Left Hand Techniques Presentation of the fretting hand "Cradling the Guitar"...expanding posture The arm moves to present the passive hand over the appropriate position on the guitar neck...... The knuckles align so the fingertips are bought naturally to rest on the string. The thumb remains passive......the thumb contacts the neck but does not squeeze Placement of the LH fingers ascending By expanding the posture, the fingers are brought into contact with the strings. The resistance of the strings is contained by the expanding posture. Placement of the LH fingers descending The fingers 1 - 4 are placed simoultaneously, so that when the finger 4 is placed, fingers 1, 2, 3 are still containing the strings.		Change of position ascending The fingers relax - the arm moves to the new position with the 1st finger remaining in contact. In the early stages an audible portamento will be heard. This can grow briefer as confidence is gained. This technique is how Violinists achieve accurate position changes... the ear guides you as to how far to travel. Change of position descending The fingers relax - the arm moves to the new position, with the 1st finger remaining in contact with the string. Temporary Displacement The thumb serves as a reference point..it remains in contact and stationary as the arm displaces the fingers up to the new position. The gap between thumb and fingers is thereby widened. This is shown as T.D. on the scores. This is an excerpt from "Scales and Arpeggios and How to Play Them - 1998" This book was superceded in August 2003 by the publication of "Guitar Playing and how it works". I will leave these pages on-line as they still contain useful information.
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