The triggering force and control of the right finger

There is a famous saying in the guitar world: "The left hand is technology, the right hand is art." So the right hand technique is called "the creation of art" "It can't be too much. Most of us guitar players have worked hard to create beautiful and moving sounds and extremely penetrating sounds. Success is gratifying, but some friends are "stuck" in their right hands. I am unable to move forward due to technological breakthroughs, which wastes a lot of valuable time and affects the progress and enthusiasm of learning guitar. Now I will introduce to you some of my own learning experience for your reference. There are many aspects of right-hand skills. , such as string-based playing method, non-string playing method, the position of finger touching the string, the depth of touching the string, control of the force point, strength practice, speed practice, etc. These skills rely on our daily accumulation little by little. Breakthrough and become your own quality. We call this process the practice process. The methods and procedures during the practice process, as well as the understanding of these techniques, will directly affect the performance of our learning skills and various teaching materials. There are detailed explanations, so I won’t introduce them here.

What I want to introduce to you is the in-depth technique of the right hand, which is the touch, force and control of the right finger.

First, control your right hand. Simply put, the function of your right hand is to make the string vibrate. That is to say, the right hand can control the vibration amplitude and vibration direction of the string, so it is said that the right hand can control the different timbre changes. It is to control the change of tone. In the beginner stage, after figuring out the various playing methods of the right hand (the textbook indicates: playing with or without the strings), it is more important to carefully understand the differences between the various playing methods. and connections, for example: whether the string-free playing method can produce the sound of the string playing method or a similar tone, etc. Beginners or most self-learners tend to ignore this point and do not know the differences between the various playing methods. The effect and timbre of the playing method are exactly the same. As a result, it is not until the intermediate stage or even the advanced stage that I discover the serious mistakes in my playing method, so I go back to learn it again, resulting in the development of the habit of right finger control and the requirement. Pay more attention during daily practice, gradually transform consciousness into unconsciousness, and treat various playing methods with a thinking perspective.

Secondly, the power of the right hand to make the string vibrate requires strength. Which is the most scientific, reasonable and effective method? What we advocate is Segovia’s performance method, that is, the force is exerted on the fingers of the right hand (the first joint is the main force, and other joints are used to promote force. ) Through finger movement experiments, we can find that this combined force has the characteristics of small range of motion, strong explosive power, and good elasticity. It is incorrect to use the wrist to play the string, because the wrist force will cause the fingers to be unable to play. Stability, poor control over string touching and playing. This does not mean that the wrist does not exert force. The strength of the wrist is mainly used to control the overall direction of the hand. In addition to the wrong point of exerting force, some people's right hand is very tired. I'm afraid I just haven't learned to "relax". Relaxation is also a kind of labor, which can only be obtained through training. The so-called relaxation mainly means that when the fingers are not playing the string and after the string is played, the force point of the entire right arm should be at the point where the elbow touches the piano, and there should be no feeling of tension or force in other parts. . (We should make it clear when "playing" the strings here that most of the vibration of the piano is obtained by the explosive force of the right hand, and this "playing" refers to the explosive force at this moment). Many textbooks indicate "relaxation" methods. We should carefully understand according to our own characteristics. We must not change from one kind of tension to another, let alone seek absolute relaxation. Everyone's physical strength and physical conditions are different, and "tiredness" occurs to varying degrees for different people. However, as we continue to strengthen our various exercises, improve our technical level, and consolidate our muscle training, this "tiredness" will "It will become less and less severe.

Third, there are different opinions on the position and depth of the string-touching position of the right finger. As you continue to demand a variety of sounds, you should master using various parts of your right fingers to play strings.

Generally speaking, we divide the end of the finger into four parts (place the palm flat downward: the right side, the middle side, the left side of the finger, and the pure nail) to form different parts of the finger that touch the string. Usually, when playing arpeggios and some scale exercises, the left and middle sides of the right fingers are used most. The position measurement is divided into the front end and the whole. The middle side touching the string refers to the end pad of the finger and the fingernail. These two kinds of string touching are used together. The method can obtain the pure, round, plump, strong, and penetrating sound effect, so it is used more often. The right side and the pure fingernail touch are most commonly used in flamenco playing and to achieve a clear, lively and strong rendering effect. As long as we experience it carefully when playing, we will understand. How to use it most appropriately and just right requires us to continue to practice and experience. It is difficult to give a specific answer to the question of how deep the right finger touches the string. Because the same depth, the same power, if played by different people, the effect will be obviously different.

So is there a principle to follow for this depth? The answer is yes. No matter how deeply you touch the string, you must first ensure the normal vibration amplitude and direction of the string; ensure that your fingers are flexible and relaxed. Then you can control the depth of your fingers touching the strings according to your own requirements for the sound. Of course, we must always pay attention to the different impacts of different shades. The good ones should be retained, and the bad ones should be corrected. This is the boundary.

Fourth, right finger strength and speed As far as the right hand is concerned alone, arpeggio is the best exercise. Continuous and stable high-intensity exercises can increase the strength of the right fingers. When practicing, pay attention to the change and control of timbre. It is also necessary to practice endurance for a long time, and you cannot give up once you have mastered it. Arpeggio exercises strengthen the strength and flexibility of the right fingers. The choice of etudes is very important. Choose songs that are suitable for you at this stage and can quickly improve your skills. This scale is difficult to grasp. You can ask an experienced teacher for advice, or practice strictly according to the book. Do more adaptive exercises, that is, choose unfamiliar music, require the right hand to adapt to its changes in a short period of time, and be able to play at a standard speed, which is of great benefit to increasing the speed of the right hand. In addition, you can do auxiliary exercises, such as: hand-grip strength diagram, rapid fingertip tapping on the table, etc. Practice makes perfect. As long as you have perseverance, you will improve quickly. After long-term exercise, the adaptability of the muscles of the right hand will increase. The muscles and bones will be stretched to a certain extent. After that, in addition to doing more exercises for development, we should at least maintain the performance of the right hand and do consolidation exercises, that is, we must select some sounds or certain parts of the music every day. Practice each paragraph individually. The growth of the speed and strength of the right fingers takes a long time. Don't be too hasty and do a lot of blind and ineffective futile work, thus affecting the development process of the fingers.

Fifth, the "realm" of the right hand. After going through the above exercises, there will be a mysterious power at the fingertips of the right hand. It makes you play the piano easily and freely. I call this mysterious power the "realm" of your right hand. I remember that when I was studying piano in Beijing, Teacher Wei Ke told me about the state of his right-hand playing: "I don't have the explosion of power in my right hand and the fatigue of my right hand. It's as if my fingers are some distance away from the strings. It's like... "Qigong", as soon as the fingers flick over the strings, the beautiful sound will be revealed... "Teacher Shen's playing sound is beautiful and has strong penetrating power. The same piano and the same piece of music are wonderful in his hands." It’s unspeakable. To reach this “realm”, each of us guitarists must be able to convince some people that when playing the piano, the volume is low and the tone is thin and lacks penetration. Instead of causing the entire piano to vibrate with the vibration of the strings, I am afraid that the strings are vibrating. It's not correct. Once you encounter this kind of problem, don't panic or be afraid. You should calmly find out where you went wrong and then correct it rationally. The key is that we should have good intentions. Learning methods and being good at discovering and correcting your own mistakes are one of the keys to success. Learning from an excellent guitar teacher is of course a good thing, but if you are mainly self-study, you must think more and compare. ; Find opportunities to communicate with others; listen to recordings of performers or observe music and ask for advice from piano friends who are higher than yourself.