Left Hand FAQ

Question: "Should keeping your fingers close to the fretboard be a concious effort or should it come naturally?"

Answers:

"If you practice it slowly and conciously, then eventually it will come naturally to you at all speeds. If you're having trouble keeping your fingers close to the fretboard, try higher frets, like starting on the 7 fret. "

"Fingers don't even need to be close to the fretboard, it's all matter of practice. It is better to keep them close to minimize the movements, but in reality they can go 2-3 cm apart from the frets it doesn't matter as long as it is precise. I would recommend to keep them close though, as then you are building a more "neater" technique and fingers are moving less, so you watch for them in the long run."

"Practice slow and keep your playing clean. And while you're upgrading the speed your fingers will naturally stick closer to the fretboard, as there will be no time to keep them too far away."

Question: "When holding the guitar and attempting some medium-fast solo licks my hand pretty much grips the whole neck from thumb to index finger. Is this advisable? For example im currently studying Pedja's lesson "Rock/Blues Solo in Eb" and the part near the end where x4 licks are repeated just prior to the exit lick happen, my thumb is hanging over the neck whereas Pedja's is merely sticking out over the top of the neck. Which must mean that I'm not curving my wrist enough? Is this something that I should worry about?"

Answers:

"General rule of the thumb is, when you are bending your thumb goes above and towards the strings down while your fingers push up. When you are playing regular things, your thumb should stay in the back of the guitar neck resting bellow the top of the neck (3/4 from bottom so to speak)."

"It's not tension, it's just a bad habit mate, and you need to get over it. This is not a big problem though, just focus on putting the thumb behind the neck while practicing. The rest will come into place after a while. Don't try to "focus" or "push" the thumb backwards while playing, it doesn't work that way, you need to practice long enough the right way until the habit is gone."

"Your position is great for bends and powerful vibrato but you might have some problems if you try to play 3nps shapes, specially on lower strings, then wider stretches etc. Move your thumb down and put your fist more "in front" to gain better access for that kind of stuff."