John Myung's technique

[Eyesee7]

You can get a good down-the-neck look at his playing style in this in-studio video:



It appears that the fingers of his left fretting hand are lifted quite a distance off the fretboard when moving between notes, even straightening in some instances, i.e. he's playing a note and lifting that finger high off the fretboard, then bringing it down again to play the next note with that finger.

Wouldn't this be considered a less economical style than keeping the fingers curled and close to the fretboard between notes? I can't imagine taking lessons and being taught to play the way he does, but obviously it works for him because he's been playing DT's lightning-fast riffs all these years. Is it possible that straightening and lifting his fingers like that is actually stretching them and preventing cramping? Your thoughts?

 

[grifff]

He does that in the studio to eliminate string noise from switching notes.

 

[Eyesee7]

Bump for more responses

 

[MooseLumps]

Boy howdy does he look busy...

 

[Trapezius]

He seems to play surprisingly hard live. How can he play that hard and that fast? The guy's got some serious strength.

 

[Rudyboy98]

Trapezius:

Practice is the only answer I can come up with.

R...

 

[roccobladr]

sweet bongo

 

[Ric5]

Entwistle did stuff like that with his left hand as well.

 

[Bassorama57]

Not that I know John M., but he was originally schooled in violin and did go to the Berklee School, so...I doubt it's a bad habit, undobutedly to add some percussive texture (note the guitarist is using the same technique) to those passages. Note how John's technique becomes much more fluid around timestamp 4:04, because the chart then calls for fluidity.

I don't think I'd get tired so much as I'd get carpal tunnel; I'm at the age where I have to be very careful with form and technique.

It is a schweet Bongo.

 

[tomas_almeida]

To me atleast, his left hand technique never seemed very fluid, I do believe it is a bad habit. He also places his left thumb on the edge of the neck (deathgrip it's called, right?) when he's playing the first 3 strings, and that is a bad habit for sure.

 

[Getaway Driver]

To me atleast, his left hand technique never seemed very fluid, I do believe it is a bad habit. He also places his left thumb on the edge of the neck (deathgrip it's called, right?) when he's playing the first 3 strings, and that is a bad habit for sure.

Not that I know John M., but he was originally schooled in violin and did go to the Berklee School, so...I doubt it's a bad habit.

...

 

[santucci218]

he would still rip most of us a new one whether its "bad" technique or not.

 

[Kgoodrich]

I'm glad he bends the strings hard with his thumb (like me) whenever he is playing the bottom couple of strings!

 

[Trapezius]

sweet bongo

... of the Congo