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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Right Hand Position

Posted by: Matt23 Jun 15 2008, 07:12 PM

I get free guitar lessons from my school, and my guitar teacher is an acoustic guitarist. When i first got him he told me to start alternate picking and when i alternate pick to move my hand up and down the bridge depending what string i was on. So my hand was always pointing in nearly the same direction as the neck and i could keep the pick straight.

What i've noticed is a lot of very good guitarists keep their hand near the low strings of the guitar, and just angle their hand instead of moving it to reach the high strings of the guitar. I guessed this was to mute the lower strings, and my guitar teacher would never have needed to do this because he was playing an acoustic. I only get a little bit of noise from those strings so i've never really tried keeping my right hand in the same place.

What i'm asking is, am i right about why people keep their hand in the same place, and should i be doing it to eliminate all string noise? I'm pretty sure i should learn to mute the lower strings but i just want to make sure so i don't get into a bad habit.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 15 2008, 07:33 PM

Well for starters you shouldn't take teachers words for granted, but also there are some logics in what he is saying. His fault was that he did not exaplain more thoroughly WHY you should keep the right hand in line with the neck. He just said: Do it. I think that's a wrong approach in general. Instead of that he should have told you to keep the hand properly but allow the hand for some flexibility during playing. People have different physical builds and play on different instruments so there isn't any strict rule how to hold a pick in relations to the string. THere are only general rules how to do it.
Giving that in respect, I suggest you carefully analyze how you hold the pick while going through some simple exercises. This way you will be able to find potential problems and make adjustments. If you practice slow enough, and precise enough I think you don't have anything to worry, in time it will all come together.

Posted by: Matt23 Jun 15 2008, 07:54 PM

Thanks Ivan. And in defence of my teacher he did say it was to keep the pick straight.

Posted by: Juan M. Valero Jun 16 2008, 11:31 AM

the most important is that you feel good with your pick and remember that the movement comes from your wrist

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jun 16 2008, 04:27 PM

I agree with Ivan and Juan, there is no rule saying you HAVE to hold your hand in a certain position, you have to feel comfortable while playing, this is very important.