# Fingerstyle smooth technique



## Jaaaaamie (Feb 1, 2014)

Hello,

I've been practising a lot of finger style recently and have come to a kind of kink.

My technique seems to be quite rigid, in both hands but mainly in my right hand for the actual picking. It feels like my fingers catch quite hard on the strings and get stuck right before I pick the note, which doesn't really allow for nice sounding or smooth notes.

Maybe this is to do with my posture, hand position, general mental approach or, most probably, a mix of all 3.

I've watched videos on right hand technique but all of the examples given really don't feel comfortable at all.

I don't know whether to start over and try to apply a textbook technique or just stick with how I play now but try to make my fingers not catch the notes.

I did have the same problem with a a plectrum before, but I learned gypsy jazz style picking for about 6 months, and although it was highly tedious and felt like I was starting to learn guitar all over again, it was well worth it and my picking has improved tremendously.

Any advice? It's really frustrating


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## rikomaru (Feb 1, 2014)

Are you picking with your fingers? I've noticed when I use my fingers instead of my nails, I catch the strings more often. The skin mellows the sound but your nails facilitate smoother playing mechanics. Also, do you catch the strings in general or only when using certain techniques?


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## Jaaaaamie (Feb 1, 2014)

rikomaru said:


> Are you picking with your fingers? I've noticed when I use my fingers instead of my nails, I catch the strings more often. The skin mellows the sound but your nails facilitate smoother playing mechanics. Also, do you catch the strings in general or only when using certain techniques?



Yeah with the fingers, my nails start to grow quite far down my fingers in comparison to other finger nails ive been checking out (on the sly) so if im gonna pick with my nails they need to be rediculously long, like 1cm, at this point they get flimsy and dirty.

So yeah straying away from the story of my finger nails, i only pick with fingers but try to put in some of the nail as well. I can make the picked notes sound smoother by picking lighter but its obviously harder to hear the notes this way and they dont have much clarity


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## rikomaru (Feb 2, 2014)

I have a somewhat similar issue with growing nails so if you don't want to grow them you can try this: alter your picking a bit so your fingers move more perpendicular to the soundboard instead of parallel. 

Also, something I do just before playing is press my fingertips (nails excluded) against a hard edge for about 20 seconds to bring my nails out a bit. I have oddly thick fingertips so if I don't get that cm of growth my nails simply won't reach the strings without doing this. It doesn't need to hurt or feel like you're stretching the skin attaching your nails.....just pressure on the tips. Conversely, if you want to use your skin you can apply pressure to the pads of your fingers to give them more of a > shape instead of the normal ) shape which tends to catch on the strings. I typically end up doing these quick fixes around every third song, so about 15-20 minutes. It doesn't take as long for the refreshers so if you use your guitar as the hard edge like I do, just lightly press until you feel your nails on the side of the body close to the distance needed to cleanly pick the strings. 

The only permanent fix is technique alteration, but i've found the pressure tricks to be effective in the mean time.


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## Svava (Feb 2, 2014)

One of the main things they taught us in College Classical Guitar class was to relax the pinkie. That is a huge one.

Also the knuckle of your pointer finger should be over the string you're playing at any given time.

The hand doesn't move, it's all the fingers coming in towards the palm. "don't pluck the string, depress it"

My teacher called it the "baby wave" type of motion for doing it.

For me the big thing was the pinkie....

And you don't need hyper-long nails. You want a bit of nail and a bit of flesh in each stroke for optimum tone as far as I was taught.

Good luck- I hope this helps a bit!!


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## Jaaaaamie (Feb 4, 2014)

rikomaru said:


> I have a somewhat similar issue with growing nails so if you don't want to grow them you can try this: alter your picking a bit so your fingers move more perpendicular to the soundboard instead of parallel.
> 
> Also, something I do just before playing is press my fingertips (nails excluded) against a hard edge for about 20 seconds to bring my nails out a bit. I have oddly thick fingertips so if I don't get that cm of growth my nails simply won't reach the strings without doing this. It doesn't need to hurt or feel like you're stretching the skin attaching your nails.....just pressure on the tips. Conversely, if you want to use your skin you can apply pressure to the pads of your fingers to give them more of a > shape instead of the normal ) shape which tends to catch on the strings. I typically end up doing these quick fixes around every third song, so about 15-20 minutes. It doesn't take as long for the refreshers so if you use your guitar as the hard edge like I do, just lightly press until you feel your nails on the side of the body close to the distance needed to cleanly pick the strings.
> 
> The only permanent fix is technique alteration, but i've found the pressure tricks to be effective in the mean time.



I didn't really understand the finger pressing but now my finger tips look like small doritos. 

Maybe I'll keep them like this, it might catch on if I wear them down the local roller disco on a tuesday night.




Svava said:


> One of the main things they taught us in College Classical Guitar class was to relax the pinkie. That is a huge one.
> 
> Also the knuckle of your pointer finger should be over the string you're playing at any given time.
> 
> ...



I'll try this tomorrow, I'm not allowed to play after 10pm, lockdown noise control from parents.


I just tried to play again with metal finger picks and it sounds so much better. maybe I will try to adapt my playing with these as well, although it makes percussive acoustic a little more difficult.

I just found these which seem to be more suited to the actual position of the finger nail, and they won't get in the way as much as the finger picks.

Fingerstyle Guitar Butterfly Finger Picks And Thumb Pick (4 Picks) | eBay


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