[PsychoRythum]

I am seeking advice on how to relax the left (fretting) hand more, and thus let gravity move my hand as I relax more, so things then become easy to play. I've been trying to practice pressing the strings to the frets as lightly as possible, with some success, but could please give help on this? I've noticed that with all good players, you can actually see this "lightness" in their fretting hand. I realise that if I can really relax and remain relaxed, I will be able to play faster, and playing chords and everything else I do will become easier.

A relevant question to ask here is about the position of the left hand thumb. I know the general rule is to keep behind and low of the neck so your fingers are arched, but I've always wondered about good players who have their thumb sometimes right over the neck, even when playing really fast. So I've experimented with different positions of the thumb, and realised sometimes it make my arm and fingers more relaxed, and also that this changes depending on different playing situtations. What do people think about that?

(The rest is just my thoughts on all of this).

I've realised the key to acquire almost all technique is when you're able to relax enough. The more relaxed you are, the easier it is to play. The easier it is to play then, the easier it is to relax etc. So when practicing , players should focus on relaxation.

When you're relaxed, you can feel the force of gravity kind of doing for you. This means letting your struming hand drop through the strings by the force of gravity, and making sure you try to let your fretting push the strings to the frets by the force of gravity.

I have never quite understood what people mean when the say use the force of gravity until now. To do things by the force of gravity on guitar, you kind of just begin the movement, and then relax and let gravity take over. In other words, once something's in motion, it will continue being in motion forever until another force stops it.

[allthumbs]

Sounds like your on the right path. You hear a lot about the thumb being under the neck and it is a great thing for beginners to start with because of their lack of hand flexibility. Classical, shredders and wheedlie players tend to adhere to it because of the increased finger range. For the rest of us, the thumb can move, gliding from middle neck to edge, depending on what you want to play and maximum comfort.

[justinthyme]

Jamie Andreas has made an entire industry around the whole relaxation issue - I have her DVDs at home and personally think they are a little over the top, but there's no doubt relaxation is important. For me, tension is a constant enemy.

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.

One thing I find useful whenever I find the 'death grip' overcoming my fretting hand (which is often - but less often than it used to be) is to consciously really think hard about what it is I'm trying to do - ie push the string down just behind the fretwire - not push the string down onto the fretboard, and I try to do this with as little effort as possible. I watch the distance between the string and the fretboard too, to re-inforce that. That may or may not help you - in some strange way it helps me quite a bit.

Its funny - somedays I still feel like I have to push harder than others - but again, this is becoming less frequent. Other days its just like a feather-touch.

Well, that's my 2 cents.

[scotty_b]

I think the positioning of the thumb is crucial for reach and accuracy of finger placement. I use the thumb behind the neck position for general playing, but will use it over the top when I bend or fret notes with it.
I also have the same DVD's by Jamie, and I am a big fan. I have found being aware of relaxtion at all times has really helped with moving up through the gears. I used to get a lot of tension in my biceps as I played quickly.

[wcostley]

I need to practice lighter fretting pressure because after over 7 months of practicing I find my fingers still get sore, in concentrating on using the lighter pressure though I find that my plucking fingers automatically are plucking lightly too, weird huh?
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[PepticDust]

My teacher talked about this at our last lesson. He said when you fret, you should feel it coming from your shoulders and elbow.

As for the thumb, I tend to keep mine at the top of the neck, you can actually see it poking above the neck when I fret most of my chords.

[PsychoRythum]

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....).