, like so:

Because of this finger stretching, position is best defined by the middle finger rather than the index finger. Think of position as being named by the fret below your middle finger.

So, the example above is in the 5th position, not the 4th.

Let's look at how these finger stretches apply to the C major scale.

First, we'll stretch the pinky by playing in the 5th position:

And, now, we'll stretch the index finger in the 2nd position:

It's important that you STRETCH for the outside notes, to minimize any extraneous hand movement. Imagine that the frets that the middle and ring fingers cover are invisible fences that won't allow those fingers to move past the fret wire.

You'll quickly find that the classical hand position is essential for getting that extra reach with the index and pinky fingers.

If, however, you find the stretches, especially at the lower frets, to be too much, the idea is to stretch as far as possible before moving the hand.

The whole point of position playing is to achieve maximum efficiency with the fretting hand. This is the only way to increase speed and fluidity on the guitar.

We will be covering the playing of scales across the strings in a later lesson, but if you want to go ahead and learn the patterns used above, that's fine.

What I want to focus on in this lesson, though, is applying the priciples of position to playing up and down a single string.

Below, is an example of how we might play the G major scale on the high E-sting:

In order to play the scale this way, you have to shift positions smoothly. This requires a careful balance between keeping the fingers in place and moving toward the next position.

In lesson one, I pointed out that when playing a string of ascending notes, it's important to keep the fingers down on the notes. The reason for this is to insure that you get a smooth transition from each note to the next. The crux of the biscuit is the smoothness, not the holding down of the notes. As you gain more skill with your left hand, you will find it necessary, for speed and fluidity, to release the fingers that have already played a note so they can be moving toward a new note while another finger is playing it's note.

Let's take a look at how to play the example above:

Play the G with your index finger, and keep that note down as you play the A with your ring finger. Keep both of those notes down only long enough to to play the B with with your pinky. Once the B note is ringing, release the index and middle fingers and begin moving them toward the new position. the pinky acts as a pivot (sort of like doing a pole vault).

The hard part is making the transition from the pinky playing the B to the index playing the C. You have to keep the pinky down as long as possible before you release it and allow the hand to shift into position for the index to play the C. Otherwise, you'll get a dead spot each time you shift positions that will make your playing sound choppy.

The ideal, when shifting positions, is to do it so smoothly that a person listening would never be able to tell that you made a position shift. This will require that you practice slowly (the most over-used word in these lessons) and get it right.

Now, when descending, don't try to place your fingers in advance. This will slow you down and, again, make you sound choppy. Each finger should float above the string as close to the note as possible and only contact the string when required to actually play the note. This is true any time you are playing a succession of descending notes, whether on a single string or across the strings.

Here is an exercise for helping you to develop your finger-stretching ability:

Both exercises are variations on the same basic idea, except that the first one reqires you to stretch between the ring and pinky, while the second requires a stretch between the index and middle fingers.

Now, it doesn't matter how high or low on the neck you play these. It's not the notes that are important. It's the finger stretches and the position shifts.

I strongly recomend that you start up high on the neck, where the stretches will be easier and gradually, over the course of several weeks/months, work your way lower down the neck, where the stretches will be more difficult.

Here are a couple of SEQUENCES (short melody played off of each successive note in a scale) for you to practice:

Be sure to look at the KEY SIGNATURE and TIME SIGNATURE, as well as the NOTE VALUES and PITCHES in the standard notation. Don't just follow the TAB. The TAB is only a reference to help you read the standard notation.

Also, just because the examples are using the C scale on the B-string, doesn't mean that they can't be played in the key of G, or on any other string. Sequences are patterns, and once you understand the pattern, you need to work them through every scale, on every string.

Now, it's very important that you work into these stretches gradually. If you try too hard to make the stretches, you can injure the muscles and joints of the hand and wrist. As you practice, be aware of pain and burning in your hand. This is your body's way of telling you that you've had enough. Once you reach your limit, it's a good time to let the left hand rest while you work on your right hand picking.

This lesson is divided into six parts:

Tuning

Theory Part I

Theory Part II

Technique - Left hand

Technique - Right hand

Music

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