Rhythm Technique Melody Harmony Repertoire Improvisation Shop Rhythm Technique Melody Harmony Repertoire Improvisation Performance CONTACT TUITION PUBLICATIONS RECORDINGS PERFORMANCES SITE MAP Acts Peter Inglis - BIOGRAPHY Home Page Search Bookings Acts Bio

Rest stroke or Free Stroke?

Here is a question heard daily by guitar teachers the world over :

"Should I use Rest Stroke or Free Stroke for this passage ?"

A false dichotomy. There are not two types of right hand stroke.

There is an infinite continuum of strokes from the most gentle and flexible to the most rigid. As I describe in my book and all my writings, if you get the hierarchy right then you need never worry about "which joint is moving in the finger", or "rest stroke"... etc.

In fact if you do think like that you are playing "mechanically" rather than thinking "what colour - what effect do I want to create here, at this moment, in this piece, in this environment... ". Of course some people might prefer to play mechanically !

As I reiterate over and over in my books, images such as this :

... present mere "frozen moments" from what is a flowing, complex movement integrated into a larger series of movement which ultimately involve the whole body.

Sometimes the finger may indeed contact the next string after the stroke, but knowing this bit of information tells us nothing at all about the overall process. Talking about the "rest stroke" and "contacting the next string" is not only looking at the end of the process, but even more absurdly, it is focussing on the part of the process which produces no sound !

So, to reiterate:

There is an infinite continuum of strokes from the most gentle and flexible to the most rigid.



Related links:

The SITE MAP shows the organisation of topics on this site, which outlines the hierarchy of skills involved in playing the guitar.

"Guitar Playing and how it works" explains the hierarchy / network of skills which must be involved when deciding how to play a piece of music:
  • Chapter 1 - Your Body is the instrument
  • Chapter 2 - Right Hand - your voice
  • Chapter 3 - Rhythm is Movement
  • Chapter 4 - Left Hand - tight rope walker
  • Chapter 5 - Scales on One String
  • Chapter 9 - Putting it all together
'Guitar Playing and how it works' - This is the book you need to GET THE BASICS right for ANY style of guitar playing. Work out the best approaches to mastering any style of music. Open the doors to your own personal style - click here to read excerpts and see videos.


Content of "The Whole Guitarist" website www.thewholeguitarist.com is copyright © 1997 - 2008 by Peter Inglis, Sydney Australia. All rights reserved.