First Exercises, Pt. II - Left Hand Finger Independence

Last month I began discussing beneficial right hand picking exercises guitar teachers can use with new students. This month I’ll exam an exercise for the left hand which helps promote finger independence and use of the pinky/fourth finger – a highly under used commodity by many guitarists.
 

 

Video - Fingers 1 & 2                Video - Fingers 1 & 3

Video - Fingers 1 & 4                Video - Fingers 2 & 3

Video - Fingers 2 & 4                Video - Fingers 3 & 4

                                      

 

There are several ideas to keep in mind when doing this exercise: first, each exercise is done separately – it is not meant to be one continuous exercise. Second, keep the fingers "arched" (diagram 1) as they play each note – finger-tips should not “collapse” (diagram 2).This is because the natural weight of a curled finger will lessen the amount of pressure to push down on a note and have it ring clearly; a collapsed finger will require more pressure resulting in excess tension in the hand. This is not to say that as a player advances they will never collapse their finger, of course they will, but the idea is to develop good habits with the least amount of tension from the start.

Third, make sure fingers are playing on their tips and not the pads. If a finger is properly arched the finger will be playing somewhere in the middle of the fingertip. Fourth, always keep the finger playing the lowest note down on the string – do not lift it to play the next note. This helps promote finger independence and understanding that fingers playing lower sounding notes do not need to be lifted off a string if they are be played soon after a higher sounding note on the same string.

Fifth, the thumb should be placed on the neck behind the first finger and should be “collapsed” (diagram 3). Some students tend to “arch” their thumb joint which can cause excess tension. Sixth, check the students’ fingernail length! It may sound funny, but if the nail is too long it will cause the finger to collapse, resulting in the finger playing on its pad and not the fingertip. Whereas, the nail touches the fingerboard and not the flesh of the finger so the finger must then collapse back so that the flesh of the finger can play the string.
I hope this has given you some new ideas about approaching finger independence for the left hand.

Next month I’ll continue with an exercise to help the student transverse the fretboard and help create a legato sound.

First Exercises, Pt. I - Open String Picking

       For a number of months I have been discussing basic concepts that guitar teachers should be able to incorporate into their first lesson with students. These concepts included: parts of the guitar, seating position, naming the strings, how to hold the pick, picking hand position and the three main types of picking. This month I’ll begin posting a series of effective exercises guitar teachers can use with their students to help develop picking technique and finger independence.

     The exercise below is used to develop pick technique and proper movement of the picking hand. The exercise is simple enough as it utilizes only open strings, the emphasis however, is not on “what to

 

 

do” but “how to do it”. Meaning, the palm should remain lightly anchored, moving from the wrist when picking and adjusting hand placement while moving from string to string. Additionally, the pick itself should be held straight to the string when picking and not angled.

                                                                                    Pick Held Straight to the String    

     The picking exercise above uses both down (1) and alternate-picking (2); make sure the student is comfortable down-picking before tackling alternate-picking. Moreover, regarding alternate-picking in this exercise, clarify with the student that when playing each string the first pick is always down and the last pick is always up. 

     The videos below show a cupped hand approach, the back of the    palm lightly anchored on the strings and the picking motion deriving from the wrist. As a player moves from one string to the next the hand slightly adjusts to accommodate picking that string. The palm remains lightly anchored on the strings the entire time, adjusting as needed until it reaches the 5th and 6th strings. At this time the palm will shift from the strings to the top of the guitar where it is again lightly anchored in order to maintain a continuous hand position on the lower strings.  

 

                                                Video #1: Open String Exercise Done with Down-Picking

 

                                                                                     Video #2: Open String Exercise Done with Alternate-Picking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building a Foundation, Pt. VI – Types of Picking

     In the June and July posts I discussed how to hold the pick with the fingers and various hand positions when picking. This month I’ll continue the topic of picking by outlining the three basic types: down, up and alternate. Of course I am aware there are other forms of picking such as sweep and hybrid, but these are technical aspects of playing beyond the scope of this post which are geared toward beginning students. 

     Down-picking as its name implies, is when the picking hand moves in a downward motion toward the floor.

 

 

 Conversely, when up-picking the picking hand moves in an upward motion toward the ceiling.

 

 

Alternate-picking is a combination of the two starting with a down-pick followed by an up-pick creating an alternating motion – down/up. 

 

 

Below are the symbols associated with each form of picking.

 

  

Next month I'll be discussing some simple picking exercises to give to beginning students. Enjoy!