Fretting Hand Position

So, let's move back to our fretting hand now and just talk about fretting hand position. Where is the best place to fret a particular note to get the best sound?

Relaxed Left Hand

First of all, you want a nice, relaxed left hand. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Imagine you're trying to put a thumbprint in the back of the neck with your fretting hand.
• This technique will:
  • Keep your wrist nice and low.
  • Maintain a nice gap underneath the neck.

We want to avoid grabbing the neck like a baseball bat, as it can be very restrictive to the movement of your fingers. To allow for free movement of your fingers:

• Keep your hand nice and relaxed.
• Remember what we discussed about the elbow not jutting into the side of your stomach, just keep it relaxed.

Finding the Right Place to Fret a Note

Now, let's talk about where physically to play a note within a fret to get the best sound.

Example: Third Fret on the A String

We're going to play the third fret on the A string now.

• That's this note here.
• This whole area technically is the third fret.

You can see that compared to the size of my fingernail, I could probably fit two or three of my fingers in this fret. However, the best position is to fret right up against the fret wire of the third fret.

• Fret number one
• Fret number two
• Fret number three (Here's where we want to be)

Proper Technique

I'm not on top of the fret (the metal); I'm just on the other side of it. If I fret it there, I have the least amount of pressure to apply to the note to get a clean sound.

Have a listen to it:

• Clean Sound: "You can hear that's a really clean sounding note; there are no buzzes or anything like that."

If I move to the back of the fret and play the same note with the same pressure, I'll get a sound that has a bit of buzz.

• You might hear something like this: "You can hear that kind of buzziness."
• I could fix that by pushing down harder, but that would force the string out of tune a bit, since I'm having to push down so much.

Best Practices

Where possible, especially when playing single notes, you have a choice of where to go within the fret. The best place to be is right at the top of the fret.

• If you play on top of the metal, you'll get a really dull, muted sound. We don't want that.

The key is to place your finger:

• As far forward in the fret as you can, regardless of which finger you're using.
• This is especially important down here where the frets are nice and big, allowing for flexibility in finger placement.

Always aim for the best sound by fretting as far forward as possible within the fret!