Finger Names Classical Guitar Techniques for Beginners

Video Transcript

Hi my name is John Armstrong with expertvillage.com I'm a professional guitar instructor and today we are going to be discussing beginning classical guitar. Next we want to discuss the right hand and left hand labellings. The left hand just like within any other style guitar the fingers of the left hand are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th you are use to that. But, the right hand is a little different as I stated earlier when playing classical guitar we traditionally finger pick verses using a plectrum and how we identified the fingers on the right hand is by labeling them with letters P for the thumb, I for the index finger, M for the middle finger, and A for the third finger or ring finger. The forth finger the pinkie is typically not used unless playing a flamenco style classical or Spanish guitar. P for thumb which stands for pulgar, I for index finger or indice, M for middle finger of medio and A for third finger or anular is the Spanish saying that. Also it is important when playing classical guitar to have a combo and you won't even be using a combination of the finger tips and the finger nail so on your right hand you kind of need to have you finger nails just a little bit longer then you typically would for anything else. I like to have them stick up maybe about a eighth or a sixteenth to a eight of a inch up above the tip of the finger. Certain other guitars have other preferences they might like them a little bit longer then that. It is important that you keep the fingernails well rounded at the edges so a nice you will need a nail filer or something like that that is a good idea to have. You want to keep it rounded you don't want to have any sharp edges on your fingernails and the corners. Because typically the string is struck at the corner right by the nail where the nail meets the nail in the corner of the finger is was were the string is kind of struck. So it is important to have a well rounded finger nail in order to achieve the proper tone.

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