Charleston Classical Guitar

The Essential Guide to Proper Flatpicking Right-Hand Guitar Position

The right-hand position when playing with a flatpick on acoustic guitar is often overlooked. In this post, I’ll discuss three areas concerning the right-hand position: Position Variations, Position and Tone, and the Arc. Each of these contributes to the sound and fluency of the player. Learning how to control and use each, if necessary, is essential to mastering the right-hand guitar position for proficient playing.

Position Variations with the Right-Hand Guitar Position

Floating Right Hand

The term “floating” refers to a right hand that does not come into contact with the guitar top or strings. This typically means that the player has the hand in a loose fist position while holding the pick. I am very much in favor of playing this way on acoustic guitar, especially when playing bluegrass or American-style guitar. The main benefit of floating the hand is the hand remains relaxed and fluid when moving from string to string while retaining a consistent attack. The obvious counter to this is that you do not have a reference point to guide you which may cause less pick control. Over 20 years of teaching have taught me that playing with a “floating” hand can be learned with the correct effort and practice.

Playing with floating requires the only point of contact to be where your forearm touches the guitar. When using a pick, this point is usually lower than when playing fingerstyle and usually falls where your elbow bends. This one point of contact gives less stability to the player. A good analogy is nailing two pieces of wood together. If you use one nail, then the pieces will move freely around that one nail. Add another nail and the two pieces will not move and the pieces will have more stability.

Though I encourage every student to develop the skill of “floating,” sometimes it’s okay to allow the right hand to touch the top in order to give more stability, speed, and/or accuracy. These two options are posting and gliding.

Posting

Posting your right hand happens when you anchor a finger, usually your pinky, on the guitar top or your palm on the bridge pins. I am not a huge fan of this when playing acoustic guitar but it does have benefits on electric and in palm muting (which requires it). The obvious benefit is that it is very solid and stable to play this way. However, with the hand planted in one position, it becomes more difficult to move from string to string and generate a consistent attack with the pick. Also, these “posting” positions create more tension than necessary in the hand when compared to floating or gliding.

Gliding

Gliding looks very similar to posting but the finger on the guitar top does not stay stationary (i.e. it glides). It still gives a form of reference to the player but it allows for a more relaxed feeling in the hand and enables movement from string to string without sacrificing the attack. I use this technique almost exclusively on electric guitar due to the nature of adjusting the volume and tone nobs during playing. It is also easier to do on an electric guitar due to the closer distance the strings are from the top. One hurdle will need to be overcome, moving down to the fifth and sixth strings usually requires lifting from the glide position to a more floating position.

Each variation has its benefits. I do not recommend posting except when posting the palm on the bridge pins for palm muting. The long-term value of stability cannot be compared with the freedom of movement and tension of floating and gliding. These latter two can be gone between as the player sees fit depending on the style/piece being played. A strum pattern usually requires a floating hand and single-note solos might be played either way. It’s up to you to find the one that fits each style.

Position and Tone

With the discussion of the basic variations of position, we need to discuss the relationship of the hand to its distance from the bridge to the fretboard. Every acoustic guitar has a right-hand “sweet spot” which should be the place you normally play. This is the place that gives the general optimal all-purpose tone. This spot is about an inch behind the sound hole towards the bridge. This spot gives a round, desirable tone for most situations. The exact position may vary a bit from guitar to guitar, but generally, this is where to find it.

If you are looking for that gritty blues or country tone, then move the right hand closer to the bridge. This gives a much more percussive and gritty sound. Moving the hand over the soundhole towards the fretboard always results in a more mellow, sweeter tone.

Many players will adjust their position in this way for different scenarios. When playing the higher-pitched strings moving towards the fretboard will cut down on the brightness. When playing faster passages, moving forward also allows for faster playing because the tension is less than at the bridge. Other players find the opposite to be true and move back to the more tension for faster passages. You’ll have to experiment depending on your circumstances and technique.

Right Hand Arc

The last thing to consider here is the natural arc the right-hand travels when moving from the lower to higher strings. If you begin playing just behind the soundhole on string six, and then let your arm fall naturally as you move down to string one, then you’ll be much closer to the bridge than you were on string six. This will change the attack and tone of the strings being played.

To solve this problem, you might need to make slight adjustments in your string crossing to keep the distance from the bridge the same throughout. Think of moving down completely perpendicular to the strings with an imaginary line created by the tip of your pick. it isn’t as easy as it sounds but becomes quite natural with a bit of practice.

This arc usually is only a consideration when playing individual notes. Playing rhythm requires a natural arc throughout. If you find that your rhythm playing is too bright and brittle, you still might consider moving your arm forward for a more mellow tone if that’s what you desire. Like all the other suggestions above, you’ll need to experiment to find your desired tone and attack depending on your style and circumstances.

Conclusion

Finding a good right-hand guitar position requires quite a bit of experimentation and experience. There is no “one” right way to do it. Though with floating, posting, and gliding, I’d have to do away with posting. The other issues of tone and arc have more to do with the desired sound than anything else. Take your time and work through each one to find the ideal position depending on your desired outcome.

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