Six Secrets of Guitar Fingering

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Introduction

Fingering is one of the most universal topics of the guitar. Whether your style is Rock, Blues, Country, Jazz or Classical, these principles will improve your technique, your solos, even your sight reading.

Think of the guitar as a massive series of pathways. When you learn to connect these pathways, there are benefits not only to technique but also to creativity. All fingering on the guitar can be reduced to 6 principles of motion. Each principle has physical and musical characteristics that you can use to improve your playing.

Technically, fingering problems are linked to the guitar’s unequal tuning of perfect fourths with one major third between strings three and two. This characteristic tuning forces constant adjustments in fingering and contributes to the difficulty of learning the notes on the neck*. Note duplications, open strings and unequal tuning all contribute to the complexity of guitar fingering. Since the guitar’s strings vary in diameter, notes produced on different strings vary in tone color. Generally, thicker strings produce warmer or darker tone color. Thinner strings produce a brighter or more cutting tone color.

This book is devoted to the application of the six principles of guitar fingering. The study of fingering can be broken down into several topics of study. They are : position and technique, finger independence and strength and the principles of motion with their applications. The first step is a good hand position. Critical for technique, a good hand position eliminates the needless waste of effort and energy so typical of underdeveloped fingering technique.

There is a companion workbook for The Six Secrets of Guitar Fingering titled The Pathways of Guitar. This is the companion workbook to The Six Secrets of Guitar Fingering. Study the six principles until you fully understand their movements. Then, use these principles to work your way through the Pathways of Guitar.