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Jon Boyes -> RE: Tremolo practise and hand position (Jan. 17 2006 8:33:05)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: fevictor
I seem to always point my fingers tips towards the neck of the guitar, thus attacking the strings at a 45 degree angle or so. Ive tried to rotate my hand so as to point my fingers down more, but it just feels wrong. Supposedly if I look down at my hand the thumb and index fingers should cross?
Troubleshooting position problems is a necessary thing you have to work through and is more difficult without a teacher who can see where are going wrong. but you are getting hung up on one aspect of one particular school of classical guitar technique there. That crossed thumb/index thing was an idea derived from Segovia's technique and shouldn't be used as a basis for postioning in flamenco.
However, its true that playing the strings at more of a right angle will give you a brighter sound - classical players are taught to play at more of an angle to give a fuller sounding mellow free stroke.
A few things for you to think about and try out:
Take a look at just about any flamenco player and you wll see their thumb resting on the the sixth string or soundboard for stability (unless its in play) which is something classical guitarists don't do, and when you are doing pulgar lines, the wrist drops down so you can dig in and get that flamenco sound - again this is not something CG players do, so there is no worrying about what finger is crossing what, and certainly not that Segovia position I think you are referring to.
LISTEN to the sound you make and compare this with the sound you want to make (ie the sound of good flamenco players) what is different? If you experiment with hand positions, what brings you closer to that sound? Is your hand comfortable?
Try moving your hand into a new position from the shoulder and elbow, rather than trying to bend it into postion from the wrist.
Watch as much flamenco videos as you can and you should get a better idea of how to position the right hand, although there is no one 'correct' way, it as all about functionality and security. Some players can pull off a wide variety of techniques without much change in position, others move their hands considerably - who cares as long as it works and its comfortable?
The Graf Martinez videos show some shots of the hand from behind the strings (camera in the guitar) which is a nice idea and may be helpful.
One more thing - when looking at positioning you have to consider everything, not just one hand eg how you are holding the guitar, where it is on your lap, whether you cross your legs etc. All these things affect what your hands have to do and where they end up in respect to the guitar. Tiny shifts in position can make big differences.
Another thing to try: instead of sitting down, positioning the guitar and lastly trying to find the position for your right hand, do it the other way around - sit down and imagine you are holding your guitar with your hands in the perfect position. NOW see if you can replicate that with the guitar in your hands (may be easier if you get someone to hand you your guitar whilst you do this).
HTH.
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