Quote:
Originally Posted by justinthyme
You hear this advice about letting gravity pull your fingers onto the fretboard - but if my understanding of physics is correct, unless you are laying on your back, that isn't going to happen - so I've never really understood that idea - but would be glad if someone could enlighten me.  I suppose if the fretboard is facing slightly skyward, there's an element of downward pressure there. |
Yeah, I agree with all that, and I think the facing skywards thing is the right idea. I've had Jamie's book (not the DVD) for a long time, but I've never really understood it until I started making these discoveries recently. I've also read her essay "The Incredible Lightness" which is useful.
I also forgot to mention something else I wanted to share, which is to concerntrate a lot on the strumming hand. If you can get the strumming hand really relaxed, it'll make moving the fretting hand easier, because the
sympathetic tension (Jamie Andreas teaches it) is gone.
The strumming hand is a lot easier to relax, and make sure you're not holding the pick too tight. Once you've been playing for long enough, I think you can just let it "rest" between your fingers, rather than having to really grip on it, and you don't have to worry about losing the pick (beginners will probably drop the pick occasionally at first).
So, when you focus on letting the strumming hand drop by gravity, I find that my fingers naturally loosen unesasary pressure on the pick. It's interesting that I found I'm more relaxed when I use my thumb and middle finger to hold the pick (like Eddie Van Halen....).