If you ever feel like your hands are getting overwhelmed as you learn a piece of music…
Or you feel like you want to tear your hair out trying to play something new and tricky…
…Then here’s a really simple tip that will help…
10-Second Tip (The Bass Guitarist Fingerpicking Trick)
Welcome to your Friday 10-second tip.
If you’re a fingerpicker, this will be handy.
It’s all about alternating the index and middle fingers as if you were a bass guitarist.
10-Second Tip – Close Control
Welcome to your weekly 10-second tip.
This is an important one about the fretting hand and it’s the fact that you should…
“Keep an eye on what your non-playing fingers are doing”
Do you ever watch what the fingers of the fretting hand are doing when they are not in use?
When playing, many guitarists’ non-playing fingers jump around and hop high in the air away from the fretboard like Kermit the frog on a trampoline!
- For instance, when playing a riff or scale using the index and ring fingers, do you know exactly what the pinkie is doing?
- Or when playing a chord that uses 3 fingers, are you checking what the other unused finger is doing?
In short, you should try to keep all your fingers close to the fretboard when not in use.
Why is this important?
Well, one reason is the further away your fingers are from the fretboard, the more distance they have to travel to get back to the fretboard, thus increasing the chances they will land in an incorrect spot. This means more buzzing, missed notes, and wrong chords.
Therefore, keep your fingers close to the fretboard as much as possible and watch them like a hawk until this becomes a natural habit.
For more precise help on exactly how to train your fingers to do this, check out page 44 of my book, Essential Guitar Technique, where I cover this in detail.
The book is available as the #1 book in my bundle (as all the other books build on top of this one).
You can check it out and the others in the bundle at the link below:
Guitar Domination Super eBook Bundle
Enjoy your Friday…
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
10-Second Tip – Avoid Playing Guitar Like Uncle Fester
Welcome to your weekly 10-second tip.
Today I want to talk about something I see a lot.
When some guitarists play, they raise their shoulders up in a tensed position.
I jokingly call this playing like Uncle Fester.
10-Second Tip (Do This to Remember Strumming Patterns Better)
Welcome to your weekly 10-second tip.
This week’s tip is a simple but effective one.
It’s all about how to improve your memory and strumming by…
10-Second Tip – Playing the Bass and Melody at the Same Time
10-Second Tip – Anti-Tension Exercises
Welcome to a new weekly 10-second tip.
In this tip, we will talk about a way to reduce tension in your fretting hand and arm.
10-Second Tip – The “3-Note Rule” for Better Musicality
Welcome to your weekly 10-second tip.
If you struggle to play songs musically, this will help…
10-Second Tip – Unlock the Fretboard By Using This String More
Welcome to a new weekly 10-second tip.
Today we are talking about one of my favourite things to do.
It is all about:
10-Second Tip – “Cheat Chords”
This is a pretty basic tip.
Yet it is one that EVERYONE may want to use at some point.
…Especially if your chords or chord changes are slow or awkward, even just for a certain song…