Miguel de Maria -> The other "position playing" (Nov. 6 2003 20:13:49)
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When you watch a great player, one of the most impressive things about them is that usually it looks quite effortless. Sure, they may grunt and grimace (this is flamenco, after all), but the actual playing of the guitar seems to cost them little effort, strength, or brainpower. Their struggle is to contain this great emotion welling up within them, causing them to contort their faces, clench their hands like talons, scream a blood-curding cry. Wait, wait. I was talkinga bout guitarists, and then I went off onto a tangent and started on singers. Let's get back to guitarists. Position playing is maybe the biggest secret to this effortless playing, I think. This is when you fit what you are going to play into certain "locations" on the guitar. Each "location" has a bunch of permutations, scales, chords, idiomatic tendencies. When these are mastered, that positions is yours to do what you will with it. Most of us start with the 1st position, you know, open C, G, A, etc. We learn how to get around 1st position pretty well. Once in awhile we'll venture out to the fifth, maybe even the nether regions of the seventh or twelfth, or (shiver) ninth...whatever is in the ninth position, I don't know. Well, master guitarists get these other "locations" down just like we get the 1st position down. And just like most of us can figure out "Dust In the Wind" in first position, once we get these other locations down, we can start playing LOTS of arpeggios for bulerias! But I wanted to talk about the "other position playing." This is an idea that just came to me today. I was struggling with a d chord in the second position. Fourth finger on the fifth string, fifth fret, third finger on the fourth string, fourth fret, second finger on the second string, third fret, second fret barre. A scary, hard chord for me. The current piece I'm learning uses it a lot, for strums, arpeggios, and tremolos. In trying to get this chord down, I found that I was exerting a lot of pressure. No matter what I did, I couldn't play the chord without ye olde Death Grippe. Something occured to me... a little paradigm shift, I guess. And that was, it doesn't really matter how hard you push or hit the strings, it's more where they go (and secondarily, how fast they do it). For example, if you want to play a loud pulgar run on the E string, you want that string to go down deep towards the soundboard. If you pulled it horizontal to the soundboard, you'd get nothing, if you push it down, you get a big sound. So the thought occurred that more than force, it is place--location. If you want to play a loud note, you need to get the string close to the soundboard. But we were talking about the left hand. I reasoned that what was important is where the string was, not how hard I held it. You want to hold the string so that it catches on the fret cleanly--that's all. Sure, if you're playing real hard, you'll need to hold it down a little more, but first thing's first. This way of thinking helped me get that second position D chord going. It's also very liberating for normal barre chords. It's not about gripping the neck like it's your boss at work in a satisfying revenge dream. It's about using your left hand to position the strings correctly. Mentally, at least, it sure shifts the emphasis, no? If you are buzzing then look at your hand and see how you're "out of position" and what you can do to get there. If you think this way,you're more likely to find an efficient solution, less likely to go in search of the "burns." I think this can be applied to any kind of fretting. Even scale passages are often played too forcefully, with too much tension. Tension drains strength, saps speed, makes you tired, and makes playing much less enjoyable. I hope this helps someone!
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