Right Hand Movements on Classical Guitar

Video Transcript

" Okay, now I’m going to show you a little technique that a lot of teachers start with their beginning students. Once you get into playing some music you will find that the standard position of P on the Base strings and I, M and A on the Treble strings really doesn’t work because you are going to have to move all around against the strings. So what you are going to want to do is make very subtle movements involving the shoulder, elbow and hand. Note that my hand will stay in the same position as I shift across the strings. So if I want to move the whole thing up I just lightly pull back and that keeps my fingers in the same position. If I want to move back to where I was just lightly push it forward again. The same thing goes if I’m playing lines on just one string alternating fingers. You’ll start, play a couple fingers, shift the whole thing up to the next string and it’s a very delicate movement but it helps maintain the fixed position that you’ve spent so much time learning in the right hand. Things like this help you maintain a consistent tone on all the strings and over moving, moving too much will end up you’ll over shoot and you’ll miss the notes and you’ll move to far back and you’ll end up playing on the wrong strings. So when you’re trying to shift against notes just make it a very subtle movement and be sure not to tense up."