AntisNews

Do you want to know the difference between a good guitarist and a poor one?

Look at their elbow.

If the strumming hand is moving merely from the elbow and the wrist is stiff, there is the give-away. The better guitarist will strum or pick from the wrist and the more experienced and articulate guitarist will use a bending from the thumb and first finger.

Yes, we all know that Pete Townshend would swing his whole arm in a windmill fashion, but there are three contentions against this point. 1. He is considered more of a great songwriter and not such a great guitarist. 2. The windmill is simply a performance vehicle, not a 'technique' to play better guitar. 3.Watch him when he plays seriously, you will see that he does not use the elbow.

To play guitar fast, one needs every advantage he can get. Of course much education of the left hand is even more important, but in scale practice and melodic emphasis, the thumb and forefinger need to bend; this is overlooked by beginners, while some go on to continue in bad habits and never learn this subtlety.

I am not saying that the elbow has no use; some techniques do involve strict elbow movement with a fairly stiff wrist. But usually those players can still use the wrist motion and the elbow is used out of choice.

There is a trumpet analogy here with a famous 'cheek puffer named Dizzy Gillespie. Trumpet students are told not to puff their cheeks. Some of them see a picture of Diz, and say, "well he puffs his cheeks". They don't realize that he doesn't have to puff and that he does it out of choice.

Guitar has many of it's own idiosyncrasies and developments over the years and some of the rules have been expanded into schools of new technique. Yes, elbows are OK, armpit swinging is OK, playing with your teeth is OK, but you better be able to move your wrist or people wont take you seriously.

Gene Petty

http://www.downloadguitarlessonsfree.com