Classical Guitar Technique - Right Hand Technique

Right Hand Technique

The thumb and three largest fingers of the right hand pluck the strings. The normal position is for the hand to be shaped as if it were loosely holding an apple with the wrist slightly bent, the forearm resting on the upper large bout of the guitar, and the fingers near the strings.

The thumb is held at the side of the other fingers, so that it can work independently of them. The height of the wrist and hand depends on the thumb: It is such that the fingers can comfortably move - the wrist is normally not too low, but bent.

Plucking the strings usually involves making contact first with the (usually lefthand side) fleshy part of the fingertip (and often also left part of the nail, or only the left part of the nail given very long nails) and then letting the string glide smoothly along the curvature of the fingernail until the string is released at the fingernail's tip: the string is plucked. The two primary plucking techniques are:

• Rest-stroke (apoyando), in which the finger that plucks the string rests on the immediate upper string afterwards; and
• Free-stroke (tirando), in which the finger hits nothing after plucking the string.

Rest stroke produces a more deliberate sound and may be used for bringing the melody out in music where the harmony competes for attention. Free-stroke sounds "lighter" and makes it possible to play fast passages more easily, though some guitarists (esp. with long nails) use the free-stroke exclusively and are able to produce a strong sound with it.

Some guitarists with rather long nails avoid the rest-stroke altogether; others commonly avoid it when they feel they have more control over the free-stroke. The free-stroke is the more natural stroke, since it can always be used. When two neighbouring strings are to be plucked simultaneously, the rest-stroke cannot be used. Also, arpeggios are usually played free-stroke, except possibly for the thumb or if appropriate (effective and possible due to nail-length / hand position) the annular finger if it plucks a melodic line. In the free-stroke, a finger's motion is not brought to an abrupt stop on the following string, as is the case in the rest-stroke.

Guitarists that use both free-stroke and rest-stroke require nails of the correct length: if the nails are too long, a good-sounding rest-stroke is no longer possible. Many guitarists who prefer using quite long nails do not use the rest-stroke.

An important factor for a good sounding note is the angle that the finger over the string makes with it. This angle is usually not a right angle to strings, but at a more natural angle, where the outstretched fingers would point slightly to the left: this has the benefit of a warmer tone and creates less noise due to nail contact, since the string can glide over the rounded nail, rather than being hooked or caught by it.

Holding the fingers and hand perpendicular to the strings may cause difficulties, since the string is aligned with the groove between fingertip and nail: this may cause clicking noises or double sounds (fingertip sound, then nail sound). By holding the fingers and hand to the left (as opposed to perpendicular), it is impossible for the string to land in the groove, since the left side of the nail will touch the string first (often together with the tip of the finger; possibly aiding an additional minimization of clicking noise). The nail will be at an angle less than 90 degrees to the string and the string may glide smoothly over the nail's left side until it is released.

One of the tenets of right hand technique in scale passages is alternation. That is, no right hand finger should be used to play two notes in a row (excluding the thumb, which is often called upon to play a sequence of bass notes). Typically for runs of notes, the index and middle fingers alternate. When an arpeggiated harmony is being played with the thumb (p), index (i) and middle (m) fingers, the ring finger (a) may play a melody above the harmony. In the tremolo technique, the thumb plays a bass note followed by the fingers which play the same treble note three times: pami, pami, pami etc. (Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega is a famous example of this technique).

The position of the right hand can be used to influence the tone of the sound produced by a classical guitar. The wealth of sonic possibilities enables performers to add contrast and color to their performances well beyond the simple volume changes available to, say, pianists. When the strings are plucked close to the bridge, the position is called sul ponticello and the notes sound "twangy" and "nasal". When the strings are plucked over the fingerboard of the guitar the position is termed sul tasto and the tone becomes fuller and "sweet" (termed dolce in Italian, see List of musical terminology page). The angle at which the fingers hit the strings can also affect the timbre of the sound.

The term pizzicato simply refers to plucking the strings in music for bowed instruments. In classical guitar however, it refers to placing the side of the hand below the little finger across all of the strings very close to the bridge and then plucking the strings with the fingers. This produces a muted sound and is referred to as palm-muting in electric guitar parlance. Tambour is the technique where many or all of the strings are played at once by hitting them (usually near the bridge) with the side of the (outstretched) thumb. Both tambour and pizzicato can be heard in Aconquija by Barrios.

The right hand fingers are used to stop notes from ringing past their duration as indicated by the music. This is more often an issue with open string bass notes which tend to ring on for some time. To stop the notes, the right hand thumb (usually) touches the ringing string to stop it. This can pose a significant challenge to the guitarist as he or she needs to attend to each bass note twice, once to start it and once to stop it. The same technique can be used to create a staccato effect.

Trills are usually played on one string using various combinations of left hand slurs, also known as legados or hammer-on and pull-offs. Cross-string trills utilising two or three strings are also possible. In this case the trill usually takes the form of low-high-low and can be executed thus: The left hand stops, say the D# on the fourth fret of the second string, the right hand middle finger plays that note then the index finger "strums" the first and second strings producing: D#-E-D#. The difference between a cross-string trill and an ordinary trill is that the cross-string trill allows both notes to sound against each other. This technique is often used in Baroque music although it is debatable as to whether it was the most common practice of the period.

There may be different hand positions depending on the motion of fingers/hand/arm and effect that is intended. Standard positions might include the following (or variations thereof):

• "arpeggio position", with the thumb playing bass strings and the index, middle and annular finger plucking a pattern on 3 upper strings respectively.
• Scale playing: Usually an alteration of the index and middle finger; however other alterations using the annular finger (or even an alterations with the thumb) are common as well
  Factors that influence the choice might be the speed of the scale and the progression of the melody over more than one string, i.e., a scale usually starts on one string and continues on another.
  However, during slower movements (especially of contrapuntal music) guitarists occasionally do not alternate the fingers strictly if this facilitates the interpretation by preserving tonal similarity: An example of this might be when the index finger (possibly the thumb) is used to play one melody line on the 3rd string while the annular finger might be used for a melody on the first string. However, the melody lines very often move over various strings so that many adaptations and a flexible approach is needed. Moreover, there is no common rule or guideline - there is no predefined technique: a guitarist will experiment and use the pattern of finger pluckings that personally suits the player best.

It is important to note that not only the fingers are involved in the plucking of the string, but the hand should also be held comfortably loose and may move slightly as well - even the arm is involved. For example when playing scales (usually with alternating fingers, e.g., index, middle, index, middle, ...) and moving from the top strings down, or the bottom strings up, the hand moves up and down as well in order to adjust the placement of the fingers to be at an optimum.