floating hand technique

i heard that paul gilbert uses the floating hand picking technique. that means that the picking hand is completely off the guitar right? how does he keep his guitar from feeding back while using gain then? i use the floating hand technique but i can't play using distortion without getting some ugly feedback. how does paul gilbert do it?

please help me. it's really irritating. i get so much noise out of the other strings when i play with gain.

Try to keep your hand hovering over your pickups to try and avoid feedback.

I use this technique and it merely means that you don't anchor your pinky or ringfinger on the pickguard.

oh okay. thanks a bunch.

Most of those pro dudes with eight foot racks have a noise gate in their racks that clips the signal just right, thus no feed back even if their feet float off along with their hands. I play a Jazz box sometimes [es335 copy] that tends to feed back mucho, but if you stand just right in relation to your amp and with the proper hand position you can play feedback like an E string. Tricky though; if it gets out of control it can rip your flesh like a weasel.

Originally Posted by: PonyOneit's actually a good technique to get grounded in. most music schools encourage using a floating hand. initially it is way easier to anchor a pinky or other finger, but, i think that after awhile it's worth it to learn to not anchor yourself so you have more freedom of movement.

But I'm not sure not anchoring yourself necessarily give you more freedom of movement. Speaking for myself only, I think I can play just as fast anchored or unanchored- not that speed is everything, of course; I guess saying I can play just as well anchored or unachored is a better way of putting it. I'm a little biased *against* a floating hand, cuz, as a Berklee College of Music Performance Major dropout (late '70's), Berklee *forced* all guitar players to use a floating hand; the ONLY thing allowed to touch the strings was the pick. No hybrid picking, no dampening of the strings with your palm. That really ticked me off, and really changed my playing style. I'm of the mind of "whatever you're comfortable with" school, and if you can get to where you want to go on the neck, I don't care if you use your toes. Some people think anchoring is a crutch, but I say, so what? I play both ways now, depending on what I'm doing, but mostly I'm somewhat anchored. I have to admit when I'm playing REALLY fast, like Zakk Wylde fast, I'll be floating. On the other hand, I was learning Flight of the Bumblebee after hearing Petrucci play it, and for some reason, I'm more comfortable playing that anchored; maybe because it's so chromatic, I dunno. Ironically, I'm teaching guitar to my daughter, and I'm only allowing her to use a floating hand; I want her to be able to feel her way around the neck without the "crutch". The difference with my experience, is, I was playing for about 10 yrs. before going to Berklee and kinda had to relearn things; to my detriment, imo. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

yeah i used to anchor my fingers to the guitar body. Then I read that a lot of the great players use the floating hand technique. I tried it, it took me about a day to get used to it, but I found that my playing got better because my hand was more free to move. I think its okay to lay your fingers on the guitar body, sometimes my fingers will naturally do that, just as long as you don't ANCHOR them to the body.

Originally Posted by: SilimtaoBut I'm not sure not anchoring yourself necessarily give you more freedom of movement. Speaking for myself only, I think I can play just as fast anchored or unanchored- not that speed is everything, of course; I guess saying I can play just as well anchored or unachored is a better way of putting it. I'm a little biased *against* a floating hand, cuz, as a Berklee College of Music Performance Major dropout (late '70's), Berklee *forced* all guitar players to use a floating hand; the ONLY thing allowed to touch the strings was the pick. No hybrid picking, no dampening of the strings with your palm. That really ticked me off, and really changed my playing style. I'm of the mind of "whatever you're comfortable with" school, and if you can get to where you want to go on the neck, I don't care if you use your toes. Some people think anchoring is a crutch, but I say, so what? I play both ways now, depending on what I'm doing, but mostly I'm somewhat anchored. I have to admit when I'm playing REALLY fast, like Zakk Wylde fast, I'll be floating. On the other hand, I was learning Flight of the Bumblebee after hearing Petrucci play it, and for some reason, I'm more comfortable playing that anchored; maybe because it's so chromatic, I dunno. Ironically, I'm teaching guitar to my daughter, and I'm only allowing her to use a floating hand; I want her to be able to feel her way around the neck without the "crutch". The difference with my experience, is, I was playing for about 10 yrs. before going to Berklee and kinda had to relearn things; to my detriment, imo. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Are you sure about Berklee?? Al di Meola was there during that time and he palm mute a lot!!! But yeah I hate it when schools make you do one thing, they don't let you see what technique is more comfortable for you, they'd probably make me change my economy picking technique if I went there, since its not "proper."

good pick-ups help but for guaranteed no feed-back when playing with a floating hand you need to damp all unused strings with your fret hand. it's not that hard but it often means changing your hand position which can be daunting. plenty of players play real fast (and loud) with their hand "fixed" (usually at the bridge where it can best damp feed-back) try both, find what's best for you and stick to it.
apologies to FYL by the way, i meant no disrespect. Slainte.

Originally Posted by: akeTricky though; if it gets out of control it can rip your flesh like a weasel.

SWEET!!!!!

Originally Posted by: Guitarro777Are you sure about Berklee?? Al di Meola was there during that time and he palm mute a lot!!! But yeah I hate it when schools make you do one thing, they don't let you see what technique is more comfortable for you, they'd probably make me change my economy picking technique if I went there, since its not "proper."

I think DiMeola was there just before me. Don't forget, HE dropped out of Berklee also, lol.

Originally Posted by: Guitarro777Are you sure about Berklee?? Al di Meola was there during that time and he palm mute a lot!!! But yeah I hate it when schools make you do one thing, they don't let you see what technique is more comfortable for you, they'd probably make me change my economy picking technique if I went there, since its not "proper."

Floating hand and palm muting aren't contradictory techniques.

Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonFloating hand and palm muting aren't contradictory techniques.

Not according to the gospel of Berklee guitar playing technique. At least when I was there, lol. When they said "float"- they meant that literally- NOTHING touches the guitar with the picking except for the pick.

Originally Posted by: SilimtaoNot according to the gospel of Berklee guitar playing technique. At least when I was there, lol. When they said "float"- they meant that literally- NOTHING touches the guitar with the picking except for the pick.

People palm mute in jazz all the time. I doubt they entirely rule out a technique like that.

Originally Posted by: Jolly McJollysonPeople palm mute in jazz all the time. I doubt they entirely rule out a technique like that.

I should have been more specific in how Berklee wanted you to pick in all the times I've mentioned it in various threads. Not only did they want you to float, but they wanted you to hold the pick with your thumb and forefinger, and have the rest of your fingers balled into your palm like a fist. I found this created alot of tension in your picking hand, and yeah, they did rule out palming. You have no idea how restrictive they were in "proper technique" unless you were there. One of these days I may start a thread on past and current Berklee students to see what's going on these days.

On a slightly different note, the tech that setup my Ibanez was a Berklee Performance graduate- from the Japan school they setup overseen by an American Berklee trained instructor. He graduated about 15 yrs. ago, we got to talking, and he told me they were pretty restrictive, still a be-bop jazz school. Don't get me wrong though- Berklee has alot to offer in the way of theory, ear-training, arranging; but if you're a performance major, it's their way or no way. In NYC there's plenty of Berklee graduates that play in small venues I've heard- unfortunately, THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME. Of all the perfomance majors I personally started with, not a single one stayed on to graduate. Maybe things have changed these days; I really don't know. Hey, I just found this on google re: Berklee Guitar Performance major: http://www.berklee.edu/departments/guitar.html A Jimi Hendrix Lab?? Jeff Beck?? Guess they're catching up with the times. Wish that was the case when I was there. Here's another site I find really interesting from Berklee; the guy is not only playing a solid body, but he has some distortion going. Check out his right hand- when I was there, they NEVER would have let your hand be open like that. http://www2.berkleeshares.com/assets/display/768385/berklee_metronome_for_shredders.mov