Freedom Of Movement On The Guitar

One of the most difficult ideas to grasp while playing is the idea of gravity and freedom of movement on the guitar. If you can understand how to think about these two ideas, you will find that your playing becomes more musical and much less tense. And, really, who doesn’t want both of those in their playing?

Using Gravity On The Guitar

The first place that we tend to talk about gravity is in the development of barre chords. Many players try and continue to try to squeeze the neck in order to create a clean sound from every string under the barre. However, by feeling the weight of the arm pulling down by the force of gravity, the amount of squeeze will be greatly reduced and/or relieved all together. Though this article is not about barre chords, it should be mentioned that the finger needs to hyper-extend to create the flat surface for the barre. But, that is another discussion…

Usually this is where the conversation on gravity ends. But the really important idea is that gravity allows us to almost effortlessly play any note on the guitar. By just placing a finger on a string and letting the arm fall down, the string is going to compress and give us the note desired. When you practice, take the time to feel the pull of the arm as you play a scale or passage. Focus on the pull instead of the squeeze. Your arm and hand will relax into the motion rather than strain. It sounds easy, but the truth of the matter is that it takes a lot of discipline and continuous work. However, this will change your habit into using gravity instead of squeezing all the time.

Freedom Of Movement On Guitar

Back in the ’80s there was an idea using the buzz words “economy of motion.” It meant that you only needed to move the fingers a specific amount of distance to economize your flow to the next note. This idea backfired because it became an idea of restricting the natural movement of the hand. A perfect example was to play a scale and work on only letting your fingers sit a 1/4 inch above the strings at all times. This can only occur if you work to exert the muscles to keep them there. This actually slows the playing of scales down rather than speeding them up.

It is accepted now that allowing the hand to move freely leads to better execution. By allowing the left hand to relax while playing scales, it increases our speed. If the hand is in the correct position to begin with, then the fingers will automatically be in a good position to land on the next desired note. The same holds true for the right hand when thinking about follow-through. The fingers should be allowed to follow through the stroke after plucking the strings instead of forcing them to stop. This freedom of motion allows for a relaxed movement that creates greater musical production.

Don’t just limit your freedom of motion to just your hands. Think about your arms and wrists. Think about your back and legs. You need to be free from tension throughout your entire body to play as musically as you are capable. Pausing for a moment each practice session will allow you to reset how you feel and release your body for greater freedom of movement.

Updated: Orginally posted on April 24, 2017.

Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.