Handplacement during fingerpicking

[Pillendreher]

So I just noticed something: I was trying to get back into some The Tallest Man On Earth songs - which I had learned how to play in 2012 or so - and noticed that my picking hand was sort of hovering above the soundhole. I never paid any real attention to this, but once I saw this, I thought back to a Molly Tuttle video I saw a couple of months ago in which she explicitly put her picking hand on top of the bridge (pins). I tried this today and it felt a bit unfamiliar, yet it also prevented me from hitting the string with my thumbnail even though I didn't want to (I'm sure you know what I mean).

Which brings me to my question: Where do you put your hand? Is there a right way to do it? Is there a wrong way to do it? I taught myself how to play guitar, so I never really had anybody look at my hand placement or whatever...

[sloar]

I think it’s what comfortable for you. I thought I was doing it wrong when I saw people planting their pinky, which I don’t do. After researching the issue I found out that anyway is fine as long as it’s comfortable.

[Joe Beamish]

^ Agree, comfort is essential, plus the tone changes depending on where you are picking the strings, so I move my hand around for that, and for whether I'm wearing a thumb pick (à la Burt Jansch), whether I'm using my thumb nail (à la Nick Drake), or whether I'm using thumb flesh (à la John Hurt) or not.

[sabatini]

I have had a teacher who taught me to plant my pinkie, a teacher who taught me to hover over the strings with no plant, and a teacher who taught me to plant the flat side of my hand on the bridge.

All of these teachers were fantastic players who were unable, due to my ineptitude and failure to practice, to make me a fantastic player.

Which is a long way to say there a multiple techniques that can yield good results. Pick one and work hard at it.

[Mark Stone]

Originally Posted by Pillendreher

So I just noticed something: I was trying to get back into some The Tallest Man On Earth songs - which I had learned how to play in 2012 or so - and noticed that my picking hand was sort of hovering above the soundhole. I never paid any real attention to this, but once I saw this, I thought back to a Molly Tuttle video I saw a couple of months ago in which she explicitly put her picking hand on top of the bridge (pins). I tried this today and it felt a bit unfamiliar, yet it also prevented me from hitting the string with my thumbnail even though I didn't want to (I'm sure you know what I mean).

Which brings me to my question: Where do you put your hand? Is there a right way to do it? Is there a wrong way to do it? I taught myself how to play guitar, so I never really had anybody look at my hand placement or whatever...

I do it like you - hand "hovering" over the sound hole. It doesn't seem to slow me down lol. I think for true "Travis" style picking, however, our hovering technique wouldn't work - but if ya like good ol' alternating bass fingerpicking, you're good.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by Mark Stone

I do it like you - hand "hovering" over the sound hole. It doesn't seem to slow me down lol. I think for true "Travis" style picking, however, our hovering technique wouldn't work - but if ya like good ol' alternating bass fingerpicking, you're good.

I do Travis style picking hovering with no problem. Took me a few days to get used it.

[Mark Stone]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

I do Travis style picking hovering with no problem. Took me a few days to get used it.

That's encouraging - I'd love to learn Travis style, maybe I just need to invest the time.

[KevinH]

Travis picking and hover over the sound hole here. Sometimes I find my picking hand creeping forward toward the nut and the resulting hand angle causes an annoying scraping sound when my index finger plucks the G.

[Arthur Blake]

Wish I could find that video I saw here some time ago showing Andres Segovia moving his right hand from the bridge to the fingerboard demonstrating very different tone from the strings.

It is possible to get a very warm or very strident tone depending on position, and it makes sense to vary it considerably to obtain the desired effect for finger style playing.

[DukeX]

I play everywhere (between sound hole/bridge) depending on the tone I want. My right hand positioning (hover, palm/wrist plant, wrist angle, etc.) also depends on what I'm playing. I don't play a Blues piece the same way I play Lullaby.

[Parlorman]

As DukeX said, I play anywhere from the bridge to the fretboard depending on the sound I want. I don’t plant any fingers but do use them and the edge of my palm to mute strings as needed.

[Wolfram]

There is no right/wrong way!

Where you pluck the string - between the bridge and neck - has a great effect on tone. Plucking nearer the bridge brings out a greater range of overtones (brightness); plucking nearer the neck gives a much more fundamental tone.

Learning to draw out a wide palette of tone like this is hugely satisfying! Experiment and see what you find pleasing.

Cheers,
David

[TBman]

I float my hand. My wrist goes on the bridge only if I plan on palm muting.

[Martin_F]

If you are fingerpicking country blues style you want to stay close to the saddle so that you can do some palm muting - you basically plant your hand right on top of the saddle on the lower few strings so as not to kill the strings but to mute them for the "thump" sound of the bass. If you just want to Travis pick or some other style that doesn't require the muting of the bass strings so much, do it wherever you feel comfortable. Keep in mind that if you are closer to the neck you are going to get more fundamental in the note and a thicker sound. If you go back closer to the saddle you will get more overtones and a brighter thinner sound. Everywhere else is somewhere in between. Unless I am playing some country blues, I tend to stay right around the soundhole area or just over it.

Good luck!
Martin

[macmanmatty]

Travis picker here. I float my hand no planting of any part of it, and I pick with my thumb index middle and ring fingers. I pick close to the Saddle for that bass thumpin' palm mutin' goodness.