Guitar technique
Guitar technique: understand what really holds you back
These articles answer the questions every guitarist asks when working on technique and hitting a plateau. Each one starts from a specific question, explains what’s happening in the hand and the motion, and gives concrete ways forward.
They follow the five families of difficulty the RIFFLEX diagnostic tells apart in legato.
The five families of difficulty
- Fingerings: finger combinations in a fixed position, and the independence of each finger.
- Stretch: forced spreads between fingers, and what they cost in speed.
- String change: moving to the next string, and the finger pair that does it.
- Position shift: changing position along the neck.
- String skipping: jumping straight to a non-adjacent string.
Articles
Why your technique plateaus
Why you plateau while still practicing, and how to find the exact motion holding you back.
Measuring your technique
Speed, independence, consistency, endurance: what can actually be measured in guitar playing.
Which finger slows you down
Which finger combination limits you most, and how to work on it.
Ring and pinky independence
Why your ring and pinky fingers move together, and how to build independence.
Hammer-on vs pull-off
Why one of the two legato motions is almost always weaker than the other.
Legato: low vs high strings
Low strings or high strings: why your motions aren’t equal across the neck.
Legato notes per string
2, 3 or 4 notes per string: what playing density changes in legato.
Getting it right first try
Getting it right first try: what your number of attempts says about your motion.
Finger stretch
What a stretch costs you, and why it’s rarely about hand size.
Small hands on guitar
Playing guitar with small hands: what really limits you, and how to adapt.
Legato string change
Which finger pair handles string changes worst, and in which direction.
Position shifting
Position shifting: which finger and which direction slow you down.
String skipping
Skipping strings without losing speed or letting the skipped strings ring.
Combining stretch and shift
When each difficulty works alone but the combination falls apart.