TSJMajesty
Rock Star
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These are some things I'm doing differently that have helped me play more accurately, and cleanly, that I've adopted over the past handful of years, as I've really been digging in to improve my playing. The vast majority of my playing years I never bothered with this stuff, but for some reason I decided I wanted to be able to reach my own personal potential, and these aspects were definitely holding me back. Maybe they'll help some others here...
Fretting hand stuff:
Do you have any technique tips that you feel have helped your playing?
Fretting hand stuff:
- Keeping finger movements as short as possible. I've used a few exercises meant to train your fingers so they stay poised just above the frets, for the simple reason that the less your fingers have to move, the easier it is to play faster solos. And when I use the term 'faster', I'm not talking about "shredding" per se. Even the solo in Mr. Crowley still remains out of reach for me, because my finger speed is naturally slow. I have seen guys who haven't been playing long at all, move their fingers much faster than I can, even after playing, AND practicing this type of stuff for decades, and I'm convinced it's partly a "natural talent" type of thing. This is the part in Mr. Crowley:
- But that's not to say it can't be improved by practicing trills, and training your fingers to stay as close to the frets as possible. The pinky is the hardest one for me, and I'd imagine most people, due to our hands anatomy. (the pinky and ring finger share a tendon...?) Spider exercise is a good one, as is playing a Maj7 shape across the top 4 strings, and literally keeping every finger touching the string, and only pressing down as you pick that note. Yeah, it's not easy, but it helps! Something like this, from Dream Theater's Overture 1928:
- Keeping every string you're not playing muted, either with the tips and under-side of your fretting fingers, or the palm of your fretting hand. I can actually see how this one has changed where my callouses are located. They used to be right on the fingertips, but now they're a bit further away from the tip, because when I fret a note, I always strive to keep my fingertip right against the adjacent string. The other adjacent string is usually muted by the back side of the finger. And then the palm also helps, like how you move your hand across the strings as you do a sweep. I also find myself grabbing the low E string with my fretting hand thumb in many cases, like if I end a descending lick on the low E, but the next chord is on the 5th string. Like in this lick, also from Overture 1928:
- And then one more thing that I'm still trying to get better at, is keeping my fretting hand thumb resting on the back of the neck, as close to directly under whichever note(s) are being played. (Edit- see Ed's post below.) I will though, start to move my thumb up and around to the top of the neck, as I work an ascending riff towards the top strings, because I feel it gives me the most control overall, and depending on how I need to mute other strings, keep my fingers arched up and over top of the strings as much as is comfortable. So this one changes a bit as I play any given solo, but for the most part I do agree that keeping my fingers arched, and the thumb in a position of support on the back of the neck, give me the best control.
Do you have any technique tips that you feel have helped your playing?
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