Fretting with Minimal Effort

[SSINTENSE]

Hello,

Last week in my lesson I learned how to use the entire arm rather than just the hand to scale and explore the fretboard. I shared this in my previous post.

This week I learned more excercises to bolster my technique even more. Paul mentioned last week that it is good to use just enough pressure to fret the strings. I took this into consideration but still didn't realize I was fretting too hard!

The thing is is that alot of novices tend to use the fretboard as the barrier or stopping point to fret. What I learned last night is to not do this! The best sounding note is the one that is made with just the right amount of fretting pressure. Fretting too hard not only lowers the quality of the note, it also takes away endurance and speed.

I learned an excercise that really helped me grasp this last night. I want to share it with you all.

Pretend there are grooves in your fretboard when you play. What happens if you fret all the way to the bottom of the grooves? The pitch gets warped and bent, and you do not want that. By pretending there are grooves inside your fretboard while you fret you will find that you will press the frets very lightly but at the same time you will get a nice tone. I got the hang of it real fast and my speed really picked up. I really noticed a difference in the amount of energy it took for me to play something fast which involved a good portion of the fretboard. It seemed very easy this way. I also noticed I made a much lower number of mistakes as opposed to before.

I got the hang of this real quick and I imagine most people will. You will be amazed at how much endurance, speed, and tonal quality is sacrificed from fretting those notes real hard (like i used to).

Also please remember to play relaxed. You want to be loosy-goosy when playing. This is still something I am working on and I have to keep constant attention at it but I know that with time and repetition it will begin to come naturally to me.

Be wary of all tension in your wrists, fingers, arms, shoulder, and back. BE RELAXED. I was told that your practice environment could have a big effect on this depending on who you are. Do what you have to do to be relaxed.

[rokkitt]

I was starting to get wrist problems and forearm problems

I switched to lighter strings and now use a lighter touch.


You WILL suprise yourself at how little pressure it takes to fret a note.

My stamina has improved, and I prolly gained some speed.

I am just "lighter on my feet"

Yes, highly recommended, it worked for me!

Al

[tasty sweeps]

also, fret the string closer to the fret. like right behind it, almost on top of it. there's less travel area there anyway, so even if you did have a scalloped board you run less risk of changing the sound of the note accidentally with too much pressure.

that and the lighter touch you've described go hand in hand. and typically one leads to the other. it's hard to get a solid fretted note with a light touch playing in the wrong area in regards to the fret.