Now, Climbing The Neck

Questions & Answers

8 months ago

Hi, I see instructor Anders using his strumminghand-pinky as a reference on guitarbody. I ''ve seen video's on the web that you should never do this, as it created problems later on. I'm confused if I should avoid or also use this technique, please help. Ludo

Mike Olekshy 8 months ago

Hey there - thanks so much for your question! There's not really an issue with using your pinky to anchor your picking hand. However, as you develop your skills on the fretboard, you'll find sometimes that anchoring the pinky might inhibit a certain technique or piece of music from being played properly. At that point, simply adjust away from using the pinky to anchor. Hope this helps!!

1 year ago

Hello. I sent a question in regarding the practice of spider walking and hitting the frets with all my fingers correctly. I'm really struggling trying to get my fingers to stretch without moving my whole left hand up and down the fret board. Please suggest anything to try. Thanks, John Kreuzman

Mike Olekshy 1 year ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Right now, it is not critical that your left hand doesn't move. Your job right now is to play the notes by any means necessary - which means it's totally okay for the left hand to move a little, or the thumb to change position. Keep practicing. As you get your hours of practice in, your fingers and hand muscles will loosen, and it will become easier and easier to stretch those fingers across the frets without moving your left hand position. Keep at it - it will come! Hope this helps!

1 year ago

Hello, I have a question about knowing when it is best to move on to the next exercise/sub-tutorial, etc. I am finding I can do this (or other) sessions accurately (say, 95%), once or maybe twice, then I mess it up. Should I keep working on this, or move on? THANK YOU!

Mike Olekshy 1 year ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Our suggestion is to only move on to the next lesson when you fully understand the material presented, and can play along with the musical example slowly. So it sounds like you're good to move on! However, it's always a good idea to continue to practice the material you've learned in previous tutorials regularly to really burn it in. Hope this helps!

1 year ago

Hi!! I am doing this exercise all the way down the fretboard, and then I also come back the same way up to the first fret. I have an issue though: I cannot seem to be able to reach the first fret of the following string with my index finger if I still have my pinky finger pressed down on the previous. It is way too far, even by changing position of the hand. Same when I climb up, I cannot place the pinky if the index is still down. Is it fine to to lift the pinky and then go down with the index on the first fret? (same for the opposite way around when I go upward) I do this way only when I change string up and down between index and pinky finger and vice versa.. Please let me know if it makes sense what I am saying :) Thank you!!

Mike Olekshy 1 year ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Yes, it's totally okay to lift the pinky when going to the next string. Eventually, with lots and lots of practice, your fingers will loosen up over time. But for right now, just do the best you can!

2 years ago

When I lift my last finger from a string to go to the next one, the string I am leaving makes a sound. Is there a right way to prevent that? Thanks

Mike Olekshy 2 years ago

Hello - thanks for your question! Yes, you'll need to try and mute the string you are leaving. Usually, we do this by lightly resting the palm or side of the picking hand on that string. You could also position your index finger so that the tip lightly touches the previous string thereby muting it. Experiment and see what works for you. If it is too difficult right now, don't worry about it. As you gain more technique on the guitar, the muting becomes a little easier to do.

3 years ago

This is a very good exercise. Getting my pinky to hit the strings well is a challenge, particularly the low E (6th) string. I have to bend my hand at the wrist quite a bit to reach the low E (6th) string. Anders appears to bend his hand quite bit at the wrist, so is this the correct approach? My finger span is not large enough to span frets 1 thru 4, so I have to move my hand slightly to reach frets 3 & 4. Is this the right approach? I have trouble picking the correct string sometimes. Is there some technique I should try, such as placing my pinky on the sound hole? Anders seems to just know where the correct string is all the time without using any anchor technique. So should I avoid using an anchor technique? Will I instinctively know where the correct string is after enough practice? Thank you for the guidance.

Josh Workman 3 years ago

Hi and thanks for your questions. It's ok if you need to lift your index or pinky (depending on the direction you're going) slightly, in order to play all four notes. Anchoring: If you look closely, Anders is actually anchoring his pinky on the front of the guitar. It's more like he's stabilizing with the pinky and it travels as needed, rather than staying completely glued in place. Some people anchor, some people don't and there are many variations on how to do it. If you do this exercise slowly and accurately with a metronome, gradually increasing the tempo, your hands will naturally find their way to the right spot, without much thought.

3 years ago

Great lessons so far. Thank you! How do you keep your pinkie from moving around? On the way down it stays pretty close to my ring finger. On the way up, it moves further away from the fret board with each finger change.

Josh Workman 3 years ago

Hi Gregory, This is a good standard exercise to get your picking hand and fretting hand synced up. Play as slowly as you need to do it cleanly (with a metronome) and observe what all of your digits are doing. If you see your pinky (or any other digits) starting to fly up, slow down and visualize all of your digits staying close to the fingerboard. It really does involve slowing things down at first and training your fingers. It will get better, as long as you start off slowly. Josh Workman, GT instructor

3 years ago

How do I make sure my hands are right over the fret if my hands are too small? Thanks

Josh Workman 3 years ago

Hi, good question! Definitely make sure your thumb is behind the neck, rather than sticking out over the top. A good starting position would be such that the thumb appears as if it could touch the tip of your index if there was no guitar neck between the two digits. If you aren't able to have all four fingers hovering over each fret, that's ok. You will gradually get to where at least the finger that is about to come down on the string is in the right position and the fingers that played right before that note will naturally peel away from the neck to allow this. This comes from slow, accurate practice and will eventually be second-nature.