Want to know how to tame a messy fretting hand.
I’ve had my share of students come to me with fretting hands that seemed to have a mind of their own.
Their fingers flail all over the place, their intonation is out, their legato is really messy and they don’t seem to know what to do to fix it.
If you’ve got a wild and untamed fretting hand, I’m going to share some things that can help. But first – let me tell you how it got that way.
If you’ve got a messy fretting hand, you’ve trained it to be that way through poor practice and no understanding of efficient technique.
Obviously it’s not entirely your fault because you didn’t know any better, but you’ve got to take responsibility in order to fix it.
Now, here are some things that will help fix it.
Use Efficient Fretting TechniqueThere are ways of playing the guitar that are more efficient than others. When it comes to fretting, this is the technique I teach my students to use;
- Have your thumb in the back of the neck inline with the 2nd finger.
- Keep your fingers straight in relation to the frets.
- Curve your fingers at the knuckles and distal joints.
- Keep your fingers close to the strings.
Go Back To Basics
If you have a wild and messy fretting hand, it’s because you’ve trained it to be that way. Because of this, you need to train it to play efficiently by going back to basics.
Yep, you need to go back to scale exercises and slow playing in order to rewire your bad technique with good technique.
Sorry, but that’s the only way.
Practice Effectively
If you have a wild and messy fretting hand, it’s because you’ve trained it to be that way through bad technique and poor practice.
Here are 2 examples of poor practice;
- Forcing speed and practicing faster than you can handle.
- Watching TV while you practice and not concentrating on your technique.
Effective practice requires focus. It also requires you to be practicing purposefully at tempos that will grow and cultivate speed and technique instead of ruining it.