Now lets talk a little about the wrist position because this is important too. The amount of curve in your wrist can vary somewhat. This is in accord with your personnel taste and the way you like to hold your guitar while playing. For example some like to have their guitar down by their hips when standing or while using a guitar strap. They think that looks "cool." If that's what you prefer then your right hand position will be different then when sitting down on a stool. If your guitar is down at your hips you will need to bend the wrist slightly upward. If you are sitting down or your strap is holding the guitar higher up around your chest, then your wrist will need to bend slightly downward. So the wrist position is depending on your guitar position.

The Goal With Wrist Position

What you are trying to accomplish with this angle in the wrist is to have your finger movement to be perpendicular (Right angle or at 90 degrees) to the string. Also the picks should come up on to the strings so that the "tongue" of the pick hits flat against the string. Please keep in mind that you will probable never have your fingers coming to the strings at exactly "right angles. "Look at it like this - it's mealy a goal. The closer the better. If your finger movement is somewhat parallel to the strings then your picks will "scrap" the wound strings as you play. NOT GOOD! This is what you're trying to avoid. Using plastic finger picks will help "mute" this problem some what. Twisting the pick slightly on the tip of the finger will help too. (Shown below) However, for the BEST results, your picking technique needs to be correct. Your technique needs to be such that the finger movement and picks are coming straight up onto the strings. To accomplish this your wrist position is the KEY!!! Twisting of the pick is just "fine tuning." (See below)

The reason for for having to bend the wrist is you must compensate for the position of the elbow. The higher the elbow is over the bridge - the greater the need is to bend the wrist upward. The further back the elbow is from the bridge - the need to bend the wrist downward. When the elbow is somewhere in between - the wrist can be straighter. With the guitar up by the chest the elbow is bent and it's back behind the bridge - so the wrist bends downward. With the guitar down by your hips or waist the elbow is straighter and over the bridge - and so the wrist must bend upward. With the guitar at your belly area the elbow is in between and so the wrist can be straighter.

Personally, I feel that with the guitar down at my hips my guitar playing is hindered because the guitar is too far away from my upper body. In that position the left hand wrist is forced to bend too much. This doesn't feel comfortable or natural for me. I like the guitar to be closer to my chest. That way the left hand is "more relaxed" allowing for more freedom for left hand guitar work (very important to me). Of course I've always been more concerned about sounding good then looking "cool." The position you choose is a matter of personnel taste but the rule is you must feel comfortable and relaxed, otherwise your endurance will suffer and so will your music.