Guitar Finger Position
When you first begin to play, learning the guitar finger position can help. Having your fingers in the correct position on the guitar will help to keep you from straining your wrists. Correct positioning also helps you move from one chord to another quickly and smoothly, or from one note to another.
The “neck” hand
So what is the correct guitar finger position? To start with, your thumb should be loosely against the back of the neck of the guitar. While it can come up a little on the top side (closest to the largest string), you do not want it to come up too far. Remember, you are not trying to hold the guitar with this hand, so the thumb should be loose and the thumb should not be wrapping around to the top.
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Where you place the rest of your fingers will greatly depend on the chord or note that you are playing. But as a general rule, the correct guitar finger position should be curved over the neck with the tips of the fingers at a right angle to the strings. This will allow you to have the clearest tone when you press donwn on a string. When pressing a string, you are aiming to press with the tips of your fingers, and with your fingers in this position, they will be ready when it is time.
The last key to good guitar finger positioning is to keep your fingers at, or near, the fret that you are wanting to press. By pressing the string at or just behind the fret, you get the clearest tone with the least effort. Behind the fret means towards the head. Sometimes, if you are too far back on the fret or too far forward, you can get a muddy sound to the note. But when you try to play at the fret, you don’t have to press the string as hard. This makes it easier for you to switch notes quickly and easily.
Remember, these are the keys to good guitar finger positioning. Keep the thumb loose and towards the back of the neck of the guitar. Arch the other fingers over the strings where they are to be played. Press the strings at the fret. Do this, and you will find learning to play the guitar will be easire and more enjoyable.
The “pick” hand
The correct guitar finger position for the other hand when using a pick is to make an O with the index finger and the thumb, with the thumb just on the top of the tip of the index finger. The fat end of the pick will go between the index finger and the thumb. The narrow end will go towards the guitar. You want to keep the pick at a right angle to the guitar strings. It can lean slightly down as you strum downwards and slightly upwards when you strum back up. Hold the pick tight enough that it does not fall out of your hand as you strum, but not so tightly it does not have room to bend.
When you are not using a pick, your thumb will be at the top string. Skip a string, then each finger on your hand takes a string on the rest of the way down. So the thumb will be on the larger E string, the index on the D string, the middle finger on the G string, the ring finger on the B string, and the pinkey on the thinner E string. This guitar finger positioning on the strings will allow you to play the different strings quickly.
Lead guitar finger positioning may vary slightly, especially on the strumming hand if you are not using a pick, but in general should keep the finger fairly close. The idea is to let the fingers do what feels natural, so don’t force it. Sometimes, you might use two or three fingers on a single string for a particular progression. But as a rule, the guitar finger position described above will generally work as well.