Paralyzed by Fingering Fear

[ecj]

Lot of good advice in here, but I'll put in my 2 cents as well.

Given your mental state, I think the best thing to do would be to pick one proven system and master it. My guess is after you do that you'll realize that learning one thing doesn't in any way stop you from moving on and learning the next thing.

My suggestion would be to start by playing through the whole Leavitt Modern Method series. It's absolutely proscriptive in what it tells you to do with fingerings, and if you master the 6-fret system you'll find that almost everything else is just permutations of those basic fingerings with shifts, for the most part.

Start there, master it, then move on to picking up particular fingerings for licks from the players you admire.

[Reg]

working on fretboard fingerings is a skill... There are basically two systems with variations... pick one and get it together.

Caged is old school based on open position chords, involves position changes and or lots of 4th finger stretches... it works just fine. The somewhat called berklee or Bills system is based on positions for each note of scale all based on 6th string roots with 1st finger stretches, It obviously works also.

Using performance of pieces of music to learn fingerings doesn't work... you'll learn fingerings that work for a specific piece of music... which may or may not work for other music. Your talking apples and oranges.

Fingerings are a technical skill...the goal or end result of getting your fingerings together is to not need to think about how to finger something on your fretboard... the internalized system you choose will adapt as needed when you play... the point is you'll have a system which creates references up and down the fretboard when you play, to the point where you don't need to think about it. Your playing the guitar... the guitar isn't playing you.

[boatheelmusic]

Reg, agree that learning fingerings via tunes isn't productive.....but using them right away in a tune, once learned, will reinforce the sounds in them and how they fit together.

My experience, anyway....

[Reg]

Sure everything helps right, some things just work better than others. There is always some type of balance between what's practiced... But if your playing jazz, generally you already have many of the required skills al least somewhat down the road, beginning guitarist don't start playing jazz. It's not like I can play stairway to heaven... I'm ready to play jazz.

Learning a a basic guitar skill like fingerings is not an afterthought... It's something that should be developed very early.

and as I said and believe... Learning fingering from tunes creates more problems than it will solve. But as you somewhat said...playing tunes is the goal, playing music etc... Not learning fingerings.

[EOE]

divide your time.. only work on technique 20 minutes three times a week.. work on perfect fingering hand position etc. but when you play do not worry just play..I make my students use classical technique even bass players. but knew they had that instrument slung down to their knees at their band rehearsals. dived what you study into time slots.

[snoskier63]

This problem of yours is not simple, but try to realize that there is no such thing as one proper way to play anything. You may need to work with somebody on more than just your guitar playing to figure things out, but it will be worth the time and effort. All guitarists are different, and therefore will prefer to play in whichever way suits them. Why else would there be so many ways to play the same scales and lines? We all want to play like our idols, but to try and do so would likely be very frustrating if we don't share their inherent skill set. My suggestion which is easy to say, and much more difficult to accomplish, is to focus on replicating with your playing the sounds you are hearing rather than worrying so much on replicating what you are seeing. Afterall, music is an auditory pleasure, not visual, so what people hear is ultimately all that matters. One example has to do with using ones thumb to fret the 5th and 6th strings when playing certain chords. My instructor as a kid was a phenomenal professional jazz guitarist and used his thumb quite often with excellent effect. Over the years many other players and instructors have discouraged this practice for various reasons. Ultimately, my own skill set dictated how I would play. My hands aren't big enough to get the two bass strings with my thumb, so no matter how hard I try or how much I want to play exactly like my former instructor it just can't happen. Therefore, I must make certain adaptations to get it done, and with much practice and a pretty good ear anything is possible. Best of luck!

[Jonzo]

That reminds me! It's time for my yearly physical.

[christianm77]

Big subject fingering, left hand technique.

There are many considerations. A primarily melodic player (Wes say) might favour three fingers, thumb over the neck and lots shifting and simple chord voicings, where a player more interested in chordal language (Ben Monder or George Van Eps) would need to use all four, perhaps with a more classical stance and technique.

I used to think 3 fingers always best for melody playing (as many of my favourites Charlie C, Wes, Dave Cliff, Peter Bernstein etc use this), but Jim Hall one of the best melody players of all time used a classical position left hand.

I think it really depends on your mindset. I would advocate consistency and comfort above all for anything requiring muscle memory (such as runs and so on) but for improvisation I recommend cultivating flexibility. For example, I try to practice melodies with different fingers and try to think ahead so that if I need to put a voicing in I can put the melody on a finger that will allow me to hold the note over. Things like this take a bit of work, I have to say, but it's quite fun.

Things like HO/PO triplets also require flexibility in fingerings.

One thing I learned slowly - small position shifts are your friends, especially for bebop. While it's a useful exercise to play everything in posiiton, this rarely sounds the most natural.

Have fun! There's nothing to be scared of :-)