Another beginner tip - right hand position

[MrHillary]

Hi all, Got another handy hint for you, I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this. It's a little unorthodox, barking you might say, but bear with me...

I've noticed that my right hand keeps creeping up to meet my left hand in the middle of the neck. As it moves my picking position goes from flat to just about vertical which is not good. The tone suffers, the picking suffers, it all starts going to pot.

Anyway, I had a brainwave: I borrowed my dog's lead* (thanks Posy, I'll give it you back, I promise) and lashed it to one of the legs on my steel with just enough length to allow free movement across the strings but not up and down the neck.

*Barking, geddit?

The only drawback I can see is you can't move down the neck to play harmonics, but one thing at a time. I need to get the basics down first. Hopefully I'll get into the habit of good right-hand position in no time and Posy gets to go for walkies again.

Hope it helps! Keep on steeling!

Btw for some reason the photos are the wrong way up, sorry. Tried flipping them, same difference?!?

[Zebedee]

I prefer my picking hand to be 12 frets up from my bar, as my tone is greatly enhanced by this picking distance

[MrHillary]

It's more to train myself to keep my picking hand flat. If I let it slide towards the 12th fret, the hand position goes all to pot.
Like I say, it has its drawabacks like harmonics, etc. Once it becomes second nature, then I'll cut it loose. But it's more to help form good habits (or break bad ones more accurately). Seems to be working so far, but I take your point.

[Jif]

Novel idea, appears to work for you, so not so barking! Anything that helps us tame this beast!

I'm in the same school as Richard, though I've never thought of it as being 12 frets up from the bar, though that is probably what I'm doing subconsciously. I find I get a more mellow tone playing further up the board, playing from the pickup area gets a tone with more treble. Guess it depends what you're after.

Thinking about it I think my right hand moves in some sort of sync with my left hand, as my left hand moves up or down the board my right hand follows it. Probably at around a 12 fret distance.

My mate Calum could probably make an apparatus that would bind the left arm to the right arm so that the distance between the hands would always remain constant and adjustable! But that would be barking

[MrHillary]

"an apparatus that would bind the left arm to the right arm" I've already got one of those, it's called a straitjacket AKA my wife! Sorry love, couldn't resist!

Overall it's quite an interesting exercise, as it's made me think about my overall playing position. I tried playing without the strap again yesterday and noticed that as my hand is shifting away from the bridge, my elbow starts to stick out, my forearm moves more parallel to the neck, and my entire body twists and leans with it. That can't be good, right?

I get what you mean about the tone too. My little Fender has quite a fat sound anyway, so playing down by the bridge helps to make it a wee bit brighter.