Resting my hand

[dwarf]

Ok I may or may not have asked this before.

My old teacher used to kill me if i rested my picking hand on the strings, and he forced me to keep them off. Well when I quit lessons with him I got into "bad habbits" again.

What do the majoroty of you guys do, resting the hand feels more natural to me, but I might be getting into a bad habbit again.

CHeers.

 

[Codmate]

When i use a pick, my palm often rests on the bridge - but sometimes it just floats, not really resting on anything.

When finger-picking I tend to try and use the best classical right-hand position I can muster (which isn't very good - lol).

 

[dwarf]

Ok thanks for that. (more opinions welcome)

he was a classical teacher, left knee and nothing resting on the strings.

 

[pikingrin]

It all depends really. I'd say about 90% of the time I keep my pinky finger in contact with the body of the guitar. It slows down my picking a little I think, but it also gives my hand a comfortable gap away from the strings. Other than that, it really varies quite a bit. Either palm muting or floating, but usually the pinky is glued down.

 

[HapiCmpur]

I'd say about 90% of the time I keep my pinky finger in contact with the body of the guitar. It slows down my picking a little I think, but it also gives my hand a comfortable gap away from the strings

Same here. I'm sure it slows me down, but in exchange I feel that it gives me a standard point of reference that increases my accuracy.

 

[stetto]

Me, when playing bass, I like to rest my thumb on the top edge of the neck position pickup, and swivel my wrist to keep my attack at the same angle on each string...

...On acoustic I use so many different postions it's ridiculous, 'cause I 've found a world of tone and attack variations dependant on where and how my hand rests...If I'm fingerpicking, which I do predominately, I rest a pinky on the pickguard...Used to be on the bridge, but since I installed the I-Beam I can't get away with that anymore...

...On electric 6-string I rest my hand on the bridge, moving it forward or back if I want to mute the strings...

Eric

 

[ermghoti]

he was a classical teacher, left knee and nothing resting on the strings.

Bingo. I was going to ask if your teacher was a classical player, because that is correct classical technique, along with a rigid posture, remaining motionless aside from necessary arm movements, and remaining expressionless, and a bunch of other crap rules that have little to nothing to do with playing a guitar, let alone playing a style other than classical.

I basically play rock, and my right hand may or may not be on the strings, as is most usefull at that moment. My right fingers not involved in pick-grasping are muting any high strings that aren't supposed to be ringing, and the heel of my right palm is muting any strings below the ones I'm playing

Unlike many electric players, I move my right hand back and forth along the strings a lot, I hear a big difference in one, and use that to my advantage.

 

[punkin]

Hand usually resting on the bridge. The heel of the palm sometimes resting on the string to mute unplayed strings or palm muting. When playing finger style...assume the classical positions.

I remember way back, Steve Vai had some kind of palm rest set up on his tremelo. Anyone recall this? Be curious to know if anything is being made like this today?

 

[foo]

If you want to play classical (or any style) music, it helps to have the best technique for that style.
Good classical style indicates that your picking hand floats over the strings - with an occassional thumb actually resting on and touching the bottom E string.
If you want to be able to play some serious classical pieces (Capricio Arabe, Asturias, La Ultima Cancion and etc.) you're going to need to have really good technique.

Good blues-style picking usually requires an anchor for the thumb to pick out the bass line with some power. The thumb in a blues picked tune is usually the bass and the rhythm.

Bottom line 1:
What do you want to be able to do?

Bottom line 2:
If it sounds good, it is good.

 

[HapiCmpur]

Bottom line 2:
If it sounds good, it is good.

Bottom Line 2 is problematic, foo. What sounds good today probably is good today, but it may also stick you with a bunch of bad habits that will keep you from sounding better tomorrow.

I'm too old to worry about stuff like this now, but if I were younger and planning to do something serious with my guitar skills someday, I'd be absolutely ruthless about my technique.

 

[TMatt142]

Hapi, true but have you ever watched guys like Steve Morse, John Pettrucci, or even EVH. as far as technique goes lets be real, Morse, anchors his pinky a lot (I see that not in any way slowing HIM down). Like what was mentioned earlier, what works...well, works plain and simple. True, technically precise players are great, but there are a lot of technically "unsound" players who are their equal. Ever watch Vernon Reid? How about how George Lynch holds his pick and the attack he has on strings. Way off the norm but it definitely works for both.

 

[foo]

Bottom Line 2 is problematic, foo. What sounds good today probably is good today, but it may also stick you with a bunch of bad habits that will keep you from sounding better tomorrow.

I'm too old to worry about stuff like this now, but if I were younger and planning to do something serious with my guitar skills someday, I'd be absolutely ruthless about my technique.

I guess my thought process on that was use the classical technique for the classical pieces, and then don't use it on Jimmy Reed, Blind Blake and etc.

But from personal experience I can tell you it's not easy to seperate them.

 

[Davo364]

personally, with a pick, right hand floating, finger picking i alternate between right hand resting just above bridge so as not to cause muting and for more expressive pieces my right hand floats as i change the floating position to alter tone, resting my right hand is probably not the best technique but it seems to work fine in the pieces i play that way. i only really noticed i was doing this recently.

 

[ggunn]

Me, when playing bass, I like to rest my thumb on the top edge of the neck position pickup, and swivel my wrist to keep my attack at the same angle on each string...

...On acoustic I use so many different postions it's ridiculous, 'cause I 've found a world of tone and attack variations dependant on where and how my hand rests...If I'm fingerpicking, which I do predominately, I rest a pinky on the pickguard...Used to be on the bridge, but since I installed the I-Beam I can't get away with that anymore...

...On electric 6-string I rest my hand on the bridge, moving it forward or back if I want to mute the strings...

Eric

I play a 5 string bass (when I'm playing bass), and I rest my thumb on the B string. Otherwise, it starts rumbling and throwing a bunch of mud into my sound. Better bassists than I insist that every string that is not being played be muted at all times; I am working towards that.

 

[gvarko]

Usually

Resting on the bridge for quick palm muting possibilities..

 

[famous beagle]

Yeah this is really very simple.

If you're playing classical guitar, then you don't need to have your palm resting on the bridge. Dwarf said his teacher was a classical player, but he didn't say whether he was taking classical guitar lessons.

If you're playing electric guitar, then you've got to rest your palm on the strings at times to mute them if you don't want to sound sloppy. Regardless of how perfectly precise your left-hand technique is, other strings will ring out sympathetically at times if you don't keep them quiet. (This does happen with classical guitar as well, and I don't really know how they deal with it. It always bothered me when I played classical guitar in school, but I don't play it much anymore, so I'm not so concerned about it anymore.

But I think the point that Foo was getting at when he said "If it sounds good, it is good," is that there are appropriate techniques for different styles.

Stevie Ray is a case in point. A classical teacher may look at his left hand and say "terrible!" But he had amazing technique for his style. His left hand muted strings that he didn't want to sound, allowing him to pick through all six strings at once to sound only one note. The main riff in "Pride & Joy" is a perfect example of this. That riff doesn't sound the same if you just pick one note at a time really precise like. You need the added percussion of all those muted strings being struck along with the one note that rings out.

As long as your technique isn't causing you physical harm, then who's to say what's "proper" technique?

 

[simpleybass]

On acoustic guitars, resting your hand on the bridge, even if it's not muting the strings, does absorb vibrations and makes the instrument quieter.

Not that I never do it, just a comment.

Then again, the guy that told me about that plays a Martin, and it's usually way too loud...

 

[IronFlippy]

My wrist usually rests right above the bridge. When I'm playing the higher strings, it automatically mutes the lower ones. I have no idea if this is good technique though.

 

[David Katauskas]

When playing power chords, some solo techniques and palm muting, my palm is ALWAYS is on the bridge/strings. Everything else, my palm is floating...especially classical.

Don't sweat it, there are times when it's applicable...other times not.

 

[HapiCmpur]

True, technically precise players are great, but there are a lot of technically "unsound" players who are their equal. Ever watch Vernon Reid? How about how George Lynch holds his pick and the attack he has on strings. Way off the norm but it definitely works for both.

No doubt about it. In fact, if some players didn't violate "proper" technique from time to time, there'd be no innovation. And that would suck.

On the other hand, I think it makes sense for most of us mere mortals to master proper technique before getting too creative. After all, proper technique evolved from the cumulative experience of tens of thousands of players over hundreds of years. That's pretty valuable.

Let's put this in another context: Mohammad Ali was arguably the greatest heavyweight of all time, and he did not box with proper technique. He kept his hands on his thighs most of the time instead of in front of his face, and this drove his early trainers crazy. Eventually, though, they discovered that he was fast enough to get away with it. Most people aren't.

I see that Dwarf, who opened this thread, says he's 16. If I could be 16 again I'd make the guitar my religion. I'd practice daily under several different teachers and would strive to master several different styles by my mid-20s. Eventually, I'd probably unwittingly ease into a style that's a comfortable mix of the best parts of each school of thought, but I'd probably also be able to do justice to each distinct style if I needed to. And that would be sweet. That would be very sweet.

Wish I was 16...