How to play guitar with your right hand?

Particular attention should be paid to the correct positioning of the right hand when studying the finger method of playing acoustic types of a six-string guitar ("classical" or varieties of "acoustics"). This applies both to the students themselves and to the teachers. But first of all, of course, it is important to follow the rules of setting hands for those people who learn to play the instrument on their own, since there is no one to look after them.

You need to make a reservation right away: all the information that follows below about the position of the right hand on the guitar when playing is valid for those novice guitarists who have a right-handed model of the instrument on their knees (for right-handers), and not a rare store copy designed for Paul McCartney (for left-handers ).

First of all, novice musicians need to understand that the main function of the fingers of the right hand is to extract sounds from the strings of the instrument.... In addition, the right hand is involved in supporting the instrument and in most cases sets the tempo and rhythm of the music performance.

But that's not all. Let's list other possibilities of the right hand and its fingers.

Percussion simulation:

• golpe technique on the top deck or a special overlay (golpeador), common among flamenco guitarists;

• various "plugs", consisting in the artificial muffling of sounding strings, as a result of which a click is imitated, reminiscent of the blow of brushes or bongos;

• a blow with the base of the hand on the deck above the strings, imitating a bass drum ("kick") of a drum kit, is used in fingerstyle;

• Thumb striking the lower-register strings to create a hi-hat sound (also primarily used by metal-string acoustic guitarists).

And also the fingers of the right hand can grip the strings and simultaneously extract sounds from them (for example, the technique of artificial harmonics and tapping).

For an acoustic guitar, place your right hand as follows.

1. Sitting with the guitar in the classical position (the body of the guitar rests on the left hip, the headstock is at the level of the left shoulder, the plane of the instrument deck is perpendicular to the floor, the student sits straight, the shoulders are lowered and relaxed) lower the right hand along the body and relax. In this case, the outer side of the hand is turned outward to the side.
2. Bend the hand without undue tension so that the fingers, being together, take with their last two phalanges a parallel position in relation to the floor. The thumb is still straight down and forms a cross with the rest of the fingers.
3. Without changing the position of the hand relative to the forearm, we transfer the hand, bending it at the elbow and lifting it at the expense of the shoulder joint (while the shoulders themselves remain in the same position) to the most convex part of the guitar body.
4. The forearm rests on the rib of the body, formed by the junction of the top soundboard and the sidewall, about 5-8 cm below the elbow, which depends on the anatomical features of the guitarist.
5. The brush in a semicircular state should be in the area of ​​the resonator hole.
6. Put your fingers on the strings: the thumb (denoted by "P") to the 6th string, the index finger ("i") to the 3rd, middle ("m") to the 2nd, ring ("a") to 1- NS. The little finger does not participate in the game, so it can be straightened a little so that it does not interfere with other fingers, does not touch the strings.

After placing the right hand and her fingers on the strings it is necessary to check the correct position of all elements of the hand and correct mistakes:

• the directions of the hand and forearm coincide - they are on the same straight line;
• the hand has a rounded shape, similar to that which can be seen if one imagines that there is a small apple between the palm and the strings;
• the wrist joint is bent outward, and not inward - towards the deck (a gross mistake of beginners);
• the thumb is slightly ahead of the line of the index finger, which is especially visible from the side of a novice musician - if this is not the case, then the situation can be corrected by slightly more roundness of the hand and bending of the fingers (i, m, a).

All mistakes in placing the hand and fingers must be eliminated immediately, and then the whole process must be repeated several times from the very beginning, that is, from the moment the hand is lowered to the starting position and its complete relaxation.

In this case, fatigue during the game practically does not occur.

For beginners, the main ways to play with the right hand are as follows.

• Playing arpeggios on open strings. Here you need to learn how to pluck the strings freely, learning along the way the main methods of sound production: apoyando and tirando.
• Alternating sound production on one or more strings with different fingers. You also need to start with open strings.
• Thumb playing technique: separate from the other fingers, together with the index, together with two, with three.
• Playing harmony (chords): thumb, forefinger, all fingers.
• Study of simple types of rhythm (accompaniment) in order to study chords.

There are different playing patterns for arpeggios. It is recommended to play in order as follows:

1. mixed arpeggio: P-i-m-a-m-i (the thumb plays on the 6th string with apoyando, the index finger plays the 3rd tirando, the middle finger plays the 2nd tirando, the ring finger plays the 1st tirando);
2. upward: P-i-m-a (bass - apoyando, others - tyrando);
3. downward: P-a-m-i (everything is apoyando).

For variable sound production on a string, use the following schemes:

1. i-m-i-m;
2. m-a-m-a;
3. m-i-m-i;
4. a-m-a-m;
5. i-m-a-m.

For a chord game, choose to start the battle scheme: strike down by 4 counts. Study clear strikes only with the thumb, then with the index finger and simultaneously with all fingers of the four strings: 6th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st fingers P, i, m, a, respectively.