About Right Hand Positioning.

YOUR "ANCHOR" FINGER

When you begin to finger pick your right hand will need to be "anchored". (If you are left handed and play chords with your right hand then this information applies to your "left" hand) When you're picking your finger picks must come up on the string just right each time you go to pick a string. That is you want your finger to hit the intended string. This is done by using your little finger as a reference or a "picking anchor." Place your little finger on the top of the guitar near the bridge and pick guard. Use this as your anchor point. By having this "picking anchor" on the top of the guitar you will be able to "know where you are" in relation to the strings without looking at your hand. At first it doesn't matter because your just getting started and you will want to be looking at your hand. However, as you progress, it is BEST to practice without looking at your picking hand. Learn to "listen" to what you are doing. "Listen" for mistakes, "listen" as you make those corrections and learn to "feel" how to make those corrections without looking at your picking hand. That's why you have the picking anchor. Learn to rely on that picking anchor. Learn to trust it and use it. This will help you later as you learn to "listen" for "Picking Patterns" in songs. Basically what you want to do is to "LEARN TO LISTEN CAREFULLY"

You can move this picking anchor as you need to when changing picking patterns. In the patterns on the page "Picking Patterns #1- 4" you will place your picking anchor so that your first two fingers come up on the "b" and high "e" strings. Your first finger on the "b" string and your second finger on the "e" string. In this position those fingers are "dedicated" to those particular strings. That means that when it is time to play one of those particular strings you will use the finger that is "assigned" to that string. I will refer to this position as the

FIRST POSITION

Note the 1st finger is on the 'b' (or 2nd) string. The 2nd finger will be on the 'e' (High or 1st)string. In this "FIRST POSITION" you will not be using your 3rd finger at all. It just floats. Your thumb will be covering the bass strings, the 'e, a, d, and g' (or 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd).In most picking patterns your thumb will only be playing the 'd and g' strings and occasionally the 'a' (or 5th) string. There are some songs that when using this position I will reach up the the top bass string the 'e' (or 6th) string with the thumb, but that is a rare exception. I mention this because as you improve you to may want to do that too.

To help you find your "picking anchor" at first, simply place the finger picks on the respective strings for the "Position" you will be in (for example - 1st POSITION, touch or lay the 1st finger pick against the "b" string and the 2nd finger pick on the "e" string.) and then "anchor" your little finger on the top of the guitar. As you improve, this will just happen without you giving it any thought at all.

It is not critical where you place your anchor finger. Generally you will have your anchor somewhere between the hole of the guitar top and the bridge. Sometimes it may be close to the bridge, other times it may be further up, even over the guitar hole. You will notice a change in the sound of the strings as you make this change in hand position along the strings. This is because picking a string near the bridge causes the string to vibrate differently then when picked over the hole. Near the bridge you hear more "overtones" in the sound. When its picked over the hole you hear more of the full strings vibration, which makes for a fuller bass sound. This can make for a nice variation in the quality of the sounds the guitar makes and you will see any good artist make good use of these different sounds. So you will want to learn to move you hand back and forth along the strings as you play to make good use of these differences. This can be done while still "keeping your anchor," because your anchor "slides" back and forth on the top of the guitar, helping you to "find" the strings as you go.

As I mentioned before, you will also move your anchor "up and down" as you need to when changing picking Patterns. On picking Patterns #5-9 for example you will need to move your anchor "up" towards the strings so that your fingers are located over the correct "assigned" strings.

I will refer to this as the

SECOND POSITION

Note the 1st finger is now on the 'g' string. The 2nd finger on the 'b' string and now in this SECOND POSITION the 3rd finger will be "dedicated" to the 'e' string. In this position the thumb will be covering the three bass strings.

This 2nd POSITION is the one that you will be using the most. In this position all six strings of the guitar will be used on a regular basis. For example, in Patterns #6, and #10-13 you will be using this picking anchor position.

Another position that is sometimes used is

THIRD POSITION

Note that the 1st finger is now on the 'a' string. Usually when I use this position I don't use my 3rd finger at all, but just the 1st an 2nd fingers and let the thumb cover the 'e' and 'a' strings. This is a pattern that is occasionally used when highlighting a bass program or a run and is not used much at all. I don't show any Patterns for this position on my Patterns pages because of its infrequent use but I'm showing it here because I wanted you to know that you can do some interesting things in this position if you would like. Actually you could use some of the same patterns for the 1st POSITION in this Position too or you could make up you own patterns.

On the other pages you will be moving your anchor point up and down on the top of the guitar to position your fingers on the appropriate strings for those patterns. You must learn to move your anchor as you vary your picking patterns while continuing to play. The goal is to be able change your anchor back and forth between the different patterns with not even a hint of any change or a pause at all in the musical flow. There should be no interruption in the rhythm at all even when changing anchor points. I suggest some exercises on the picking pages that will help you develop this skill. You will need to work on this once you have mastered a number of the patterns. If you're just starting to learn to finger pick, don't worry about all that just right now. Learning to move your anchor will come in time. At first just get used to the patterns, and as you improve start getting used to moving your hand around.

COMMON MISTAKES

Now let me point out some common mistakes in hand position so you won't do them.

It's important that the right hand be in a relaxed position with the fingers having a slight curve. If you are sitting with the guitar, the wrist should be relaxed with a slight bend downward. Keep the palm of your hand up and away from the bridge or the top of the guitar and strings.

Do not flatten the hand and curl the fingers too much. These tense positions will make for fatigue and cramping in the long run, not only in your hands but also in your style of music and sound. You need to be relaxed and let the music flow from your hand and your finger picks.

NO GOOD
Note the fingers are cramped and the palm is too close to the top of the guitar - NOT GOOD!	Again the hand is cramped and the thumb is too cramped as well. The palm is too close to guitar top. - NOT GOOD!

To correct this problem pull the hand away from the guitar top more so that the picking hand is in a comfortable and relaxed position. Imaging a small ball in the palm of your hand is helpful. With a small tennis ball in your hand your fingers would have a natural curve around the ball. That is the basic shape you want your hand to be in. Of course, keep it relaxed.

Note the slight curves in the fingers because the palm of the hand is up away form the top of the guitar. (Tennis ball)	Here you can clearly see the relaxed position of the hand THIS IS GOOD!

WRONG FINGER MOVEMENT

Another common problem that beginners sometimes have. They may tend to exaggerate the finger movement of their picking hand. Extending the fingers out almost straight while picking is not good. If your fingers go way out and around until they come back up onto the string then your technique is not good and needs to be corrected.

DO NOT PRACTICE IT WRONG! Slow down and correct your technique!

To correct this problem keep that slight curve in your fingers (like you see in the photos above) as you play. Your fingers only need to move enough to pluck the string and that is it. Your fingers should never straighten out but should always have that curve in them and only move no more then an inch or so towards the palm of your hand while plucking the string. This is done so that the tip of your fingers make little circles. How little? Well, no bigger than a quarter (25 cent piece). If your fingers are making bigger circles like the size of a half dollar, and your fingers are straightening out while picking, then you need to work on your technique. This exaggerated finger movement will make for problems down the road and should be corrected as soon as you can.