Hand Position

Anyway, I'm going through John Petrucci's Rock Discipline and I notice that if he's playing on the high E string his fingers are bent more at the two end joints to compensate for not moving the wrist. You know what I mean? On the low E his fingers are stretched out, and on the high E they're cramped together closer to the palm and his wrist doesn't move. This is on his fretboard hand.

My question is: Anybody see any problems with keeping your fingers at a reletively equal length from the palm, even if you are on the high E string? ie. moving your hand back away from the neck as you go to the higher strings... because for me it feels better and I can whip out those scales faster than having the fingers cramped together.

(note: my wrist doesn't move while I'm playing either, but nor is it in the same position as Petrucci. It's slightly bent.)

After some consideration, I don't really play like that at all. I was playing in front of a mirror to see the hand position differences shortly before I wrote the above (and also for self-glorification) and I started playing with my hand way out from the fretboard because it looked cool. Anyway, now that I'm back from the mirror, I've realized that I'm an idiot, and I do indeed cramp my fingers as I head towards the higher stings.

John's picking style is brutal.. I personally like the thumb and index finger method used my Michael Angelo and many others. Visually and physically, you feel like you have control and looks cool cos in the mirror your picking hand seems to do nothing. But hell with looks, I tend to alternate when my thumb+finger can't keep up.

Originally posted by andy82
But hell with looks, I tend to alternate when my thumb+finger can't keep up.

My appologies, but I think we're talking about 2 different things. I was refering to my left hand - the one on the guitar neck. I think you're talking about the right hand and picking styles. When you say 'thumb+finger' do you mean you're picking without a pick and using the thumb and finger?

On that note I've got another question - ... This forum is great because I fix my problems just trying to describe them properly.

[Edited by daveasdf on 10-29-2003 at 09:25 PM]

i think its quite normal and natural that the fingers are arched more when playing on the higher strings.

i personally have discovered that my thumb position is far from "normal" i have my thumb not centered under my fingers as it should be. depending on where i am on the fretboard i have it either like one fret below my indexfinger or the higher i move up on the fretboard the more it reaches over the fretboard just like i owuld fret a note with the thumb. but since it feels comfortable and i dont have any problems with it, i´ll leave it that way. and thats basically what everyone should do. if you feel comfortable with a certain technique thats not "normal" and you dont have any problems with it, then stick to it. but when it starts to hinder you when playing certain things you´ll have to rethink it. i mean just look at marty friedmans picking hand. its completely spastic but for him it works!

That's true, but I was in a bad way after wrapping my hand around the fretboard and using my thumb for root notes in barchords (ala hendrix) for 3 years. Felt normal but think of how cramped my hand was. I was out for 6 months and had to change the way I played which took a while. I guess if John Petrucci has played that way since he was however young then I'm safe.

Originally posted by daveasdf

Originally posted by andy82
But hell with looks, I tend to alternate when my thumb+finger can't keep up.

My appologies, but I think we're talking about 2 different things. I was refering to my left hand - the one on the guitar neck. I think you're talking about the right hand and picking styles. When you say 'thumb+finger' do you mean you're picking without a pick and using the thumb and finger?

On that note I've got another question - ... This forum is great because I fix my problems just trying to describe them properly.

[Edited by daveasdf on 10-29-2003 at 09:25 PM]

LOL, what was I on???? Hmm thats the day when my last Software project was due. I must have been ****ed in the brain... well when I said "thumb and finger" i meant picking with movement in the thumb and index fingers only using the pick. I would never try playing the electric without a pick unless I was to play country etc. If you watched the infmaous "Speed Kills" clip of Angelo playing No boundaries you'll know what I mean by using the fingers to pick.

and yeh.. this forum is great, Good retreat from the boredom of practice.

I agree. I'll have to check that video out as I haven't heard or seen much in terms of metal until recently. Just plugging away at what my signature says. Pretty decent, this profile stuff. Now I'm a real forum junkie.