The TuneUp Program

Fingerpickers, as opposed to classical players, have evolved a myriad of different styles and techniques based, usually, on what is most comfortable for the individual player.

If you're hand is relaxed and you can play with a relatively neutral wrist (some ulnar deviation is inevitable for most of us) and a strong neutral thumb then your wrist position is OK. Most of us will play with some flexion of the wrist which is not generally a problem.

Fingerpicking - Lateral ViewWith the thumb parallel to the strings the wrist can be relatively neutral.Previous Image 1/6 Next

If you are going to be a competent fingerpicker you'll need a relaxed technique, at the same time the best way to achieve this is to get good at what you're doing. The technique exercises and plenty of practice will be your best friends here.

Fingerpicking requires independent movement of the thumb and usually two or three fingers. This independence of movement is not required in most other activities so we are neither constructed well anatomically or well practiced at achieving it. For this reason the focused awareness approach that we take to most other disciplines has to be modified here.

Rather than focusing on specific areas of the body the best way to free up the right hand is to focus on something else. The right hand needs to fly, with little or no conscious effort. Focusing on the sound you're making, keeping your breathe easy and slow, your shoulders soft allows the hand to switch to auto-pilot, relying on the hours of practice you've already put it in.

While you're putting in these hours and training your muscle memory so that it can take over for you like this keep these points in mind:

• Repetition will build muscle memory but it is also the primary cause of overuse. Ensure that you're practicing with your shoulders and hands soft. You don't necessarily need to play slowly, if you can play short passages up to speed then go ahead but if you try to play too fast your hand will tense up.
• When learning a new piece repeat short passages to build new movements into your muscle memory
• Get enough rest breaks, intersperse the repetitive movements with other activities, either a warm up exercise, any of the stretches or mobilisations for the forearm or the baoding exercise.