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→Left-Hand Fretting
== Left-Hand Fretting ==
As for the left-hand, the important thing is the ''quality '' of your fretting. ("Fretting" is the act of pushing the string down against a fret.) You want to push the string down right "behind" (towards the nut) the fret, so that it is held firmly against the fret. This gets a clean sound. If you hold the string lightly against the fret or far away from it, the string has the ability to come off and slam down against the fret as it resonates, which sounds like metal hitting metal. It is noisy. It also dimishes sustain, causing the note to fade out more quickly. A badly-fretted note will sound like "pinck" whereas a well-fretted one will sound like "biiiiiinnnngggg". Open strings are automatically fretted perfectly, and make a good reference to determine how well you are fretting; however, they do have a bell-like quality that you cannot get from a fretted note. They are also less likely to have fret buzz - there's only so well that you can fret a fret.
'''Be sure not to press down too hard when fretting'''. The additional tension will actually bend the string behind the fret, causing it to have greater tension and thus vibrate at a higher frequencythan desired. In short, your notes will be sharp. Press down just hard enough to get a clean sound. Also, make sure you are behind the fret, not on top or even slightly in front of it. If so, part of your finger will be touching the vibrating part of the string, slightly dampening it, causing it to lose sustain and higher-frequency overtones. The basic guidelines that your left-hand should follow is each finger is assigned its own fret. So if you were to play the below tab on any string:
The basic guideline that your left-hand should follow is each finger is assigned its own fret. So if you were to play the below tab on any string:
i m r p
--1--2--3--4--
You would use your index '''i'''ndex finger on the first fret, then your middle '''m'''iddle finger on 2nd fret, ring '''r'''ing on 3rd, pinky '''p'''inky on 4th. Note that you can hold down any frets behind the one you are playing without any real impact on tone. This can somtimes improve economy of motion. For example, look at the following tab:
r------
--1--2--3--4--3--2--1--
You can leave your index '''i'''ndex finger on the first fret the entire time. You could also leave your middle '''m'''iddle finger on there except for the first and last notes. This is less overall motion than if you were to press each fret down then unfret that one for the next note. Think about the nut - it is always "fretted", but when you fret any fret, the fact that the nut is fretted doesn't matter.
== Muting ==