Lone Star Guitar Academy

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Using Your Left Hand

But we can become the masters of the left hand in no time.

First of all, let's talk about the proper technique for it:

  1. Make sure that your wrist is straight and relaxed, not bent or twisted. This will help you avoid tension and pain in your hand, wrist, and forearm. You also want to keep your thumb behind the neck of the guitar, not over it. This will give you more leverage and control over the strings.

  2. Remember the frets of the guitar? Well, you have to use those things. Press down on one the strings with your fingertips on one of the frets. You want to use the tips of your fingers, not the pads.

  3. Press down and squeeze the neck of the guitar between your finger on the string/fret and thumb on the back of the neck.

  4. Avoid touching adjacent strings with your fingers. That's because this will mute the other strings. Each finger only gets to touch one string at a time.

Look at the picture below for a good left hand position:

You won't be able to keep all these ideas in mind all the time. Focus on one thing at a time. Look back on the list above. With a little bit of practice, they will be more become natural and effortless for you.

I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something new today. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy playing!