I apologize if this has been asked before, but I didn’t see it in the recent topics.
I’m making my way through the beginner lessons (currently on grade 1 module 3), and am generally feeling my fingers strengthen and toughen. However, I feel that I’m still putting too much pressure when pressing down on the strings. It tends to happen during the song practice portion of my routine; I just sort of find myself getting INTO the song and pressing down too hard, and I have trouble scaling it back.
Does anyone have any suggestions for something a bit more practical than just trying to be mindful of how hard I’m pressing down at all times? Are there any exercises I can try that could help this become more second nature to me?
Here is a lesson that Justin made on this subject.
2 Likes
Hi Makloos,
Ultimately it is going to come down to repetition and listening to the sound you are making and mentally moving to not over or under pressure.
Are you playing Acoustic or Electric? I often move back and forth between both and I find that Acoustic needs a lot more pressure and the Electric a lot less. So when I move back and forth my acoustic will buzz (not enough pressure) and my electric will goes sharp (too much pressure).
Personally I practice by playing chords a lot (not playing songs) and just listen to the sound of each string and make adjustments to fretting hand to make the notes ring out. I repeat that over an over again to get the right sound so that my fingers remember what to do when I need to play the strings in the song.
Aim small, miss small kind of thing.
♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.
3 Likes
Here is a lesson that Justin made on this subject.
I’ve watched this video before, and I do practice the positive finger placement. I’ll rewatch it, though, and look for anything i may have missed the first time. Thank you.
Ultimately it is going to come down to repetition and listening to the sound you are making and mentally moving to not over or under pressure.
I suppose you’re right. I notice that it always tends to happen towards the end of my routine, so perhaps I’m just getting a little overzealous and excited about keeping it all going. I’ll try my best to sort of scale it back and perhaps give myself some additional time between routine segments.
As to your other question, I mainly play on an electric, though I do also have an acoustic that I will occasionally take out and strum.
Thank you both so much for the advice.
Hi Mark, you can also add a “minimum pressure to get a good sound” drill to your practice routine. A few minutes experimenting with the least pressure to get a good sound will train your mind over time. But you may still find yourself gripping too hard when you get nervous or try a new grip (barres!), or get into the music and want to strum louder, and your brain thinks both hands need to work harder… when you realize this is happening, do a reset and take a mental note.
2 Likes
Thank you, I will give this a try alongside my perfect finger placement exercises.
1 Like
I seem to recall Justin talking about this somewhere in one of the Grade 2 lessons - but can’t remember where it was… maybe it was in a song lesson… I’ve watch so many of those!
Regardless, this is good advice Mark @makloos . I’ve tried this with a bit of success also & it can definitely help!
Good luck!
Tod
3 Likes
Thank you! If you happen to recall where you heard Justin talk about it, please pass it along. If it’s in a forthcoming lesson, then I guess I’ll come to it in due course. 
1 Like
Exactly! For as smart as my brain is, sometimes it tells my fingers to press the strings like a vice and strum like I’m swinging a sledge hammer. Stupid Brain!!!
2 Likes
I think that this type of exercise is important. Attentive practice, focusing on tone, precision, attack and release, pressure, clarity.
The classical guitar community emphasizes this in spades, and for good reason.
We don’t need to go that far, but we do seem to spend all this time worrying about the quality and tone of our guitar and what woods, strings or amp we have, but forget that a fundamental of playing beautiful music is in how our fingers touch the strings.
2 Likes