Played 45 minutes beneath the fir trees in the yard today. The day was warm and sunny - still being the end of winter, it was much appreciated. I watched the chickens pecking around in the grass as I practiced Hotel Cal. on the classical.
In the evening I sat down and worked on a few new chords that Robert showed me. Many of them were barred chords. I don't have much trouble barring with the index finger when not forming chords. I can even do it somewhat adequately when I play a 3 finger barred chord. However, when I need to play what would normally be a very simple 1 or 2 finger chord barred, I usually have trouble with the D string. The D string happens to fall into a crease line at the joint of the index finger, so there is not much skin contact and the note is muted.
I noticed that the wider fretboard on my classical allows my finger to stretch across without any string hitting a crease point, so it is easier for me to make barre chords on the wider board. To overcome the problem of the narrow board on the strat, I simply moved my index finger farther across the board so that the tip is hanging over the edge.
The new placement helped, and because barre chords are an important part of playing, I am going to practice them more often every day. After a month I should have a callous line formed on my index finger, making it easier to play the chords.
I experienced this evening a beautiful breakthrough which immediately helped my scale playing. Hitherto when playing single notes on a scale, my wrist would be held in what I call the starting position. When playing chords my hand starts in this same position, but when moving into a chord, such as C, the wrist turns slightly to the left, which causes the fingers to be placed at an angle, which allows them to stretch further. It never occurred to me that having the wrist turned to this leftward angle when playing a scale would give the fingers more range and looseness. I figured it out when I began playing a new scale which Robert gave to me. It is a sliding blues scale, and in one section I have to play 2 notes which are separated by a fret, or whole step. Normally I play a 2 note whole step with the number 1 (index) finger, followed by the #3 (ring) finger. However, the slide requires me to play the whole step with the #1 and #2 fingers. Because I have small hands I was having trouble reaching the 2nd note with the #2 finger. My hand and wrist were in the normal starting position, and by chance I turned the wrist leftward, as if making a C chord, and this released the #2 finger, allowing it to reach the note with ease.
I began experimenting with the new wrist position and found that it works better for all the fingers in any position. The leftward wrist angle creates a position of looseness and finger mobility, allowing for greater speed and precision.
This discovery will immediately improve my playing. I love the satisfaction gained upon making a spontaneous discovery when doing something I love.
