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When it comes to fingerstyle guitar, there is a hugely important approach that you should always keep in mind as you learn how to play your fingers against the strings. That approach is called “preparing,” and nothing will help you reign in bad guitar habits more quickly and effectively. The basic idea is to train your fingers to “prepare” on the strings before they’re actually needed to play the next notes in whatever song you’re playing. If you train your fingers to prepare on the strings, it’s much easier to then adjust and hover your fingers very close to the strings. Alternatively, if you never take the time to train your fingers to stay close by preparing, you’ll be much more likely to do something that plagues many a well-intentional fingerstyle guitarist, which is “floaty fingers” syndrome, whereby your fingers float high above the strings and constantly race to catch up to the music. So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at how to practice preparations and why they’re so effective in fingerstyle guitar training.

To really master preparations, it helps to work within very simple musical contexts. Take a simple arpeggio like the PIMA arpeggio, where your thumb plays followed by the index, middle and ring fingers in order. This arpeggio makes the preparation idea very clear. Play through the arpeggio, and then as you reset to play again with your thumb, make sure every finger is completely in contact with the string. As you become more comfortable preparing, pay extra attention to where your finger meets the string. Strive to find the sweet spot for each finger, which will be where the string touches the fingernail and fingertip at the same time. From this point, you always get the best sound as you play the notes you need to play.

When you prepare properly, the strings will fall silent. Although there are many musical situations in which you won’t want this to happen, it’s okay to practice with the strings all going silent from your preparations. Over time, as your control develops and refines, you’ll have the choice of placing your fingers on the strings or hovering them as close to the strings as possible. Eventually, if you work preparations carefully in everything you do, you’ll be able to keep your fingers scant millimeters away from the strings while holding them very still. Preparations teach fantastic finger control!

After you’ve mastered using preparations for straight arpeggios like the PIMA arpeggio, it’s time to work them within complex passages of music. Start relatively easy and work up. The basic idea remains the same: have each finger prepared on the string it will play next well before it’s called upon to play. As you work this sensation of preparing every finger in turn, you will develop an incredible sense of security and comfort from feeling your fingers on the strings. Your fingers will develop up to the point where they move smoothly and fluidly from one note to the next in coordination with each other. This is a fantastic feeling. You really feel like you’re in command of the guitar.

Although it’s only possible to give a very cursory treatment of preparations in this essay, hopefully you’re appreciating just how powerful and pivotal they can be for your fingerstyle guitar technique. Fingerstyle guitar playing calls on a huge array of different technical aspects in order for you to be able to play it well. Preparing helps you become more aware of how your fingers move and how they coordinate through challenging passages of music. Take the time to become more aware of where you currently place your fingers as you play, and strive to prepare more and more often. Your playing will shine!

This and other Nashville guitar lessons are available at http://www.stringloveguitar.com. Also published at Prepare Your Fingers When You Play the Guitar.