Left Hand Technique Guitar Lesson

Chapter 1: (09:48) Introduction Welcome back to the Phase 2 Classical Guitar series with Danny Voris! Lesson 4 provides a brief crash course on proper left hand technique. Technical exercises are also included to help you improve your left hand skills.

Left Hand Guidelines

A. Preparing the Left Arm

1. In order for the left hand to be positioned correctly, the entire body (especially the shoulders) must be positioned correctly. Before proceeding to the remainder of this lesson, review the proper posture guidelines for classical guitar that were discussed in lesson 2. Remember to keep the spine straight and the shoulders relaxed!

2. Keep the left hand in a natural, relaxed position at all times. Do not squeeze the neck!

3. Let the left arm hang limp at your side. Your left shoulder and arm should feel completely relaxed. Then, slowly bring the left hand up to the fretboard at seventh position. Seventh position is a perfect location to work on technique since the left hand is directly in the line of vision. Also, the frets are not far apart like they are in the lower positions on the fretboard.

B. Thumb Placement

1. Keep the thumb perpendicular to the neck. Do not curl the thumb or bring it up over the top of the neck. Also, Do not turn the thumb so that it runs parallel to the back of the neck. This greatly limits the range of motion of each finger.

2. The thumb should rest on the neck directly behind fingers one and two.

3. The thumb may move up and down slightly in order to accommodate various left hand positions.

C. Palm Placement

1. Keep the left hand palm parallel to the bottom of the neck. Do not allow the palm to make contact with the bottom of the neck. This technique will allow each of the fingers to access all six strings without moving the entire hand. Economy of movement is one of the most important components of proper technique. Wasted movement limits speed, endurance, and accuracy.

Watch as Danny holds his hand at an angle to the fretboard at 02:00. Notice how his range of movement is greatly limited, especially with the third and fourth fingers. When playing with this faulty technique, the entire wrist must be adjusted in order for these fingers to reach the lower strings.

D. Finger Placement

When fretting any note, always follow the guidelines listed below.

1. Fret the strings with the very tips of the fingers. Arching the wrist outwards will help accomplish this goal. Utilizing this technique will prevent you from bumping any of the adjacent strings. Making contact with adjacent strings will prevent them from ringing clearly.

2. Position the finger as close to the fretwire as possible without being directly over top of it. The least amount of pressure is required to push the string down in this position.

3. Keep all left hand joints slightly bent. Do not flatten any of the knuckles.

4. Keep the left hand fingernails as short as possible.

5. Keep the wrist slightly bent.

6. Keep the fingers as close to the fretboard as possible at all times. This will ensure that each finger is prepared to play when called upon.

Note: the technical guidelines that Danny discusses in this lesson are not exclusive to classical guitar. These guidelines should be followed regardless of which styles of music you play. Your technique should only deviate from Danny's when performing electric guitar techniques such as bends.

Technique Tryout

Place all of the left hand fingers on the fretboard in seventh position. Remember the proper fingering rules within any position. Each finger is assigned to a specific fret. The first finger should angle slightly back towards the headstock. The pinky knuckle should point in the opposite direction towards the bridge. Watch Danny in the lesson video at 05:15 for a clear visual demonstration of finger positioning. Positioning the wrist and fingers in this manner will allow a single finger to access all six strings while the remaining fingers remain fixed on another string. Classical guitar requires a high level of independence between each of the fingers. This level of independence cannot be achieved with faulty technique.

Left Hand Exercise 1

Note: Tablature and standard notation to this exercise can be found under the "Supplemental Content" tab.

Begin with the B note fretted by the first finger at the 7th fret of the first string. Pluck this string slowly in eighth notes. Alternate the "I" and "M" fingers (index and middle) while doing so. Then, leave the first finger planted while repeating the same process with the note C at the eighth fret. Continue to leave all fingers planted as a new finger is added to the fretboard.

Once you have completed this exercise on the first string, perform it on the remaining five strings. When beginning a new string, make sure that your left hand technique has not altered from the guidelines lifted above. Also, the tempo must remain stable from string to string. Play with a metronome to ensure that you are playing in strict time.

Do not rush through this exercise. It is not designed for building speed. Focus on maintaining flawless left hand technique. Also, make sure that each note sounds with a clear tone. Chapter 2: (04:01) Economy of Movement As mentioned in the previous scene, economy of movement is one of the most important factors in accuracy and speed. The smallest amount of movement and effort must be used at all times. This will allow you to play comfortably, accurately, and with maximum speed. Economy of movement becomes increasingly more important as the repertoire you work on continues to increase in difficulty. Consequently, you must develop a sound technical foundation from the very beginning. The guidelines Danny discusses in the lesson must be followed regardless of how difficult a piece is. However, like Danny mentions and other instructors have mentioned, economy of movement is something that you will work on for the rest of your life. It takes a long time to train the fingers to form tasks that they are not used to performing.

Note: For more information on this topic, please visit Matt Brown's first Phase 2 Rock lesson.

Economy of Movement Exercise

Repeat the exercise presented in the previous scene. This time around, focus all of your attention on keeping the fingers as close to the strings as possible. Most likely, your pinky finger will have a tendency to straighten itself out. Ideally, the fingers should be no further than 1 cm from the fretboard at all times. Work at this process slowly! Practice this exercise for about ten minutes a day to begin with.

Watch at 01:40 as Danny repeats the exercise. Notice how close each finger stays to the fretboard. Also, notice how fingers are not tucked under the fingerboard. If they are positioned in such a manner, they will not be ready to play when called upon.

Exercise Variations

If you get bored of this basic exercise, feel free to change up the rhythm. For example, each note in the exercise may be repeated twice instead of four times in eighth notes. Or, each note can be repeated three times in a quarter note or eighth note triplet rhythm.

Note: For an additional economy of movement exercise, check out the first lesson taught in Matt Brown's Phase 2 Rock series. This exercise is the fourth exercise taught in scene 2. It is labeled as "The Most Important Exercise Ever" under the lesson information section. This same exercise is taught in lesson 3 of Kris Norris' Phase 2 series of lessons. Chapter 3: (06:28) Playing Relaxed Many classical pieces are as long as 15-20 minutes. In order to make it through a challenging piece of this length, the entire body must remain as relaxed as possible at all times. To remain in a relaxed state, you must be aware of small periods in music where one or more fingers have an opportunity to relax. Allowing a finger to rest for half a second will continue to add up over a piece of this duration. If your fingers do not stay relaxed, you may not have the stamina to make it all the way through the piece. Also, if you have to fight the guitar while you are playing, your playing will inherently sound less fluid and musical.

Play - Relax Exercise

Return to seventh position. Play each note in the position for a quarter note. Then, during the next beat, allow the hand to relax completely. Repeat this exercise with all fingers on all six strings. Focus your attention on the relaxation period between each note. Relax the entire hand as much as possible during the rest.

Watch at 02:56 as Danny demonstrates the exercise. Notice how much his left hand relaxes during each rest. During each rest, the left hand still remains very close to the fretboard. The relaxation period does not double as an opportunity to let proper technique slide.

Do not ignore this exercise because of its simplicity! As Danny begins to introduce repertoire, the time you have spent with the exercise will yield surprising results.

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