I’ve been practicing some chords, using what one of my method books calls a “Klopf-Übung” (the book is in German). This is where you hold all the notes of a chord and then lift up one finger and hammer it back down, a few times for each finger. I suspect this is a very basic exercise on the fretted string instruments, but I don’t know what it’s called. (“Hammer exercise”, maybe?)

Anyway, I’ve noticed something interesting, especially with the more complicated chords, like this B-flat chord at the nut:

At first I just banged my fingers down on the fingerboard and was happy if I happened to make a chord that didn’t buzz when I strummed it. Then I realized that I was aiming at places on the fingerboard when maybe I should be aiming at places on the strings. That was an improvement.

And now, over the past couple of days, I have started to FEEL each individual string as I press it down. I don’t mean I just feel the string; I feel the whole “journey” it makes to the fingerboard and the springiness it retains even when held down firmly. Suddenly what was formerly an on-or-off thing — string pressed down or not — has become an experience, a process. I can feel the string resist my finger and then give way reluctantly, as if I were pressing my finger into a dense sponge. It is a totally different feeling from just banging my fingers into a hardwood board that happens to have a string in the way.

I am now realizing that squeezing a string onto a fingerboard is a very sensual thing. It is the sort of feeling I knew well on the trumpet. On that instrument, if you don’t HEAR and FEEL the note you are about to play, it will likely be out of tune or even a wrong harmonic — say, a high B-flat instead of a high C. But when that “pre-feeling” is right, you feel like a god! You KNOW the note is going to come out exactly as you want it. (It’s a little bit like when you shoot a basketball, and the instant BEFORE you release the ball you already know whether it is going in the hoop or not.)

P.S. Watching top-notch banjo and guitar players, I have noticed that their left hands rarely seem to be in a hurry, even when the music is moving very fast.

I would really LIKE to use the “standard” pick grip. It looks like a relaxed and ergonomic position which still offers a firm grasp on the pick. But, as I said in an earlier posting (click here to see it), my forefinger hurts at the point where it is squeezed by the pick.

I have been thinking…. Maybe the problem is merely because the CORNER of the fingernail digs into the flesh of the forefinger, where the arrow points in the picture below:

So I am going to let the fingernail grow out a bit, past the point at which the flesh can be dug into. If that works, great! And if not, no problem, I’ll find an alternative.

As an experienced musician (on the trumpet), I know that it is important to establish good habits from the start. So I am a little worried about my right hand technique. At present, I have two doubts:

1. How should I hold the pick?
2. What should I do with the other three fingers of my right hand?

This post is about #1.

Holding the pick. It seems that the “standard” way is between the flesh of the thumb and the side of the forefinger, like this:

The problem is, this position really hurts my forefinger where the skin is squeezed into the nail by the pressure of the pick. See below — the arrow shows where I mean:

So I have tried moving the pick further along the forefinger, where it is supported by the knuckle:

But I don’t know whether there are disadvantages of this method which will come back to haunt me in the future. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I’m also putting this post on the tenor banjo forum at BanjoHangout.org (click here to see it), which seems a great place to get advice.

See the following post for my next crisis of confidence. 🙂