Tony’s Acoustic Challenge – The New Way to Learn Guitar › Family Forums › Community Support › Guitar and Fretting hand position tutorial
-
Guitar and Fretting hand position tutorial
Posted by PMAC on August 18, 2021 at 1:20 pmI can’t seem to get my fretting hand into a position resembling what Tony and others use. I suspect guitar may not be positioned as well. Is there any video in this course that covers the basics of fretting hand and guitar postion?
N-lightMike replied 3 years, 4 months ago 9 Members · 17 Replies -
17 Replies
-
Hi Paul ( @PMAC ), Welcome to TAC, I hope you find a wonderful guitar journey here👍 I would say that whatever position you find comfortable to you is the correct position. This is all about you – not what others say. Yes can listen to others and try out what they have to say, but in the end, it’s about what you want to do👍
-
I don’t know for sure but I bet the 30 days to play and or the fretting hand toolbox will have tips regarding position.
I think it was a recent “Acoustic Tuesday” podcast that talked about fretting hand tips.
What I have found is that over time (1) my hand has become more flexible and made it easier to fret things that were very uncomfortable at the start and (2) I gradually gravitated to a position that works for me.
I emphasized the words “Over Time” because @Bill_Brown advice to just do what is comfortable can be tough in the beginning, because you don’t even know yet what is comfortable for you. To that I say just trust the process and keep playing.
Some of the things above, I had learned from videos but it took a while to internalize it and for my body to learn to do it.
Two things regarding guitar position. If the neck is level ie: horizontal, it makes it a little harder to curl your fingers around the neck to fret the strings. Holding the neck at an upward angle, as much as 45* can make fretting easier. Also the position of the guitar left to right in your lap can make a difference. I find a strap helps tremendously in helping me hold the guitar in a position that is easy for me to play.
-
Thanks for the advice. I started this course a few months ago but have been playing or more correctly practicing guitar for 3 years. I skipped much of the fundamentals in the beginning which is why I started Tony’s course. My guitar journey has been a train wreck and 100% my fault. After 3 years of practicing on average 1-2 hours a day. I do not know how to play 1 song. Nothing. Nada. Now I do know a lot of other stuff but have never learned a song. I have tried but always get frustrated and quit. If I had found Tony’s course on day 1 I would be a competent guitar player by now. It is what it is. I have hundreds and hundreds of hours invested and I will not quit!
-
I was heading that direction myself after my first year, and I decided learn a song. I started with a song I knew well and found an easy version on youtube (later I got the tabs from a Tab application). I picked one that I liked to sing and didn’t have any bar cords, and I started to learn to play it. Playing that song was part of my practice along with the TAC stuff. It helps to know the song and the rhythm. It took a few weeks and it’s rarely perfect, but it fun to learn it and play it.
Since then I’ve added a few more songs . What helps me is to see how the TAC challenges start helping you play the songs better and opens the door to other songs. Now I’m adding a song with a bar cord. Try it and don’t worry if it’s not perfect.
-
I also am having difficulty positioning my fingers because I have a small hand. I gather from what I am reading, over time my fingers/hand positions will stretch. Is there an exercise or should I just continue as is with the Blues shuffle until I get it comfortably?
-
Have you taken the “30 days to play” course? It covers the basics.
-
It’s amazing how many little, hard to notice, things affect our hand position on the guitar neck. @Crabby mentioned several things that affect our hand position. Changing the angle of the guitar from horizontal by bringing it up some. Also, not having the guitar square to our body, but having it at an angle with the headstock farther away.
There are a few more things I would mention. For some chords, the elbow is away from the body and for other chords your elbow is tucked into the side of your body. Also, your wrist can be pushed out or rolled back. Your thumb can be at the top of the neck or moved down to the middle of the back of the neck. And, the thumb can be opposite your index finger or moved over to be opposite the middle of your palm, between the middle and ring fingers. All of these adjustments happen regularly as an accomplished guitar player changes chords, but good luck seeing these slight movements and realizing you need to do that. It takes time.
Stretching and warm ups are something everyone should do every day, but especially beginning guitar players. Tony has an impressively large array of warm up exercises, yet you can easily find others or come up with others on your own. Then there are finger independence exercises. The classic exercise is to put your hand palm down on a flat surface with the fingers spread out and try lifting one finger at a time. Do this regularly if you are a beginner and mix it up, doing different orders and even do it rhythmically. When you get good at it, try lift fingers in sets of 2, especially the middle and pinky and the index and ring.
Hope this helps.
MG 😀
-
👍 My next question is where can I find the exercises Tony recommends?
-
This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by
Mimer. Reason: Sent before asking question
-
Hey @Mimer
The exercises I was talking about are the Monday warm-ups. Tony has a whole library of them. The way to access them is to favorite them every week, and in about 7 months you’ll have all of them.
But he has others that you can find in the Acoustic Tuesday Show. And this whole week the daily lessons are literally exercises to build up pinky strength. Learning a lick is a type of exercise. Playing a song is a type of exercise. Anything that builds up the muscle memory and strength needed to play the guitar. So just playing will make you better over time regarding muscle memory and strength.
Playing scales is a great way to exercise, but make sure to play them melodically and use “phrasing”, that is, with some kind of rhythm.
Hope this helps. Please don’t hesitate to ask further questions.
MG 😀
-
This has helped me a lot, both with making playing easier while I’m doing it, and with persistent neck and shoulder pain after playing:
https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/guitar-players-daily-stretch-guide/
I hope it helps you as well.
-
This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by
-
Thank you! I will use this as often as I can. I am still a little intimidated by the website,because there is so much, so I am a little slow. Is there a tutorial for TAC?
-
Hey @Mimer ,
The idea when they created the new site was to make it so simple that it would be intuitive. But obviously, there’s no such thing. Anyway, no, there is no tutorial for TAC. However, there is the community. Please ask any specific questions you have. You don’t have to do it here. You can start a new thread. “Community Support” is a pretty open category.
MG 😀
-
-
Thanks for posting this question, I am new to guitar, began this January. I have been a TAC member since May. I have been struggling with the same thing. Thanks @Crabby @MikeGaurnier and all others for you great responses, this is very helpful.
-
Thank you Mike. I don’t generally feel like my hand is in a proper position. I see videos of guys where the wrist to be way forward and their wrist bent 90 and it doesn’t look comfortable nor is it. I will try your suggestions.
-
I do hope it helps. It’s amazing what very simple but subtle adjustments are needed and what a large difference they make.
MG😀
-
Log in to reply.