Hands Placement

First, consider the setting of the right hand.

  • From the position when our right arm is relaxed and just hanging down, we transfer it onto the guitar to the place where the upper soundboard and the side of the body are connected, right at the edge  so that the hand can freely balance up and down.
  • We use the arm part right before the elbow bend as a support. It is important not to bring the elbow over the edge of the side of the body, as this can lead to pinching of the entire arm.
  • The hand, also from a relaxed position, must be placed on the strings as follows. For example, you can grab a marker, a pen, or a pencil in your hand so that the fingers are slightly bent, not straight.
  • We put the thumb as a support on the sixth string (the thickest one) approximately in the middle of the sound hole, and the index, middle, and ring fingers, on the third, second and first (the thinnest) stings respectively.

Once we have transferred the hand onto the strings, we need to ensure two more extremely important moments. 

  1. "Bridge"
    The hand is slightly convex, about enough to fit a small ball between the hand and the body of the guitar. Such a position will allow us to produce a strong and loud sound. It would be a mistake to press the hand against the body of the guitar.
     
  2. "Cross".
    The thumb and index finger should diverge in different directions, so that if we look at them from above, the "Cross" is visible. The hand itself is slightly turned to the right, forming a natural slope.

Once all these steps are done, we will get the classic position of the right hand.

Now let's take a look at the setting of the left hand.

  • The left hand takes a mirror position relative to the right hand and is directed upwards. 
  • The thumb as a support is placed on the back side of the neck in the middle so that all other fingers can freely reach all the strings. 
  • It would be a mistake to grab the neck too tightly. In this case, hand clamping and limited stretching of the fingers can occur.

Both hands should assume a natural, relaxed position to ensure maximum freedom of movement.

In the previous lesson, we studied the correct guitarist position. Now we can move on to the setting of the hands.