Minor 7th bar chord and ergonomics
DanielleOM
I have been trying to pay close attention to fretting hand wrist position
when playing. The minor 7th bar chord seems to be the chord where my wrist
is bent the most. (I rarely play a major bar chord.)
I am thinking that it may be wise to try and replace X13121 (bar chord) with
X1312X or X1X321 or X13X21. I am not sure how easy this will be, but
believe this would be a good thing to do.
Danielle
jseaberry
Take a look at some of the Youtube videos of Steve Herbeman and John
Stowell, at how they hold the neck and how little bend there is in
their wrists regardless of the chord they are reaching for; THAT might
be the solution you want, I dunno.
Greger Hoel
> Take a look at some of the Youtube videos of Steve Herbeman and John
> Stowell, at how they hold the neck and how little bend there is in
> their wrists regardless of the chord they are reaching for; THAT might
> be the solution you want, I dunno.
I've found that tilting the neck up, when playing standing up, helps with
chords, especially in the money range of the neck. It also prevents left
hand fatigue even if I'm not playing chords much. It's also good for my
right hand as it lets me rest my forearm on the side, from the waist to
the apex of the lower bout. I pick fast a lot better when my forearm rests.
--
Always cross a vampire; never moon a werewolf
tom walls
I most often use X1X121. It's the Mickey Baker grip.
DanielleOM
"tom walls" <tomw...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:05b5ad9a-8798-4965...@b2g2000yqi.googlegroups.com...
Thanks Tom.
Very easy to play and I love the sound of it. My wrist loves it.
Danielle
Robert
Try bringing the guitar up higher, should do the trick.
Jim Soloway
I pretty much always play with my wrist bent. It helps keep my thumb
along the center line of the back of the neck. I don't think there's
a problem with that as long as you keep it fairly soft and lose.
Tim McNamara
"DanielleOM" <danie...@reply.to.group.com> wrote:
My usual Dmin7: x5353x using my ring and pinkies at the 5th fret and my
index in a partial barre at the 3rd fret. The bass can be moved to the
6th string to add the 5th if desired. I think this is straight out of
the Mel Bay chord system, IIRC.
Another option is the three note voicing: x5x56x using the index,
middle and ring fingers respectively.
--
"I wear the cheese, it does not wear me."
charles robinson
"DanielleOM" <danie...@reply.to.group.com> wrote in message
news:hhoeju$bvj$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
While holding the chord down try pulling your arm back towards your body
this should flatten the wrist some (you may also have to slide the thumb a
little bit towards the headstock).
Charlie
Carl
try leaving out the 1 on the first string and you'll have a good 3-note m7
chord that's real easy to play and does the trick. Players like Jimmy Bruno,
for one, encourage the use of this 3-note format:
X1X12X
You have the most important essence of the m7 chord, the root, b7, and b3,
with the least complication.
rpjazzguitar
x1x121, if I want the 5th on top, and I might omit the root,depending
on context.
Another way to think of it is as a Db major triad with a Bb in the
bass. Since, the bassist is playing the bass note, you can get the
same sound by playing a Dbmajor triad anywhere. That would mean, for
example, that xx312x would work. And, from that grip you can add the
bass note. Or, you can play the 5th, 13th, or other note on the high
E.
Joey Goldstein
You just need to change the way you are holding the guitar and/or sitting.
--
Joey Goldstein
<http://www.joeygoldstein.com>
<http://homepage.mac.com/josephgoldstein/AudioClips/audio.htm>
joegold AT primus DOT ca
DanielleOM
"Joey Goldstein" <nos...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:e6ca0$4b403e82$adceee72$15...@PRIMUS.CA...
Joey
I will think about this a little. I am sure I hold the guitar up high
enough with a steep enough neck angle. Yesterday I was trying comfort
between my Eastman archtop and my Santa Cruz OM. I was thinking that neck
shape was making the SCGC OM more comfortable, but your thought makes me
wonder if the slightly different body shape is putting the neck in slightly
different position.
I can not say problem is worse standing up. When playing standing up I
sometimes feel my right forearm on the lower bout is forcing the neck away
from my body.
Danielle
sheetsofsound
all chords (ideally). Sometime you have to wrap the thumb around for
certain chords but a good exercise is going back and forth between an
F major barre chord and an open C chord. Your wrist and thumb should
not move. (This from Dennis Sandole...)
Joe Finn
Danielle: It's all in the posture. In general you want to keep the neck up.
This helps keep the wrist straight.
Here's a little exercise:
Hold your left arm out in front of you with the wrist straight.
Make a fist as hard as you can. Note the amount of force you can exert this
way.
Now relax your hand and flex the wrist as far as you can.
Try making a fist again. Note how difficult this is with the wrist fully
flexed.
This illustrates how the tendons and muscles we use to play the guitar are
generally more effective when the wrist is straight. Have your instructor
re-evaluate your posture and technique in general. ....joe
--
Visit me on the web www.JoeFinn.net
>
DanielleOM
"sheetsofsound" <jackz...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2eb12c85-f64a-439c...@v7g2000vbd.googlegroups.com...
Somehow I missing something here. I can't seem to find a way to move
between these two positions and keep the wrist straight (hand in line with
lower fore arm). To keep wrist in the same position between the two
referenced chords, it would seem the wrist would have to have a bend all of
the time.
There must be a good photo showing ideal ergonomic wrist position for a bar
chord but at the moment I am not able to quickly find one. I suspect this
may be more easily achieved with instrument that have less body depth. I
don't own any solid body or thinline guitars.
Danielle
Keith Freeman
> a bar chord but at the moment I am not able to quickly find one. I
> suspect this may be more easily achieved with instrument that have
> less body depth.
shoulder creates more tension in the arm, which is why I sold my thinline.
The ideal position for the left hand to finger a stringed instrument,
according to my Alexander teacher, is the cello position. So you need to
get as close to that as possible, with the neck close to your head.
Experiment just holding the neck losely with it at different angles and
feel the tension in your arm.
I'd be careful with advice such as 'xxx should not move'. If you need to
move it to get the most relaxed position, move it!
Once you have a chord 'gripped', experiment with reducing the tension in
your hand and find the point at which it still sounds clearly with the
minimum tension. Or use a different voicing!
-Keith
Clips, Portable Changes, tips etc.: www.keithfreemantrio.nl
e-mail: info AT keithfreemantrio DOT nl
Jonathan (not from Cleveland)
I have found that tilting (rotating) the neck slightly so that the
fingerboard faces more to the ceiling allows you to apply less
pressure with the fretting hand, since it lets gravity do some of the
work.
Tim McNamara
Keith Freeman <x...@x.net> wrote:
> > There must be a good photo showing ideal ergonomic wrist position
> > for a bar chord but at the moment I am not able to quickly find
> > one. I suspect this may be more easily achieved with instrument
> > that have less body depth.
>
> I don't think that is the case. I find having the neck closer to my
> shoulder creates more tension in the arm, which is why I sold my
> thinline. The ideal position for the left hand to finger a stringed
> instrument, according to my Alexander teacher, is the cello position.
> So you need to get as close to that as possible, with the neck close
> to your head.
Unfortunately, the cello position works best with instruments played
with a bow. For guitar as the instrument becomes more upright, the
right hand becomes more awkward IME. It's not IMHO a benefit to
transfer problems from one hand to the other- there's no net gain.
Obviously the upright position works well for some people (like Joe
Pass, for example, and some younger players who hold their guitars
almost vertically) and it's worth experimenting with.
Bg
>
> > I don't think that is the case. I find having the neck closer to my
> > shoulder creates more tension in the arm, which is why I sold my
> > thinline.
I had exactly that problem with my Howard Roberts Fusion, and my
Hertage 575 which had a very rounded back arch.
The guitar necks got too close to the shoulder and I was having left
Elbow problems because of too much angle.
Bg