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Fretting Basics
This lesson will help you with fretting… How to do it, what the best approach is, and some common pitfalls that happen when fretting strings.
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Good stuff! I especially like the fretting part, the Quasi-Chromatic Scale ascending and descending the fretboard, feel the burn!!!
Thanks for reminding me of the finger strengthening exercise
My middle finger and ring finger have great trouble moving independently of one another. In the exercise, I cannot put my ring finger down without the middle finger sliding into the 3rd fret zone. Driving me nuts!
Hi Danielle. I think most people have similar frustrations. Your brain knows what you want, but the fingers don’t seem to get the message. I’ve watched Tony run all across the fretboard playing the exercises and it’s like each finger is “independently owned and operated” as they say in the franchise business. Then I realized that’s exactly what the goal is and what the exercises are about. So what can help, besides practice? There are some exercises that can be done without even having a guitar in my hand. Here are a few I came up with that seem like they would help with getting independent motion of the fingers.
1. Practice making the “Vulcan Salute” (if you live in a cave, you can search for this and see exatly what it is.)
2. Drum the fingers backwards. I think most people drum their fingers starting with the pinky and ending with the index (or maybe the thumb). I go the other way. Lots harder, or at least a lot slower. I am right handed, it’s even harder since I use the left for fretting. I use a metronome and do the same thing in time with the metronome.
3a. Lay my hand palm down on a flat surface with the fingers spread wide. Then take turns lifting one finger off the surface as far it will go under it’s own power. Use different random sequences of fingers.
3b Start with the fingers close together.
3c Start with the base of the palm on the surface and the fingers curled with the tip touching the flat surface – a similar position as when fretting a guitar neck.
4a. Make a gentle loose fist with my finger tips gently touching the palm and thumb touching the fist. Without moving any other fingers, I uncurl each finger one at a time as far as it will go under it’s own power, then curl it back. I repeat this with each of the other fingers in random sequences.
4b. Same as 4a, but starting with all fingers extended straight out, and then curl and uncurl one at a time.
4c. Same as 4b, but leave each finger extended until all fingers are extended and then curl them again one at a time.
The nice part is I can do these exercises while doing other things like riding (not driving) in a car, watching TV/movie/video, eating, waiting for a doctor/dentist/other appointment, etc. etc.
Disclaimer:
I am not a doctor, physical therapist, or any other medical professional.
The exercise above are descriptions of some of the things I do and are not recommendations or suggestions of what other people should do or try.
I do not know if they are helpful or are detrimental.
thanks I revisited the three lesion
Mike R
I’m seeing the little black rectangles. Very prominent in the 12 bar blues. Was it ever explained what they are?
I’ve been practicing this exercise for a week now and it’s getting easier each time. I feel like having this structure is really important..where before I signed up for this course I was all over the map!
Good little daily exercise … helps strengthen the ring and pinky, and helps with general finger agility as well. Worth doing with a metronome to get the speed/timing right? Not going to do any harm, I guess …
These basic skill fretting notion, is so important because it will help to develop the motor skills to be able to play any chords.
I notice that when I have my elbow closer in to my body that my fingers are more perpendicular to the strings and fret board than when my elbow is out more. Playing C’s and D’s have always given me problems with muting strings and not playing chords clearly; when focusing on finger/arm position is it better to have your elbow closer in so your fingers are approaching the fret board in more of a 90-degree angle than a more angled position? Great exercise by the way, after just doing it a couple of times my hand and forearm are screaming! I’ll definitely incorporate this into my daily practice! I’ve always had issues with including my pinky into the equation which I know limits me.
Randy,
I prefer my elbow closer to my body as it is the most comfortable for me. One thing that may help is bringing the palm of your fretting hand a little closer to the bottom edge of the fretboard, this will allow your fingers to have a bit more arch cleaning up your chords and making them a bit easier to make 🙂 I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Tony
Any suggestions on finger position. I feel like I have my thumb too far in back of the neck, it should be more under then behind.
Patty,
Generally my thumb is located on the high point of the profile on the back of the neck, nearly directly across from my index finger 🙂
Cheers,
Tony
Always good to go back to the basics.