In this section, we're going to talk about technique or technique tips,
mostly on what works for me and what has worked for my students here at Berklee.
So just holding the guitar,
I always suggest that you use a strap because you should have
the guitar always in the same position whenever you're playing.
I have students that play without a strap and they practice sitting down,
and then when they stand up and they use a strap,
the strap is too low and they're missing notes and phrases.
What I like is that I have the guitar always in
the same position so [MUSIC] we know where everything is,
and I don't have to look at my hands as much.
The guitar, to me,
is a little slanted.
It's almost like I'm sitting down classical with
my left leg crossover or even my right leg,
but it's in front of me.
I don't play to the side as much.
I worry about having shoulder problems
with that so I just hold the guitar right in front of me,
try and keep it as natural as possible.
So left hand, here fingerboard or the fretboard many people call it.
My fingers are flat,
I play with the tips of my fingers,
and I keep my fingers spread.
I have small hands so I always have to worry about lifting
my fingers up too high and I'm constantly working on that.
So that is something that you might want to work on yourself.
But let's talk about where I put my fingers and how I have a simple warm-up that
to me is very important just to get my hand settled.
I keep my thumb flat behind the fret,
and one way to do that is that,
let's say, I'm in this position,
I put my first finger in the first fret of the first string,
second finger second fret of the first string,
third finger third fret, fourth finger,
and I just keep them down like this and automatically my thumb is flat,
on the fatty part of my thumb,
not on the chip where the bone is,
that would be pretty sore if I was always pressing on that.
I use my thumb as a fulcrum where I can switch around and stretch for different notes.
So here's a warm-up and it's fairly dynamic.
I feel that puts me right in the right place before I start playing.
These are frets. So this is the first fret,
second fret, third fret, fourth fret.
I put my first finger second fret of the sixth string [MUSIC] ,
and I just let [MUSIC] my fingers [MUSIC] ,
my weight go down [MUSIC] on each string.
[MUSIC]
If I was doing this alone,
I'd be holding them longer,
but we don't want this to take [LAUGHTER] too long.
Trying to keep our fingers close.
Notice how I'm landing that finger,
just my weight go right down on each string.
That gets my fingers spread out and ready to play.
[NOISE] Now while I'm doing that,
let me talk about the picking on my right hand.
I call this picking rest strokes.
Classical players play rest strokes by
resting their fingers on the next string when they're playing.
I rest my pick on the next string, the string above.
So let's say I'm playing this note and [MUSIC]
I don't pick out and I don't pick all the way down,
I just pick and let my pick rest on the next string.
When I get to the first string,
I make believe there's another string there,
and I just do about the same.
[MUSIC] So it's always like a rest stroke going down.
I always know where my right hand is and where my pick is
because I'm resting on the next string
and I also get a better sound by having that rest stroke.
Also, always keep your guitar in tune.
You always need a tuner.
It's very important to have the guitar always in tune.
I would do that first before I even start playing,
just get the guitar in tune.
If you don't have a tuner,
this is the highest string, the first string,
and this string is E above middle C on the piano.
So if there's any way if you have a piano or some type of
instrument that can play in E above middle C. But the main thing is have a tuner.
I always tell my students,
bring the tuner in and tune up as soon as you start playing.