Strength in guitar playing

There is a common misconception, like a pervasive urban myth, and unfortunately probably encouraged by the titles of certain books, that good players have "strong hands".

An appealing, attractive, simple idea, and like many appealing attractive and simple ideas... not true.

The left hand on guitar does not require strength - it requires balance and connection with the rest of the body, that's why I call it the "Tight Rope Walker".

The person who thinks their left hand lacks the strength for guitar playing is either :

• Approaching the instrument with the wrong concepts of left hand technique



• Suffering very poor "use".

The second option is unlikely unless the person is suffering a debilitating condition of the nervous system, and they would probably have found that out before getting to the guitar!

The key is "transmission of the gesture of expansion" to the strings via the fingers.
Use the Expanding Posture with the large muscle groups in the back and let the hand stay soft and pliable.



Look at videos of the very young women Li-Jie and Xufei Yang as the play the most demanding barre pieces like "La Catedral" with their very small hands. They display almost no effort and wonderful coordination and connection.

Arm Wrestling as an example of apparent strength

See how relaxed you can be during an arm wrestle - you don't win arm wrestling with the hand or arm alone ... unless you are built like Lou Ferrigno !

There is an old martial arts party trick. "Try and bend my arm" - or "let's arm wrestle"..... and once you know how you can do it with an apparently totally relaxed arm.

The secret is to use the back, the legs, right down to the feet if need be - and to maintain the connection from the fingers to the feet. I've seen my ex-teacher - a 100 lb "weakling" - Greg Gillett - defeat the push of 3 determined rugby players this way, as Cheng Man-Ching is in this picture .