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Question: Is it acceptable to hit an adjacent string during slurs? For example, when playing a pull-off on the 2nd string is it okay to make contact with the 1st string with the left hand slur finger?

Answer Summary: The answer is based on the context of the desired musical result of your descending slurs (pull-offs). When the slur finger rests on the string below the sound from that string is muted whether intentionally or not. Therefore, if you wish for the adjacent string to continue to sustain you need to avoid it with a shallower follow-through or a more on-off slur movement. If you wish to mute the sustaining adjacent string intentionally you can make contact on the adjacent string but without re-striking it.

Let’s explore these tips in more detail.

Three Types of Slur Movements in the Left Hand

There are three types of slur movements we practice in classical guitar and each one affects the sound in a different way.

1. Downward Pluck: The descending slur finger plucks the string and rests on the adjacent string. This is essentially a left hand rest stroke. This provides a strong and solid sound to the slur in which both slurred notes can sound relatively even. Hoever, this mutes the adjacent string if it was sustaining.
2. On-Off Release: In this descending slur the finger moves directly up and down (or on and off) from the string without any contact on adjacent strings. This produces a softer slurred note (the second note of the two) and if the adjacent string is sustaining it continues to sustain.
3. The In-Between Slur: This slur movement is one where there is a mild downward pluck with the slur finger offering clarity to the slurred notes but no contact is made with adjacent strings. This is a more precise movement and there is varying degrees of pluck vs direct release. The potential for accidental muting or re-striking the adjacent string is the danger here.

At minute 3:17 I demonstrate the Three Ways to Play Pull-offs (Descending Slurs)

Additional Sustain Considerations

Re-striking the sustaining adjacent string – It is not advisable to re-strike a sustaining adjacent string with the slur finger to imitate the sustain of that string. For example, you play a descending slur on the 2nd string while the 1st string is sustaining, your slur finger re-plucks the 1st string to avoid muting it. This would change the notation of the composition and add an extra note. In this situation I’d advise you use either the On-Off Release or the In-Between slur technique.

Additional Muting Considerations

Muting with the left-hand slur finger – For example, you play a descending slur on the 2nd string while the 1st string is sustaining, your slur finger makes contact with the sustaining note to intentionally mute it. This is an acceptable way to mute an adjacent sustaining string if the circumstance allows. In some situations the right hand or another finger can also mute the string. But yes, this is an acceptable way to mute a string intentionally.

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The post Muting and Sustaining Adjacent Strings During Slurs first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Left Hand String Clearance Exercise – This exercise helps students play with curved fingers on their fingertips which helps with all left hand techniques. It also creates a situation where the student becomes aware of bad technique habits by listening to the open string sustain. It’s so simple and effective that I assign it to all my classical guitar students. It’s a basic four finger placement exercise with open strings below.

• Play the left hand fingers 1-2-3-4 on one-finger-per-fret.
• After each finger play the open string below.
• This will create a situation to check your clearance ability with each finger because if you are not on your fingertip you will accidentally mute the open string.
• Start in the 5th position but once you feel confident play it at all frets to check your clearance.

• Download a free PDF of this exercise here

Tips and Lessons Regarding Guitar Position

It’s always important to first check your guitar position.

Practical Tips for Left Hand Clearance

Guitar Position: Double check your guitar position making sure the headstock is around eye level. This might seem a bit high but it’s a general guideline. You can see my Guitar Position Lesson and also my Q&A on Headstock at Eye Level.

Tilt the guitar – Tilt the face of the guitar to a steeper angle (up and down rather than leaning toward you on the upper bout). This is the advice in the video at 10:18 above.

Left Hand Lesson – See my full lesson for the left hand here: Left Hand Position for Classical Guitar.

Play on the tip of the fingers – Playing on the tip of the finger is important but the other factors mentioned in the video are essential to the solution. Playing on the fingertips alone will not necessarily result in enough clearance.

Align the knuckles of the left hand – The left hand must be aligned with the strings otherwise the fingers will come in at an angle which reduces clearance of the strings below. This is more relevant to the 4th finger but still applies to all fingers. This will result in angled fingers on finger 1 and 4.

Curve the fingers – You must also have the neck of the guitar up high enough that you can curve your fingers properly.

A = Curvature at the tips joint

B = Curvature at the middle joint

C = Curvature at the knuckle

Check this this lesson on: 6 Common Technique Problems Solved with a Better Guitar Position (video below). My biggest piece of advice for this issue in presented in the this video, all the advice in this video is relevant, but specially see the video at minute 10:18.

Check out my full technique book with videos

Classical Guitar Technique: Essential Exercises, Scales, & Arpeggios – 122 pages with tons of video lessons.

The post Left Hand Clearance Exercise for Classical Guitar first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.