15/10/2022
Developing a Light Touch – Using dead notes exclusively!
It seems fitting to look at a few ways to develop a lighter touch to playing – Don’t grip the neck so hard and just play the music! – That would seem the obvious answer, but is there more to it than that?
Because when the music is being played, subtleties such a fretting and picking finger pressure can slip into the background, as the attention can be focused on more demanding aspects of playing, especially when performing live.
So perhaps practicing an exercise that focuses on fretting and picking pressure itself might be beneficial?
As this is more likely to make an impact on motor, tactile and kinaesthetic memory, placing the lighter touch into the subconscious.
The first suggestion is simply discovering the feel of minimum fretting pressure.
The second suggests playing normally, e.g., scales, arpeggios bass-line, melodies etc. but without pushing down on the strings with enough pressure to fret the note (stop the note on the fingerboard – fretless) – so you are only playing with dead notes, your fingers still moving on, or across the strings creating the normal patterns.
The last looks at picking hand dynamics, that can also lead to a lighter touch.
Hope you find this useful!
Enjoy!
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