Keeping fretting fingers near strings.

[andy thompson]

Ill post picks in a couple of weeks, but for now the gods have been kind to me.

 

A Tanglewood TW15 for a song. Straight to my man for a set up..well its absolute bliss, playing a note, then anotherthen another, no wolftones, buzzing whatever.

 

 

A Dynarrette from ML..is that Maryland..? Something falls...dunno cant remember, anyway, its much better than the shaped poly foam I made...why..? Well its angled inwards for a start. I lay a piece of neoprene on my leg, the Dynarette, then another piece of neoprene, then my guitar. No slipping..lovely.

 

Lurking at the lesson loft, some kind soul wrote about playing with "dead" fingers....slowly.. Now, because my guitar is anchored securely I can relax and concentrate on this.

 

THIS IS SUPERB...1) I practised for about 3hrs the last two days, shaking my hands when I felt tension.

 

2) I can practise very quietly, not having to worry about the next.."clam"..?

 

 

I think it was Dave Gilmore who seemed to have each finger just above the strings, like a row of piano hammers. When I try this, say going up to 12 fret on 6th string and (more) going back down, my pinky will jerk about an inch away....any cures...?

 

Also, while Im here, walking my middle and ring fingers up and down the strings, say at 2nd and 3rd frets, my stretch is limited.

 

I like using my pinky but its not gracefull.

 

Any tips on graceful, minimal finger movement.

 

 

 

Sorry..? What was that you said..?

 

 

Uh huh..practise. Yeah but how..?

[Blamalam]

I struggle with that one myself. I got this Guide to Better Practicing DVD by Pete Huttlinger, and he says the same thing re: keeping your fretting fingers close to the strings. It's tough. I've found *some* success in lightening my touch a bit and playing through scales slowly (as part of my warmup, I do about five minutes or so of scales). I used to be guilty of playing with a death grip, and my focus has been on letting up on that a bit.

I think the "Flying Pinky Syndrome" comes from our early days of playing, where we had issues making chords sound cleanly due to all the extraneous fingers wanting to get in on the action. For me, now that I've been playing a while my proprioceptive ($2 word, at least!) sense has developed to the point where the fingers just know a) where to go, and b) where to park when they're not needed. Now I just have to work on that "parallel parking" bit and keep those un-used fingers closer to the strings.