left-hand chord fingering with Phil Hilborne
Phil Hilborne encourages you to think two moves ahead
Right fRom the outset, I should mention that my main intention behind writing this article is simply to encourage you to do some considered thinking about which left-hand fingers you choose to use in your chordal rhythm playing. After decades of teaching, I have come to the conclusion that as guitarists, it’s fair to say a lot of our left-hand fingerings often come about as a result of the way we initially learn chords and, as such, they are habitual and not necessarily always the best and most efficient choice. Ideally, it should always be about context, for instance, where you are going to go next on the neck and not just simply slavishly playing pre-memorised shapes. In this respect we can learn a lot from classical guitar. Here, fingering is often the key to flawless performance and nothing is ever written in stone – the way an E major triad is played in one piece can be totally different to the way you’d approach it in the next. Read on and all will become clearer! www.philhilborne.com