Where do you rest your right hand?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 5 Mar 2008 6:01 pm

Hi Bill, why would you want to see your right hand ?

Bill Duve · Post by **Bill Duve** » 5 Mar 2008 6:15 pm

Ive been playing about 8 months and its become less of a matter now than like in the begining but the habit of my right hand staying about halfway between the bar and the changer stayed ! Sounds good that way too....

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 5 Mar 2008 6:22 pm

Bill, Ive been playing Professionally for over 50 years, so I may have the slight advantage..

The practise of playing far away from the changer is not conducive to even note volume and in most instances has come about by players trying to improve the tone of their guitar, when all that was probably wrong was that their Amplifier was either not good enough or incorrectly adjusted.

Picking far from the changer WILL give you a more mellow tone but so will correct adjustment of the amplifier, AND picking far away from the changer will increase the initial Transient of the note thereby making the ratio between the transient and the sustained tail-end of the note greater. That will create a PERCEIVED shorter sustain.. Because the ear will take the initial transient as the note's reference level..It will get lost much quicker within a mix of other instruments and not APPEAR to carry as well as a note played near the changer with the overall volume slightly heightened to compensate for the smaller transient.

Study the Master Classical Guitarists, they rest their "Pinkie" on the sound-board of the guitar not too far from the bridge..some of the time.

Bill Duve · Post by **Bill Duve** » 5 Mar 2008 6:33 pm

Thanks Basilh,
I'll try it..Could be why the sustain suffers so bad sometimes.

And almost anybody has an advantage over me heee-hee..

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 5 Mar 2008 7:20 pm

What Basil said is an absolute must on the lute. With as many as fourteen courses you can completely lose track of what string you're picking if you don't anchor your hand. The more strings an instrument has, the more vital it is to have a solid point of reference. Did you ever watch Ray Charles playing the piano ? The first thing he did after sitting down was to feel both ends of the keyboard and position himself in the centre.