Resting Hand on bridge

[AcidPrax]

I have gotten into the habit of resting my hand on the bridge when I play. I believe what I am doing is called "anchoring." Is this problematic? I play metal mostly so I do a lot of palm muting and my hand is usually close to the bridge. It just felt natural to rest my hand on the bridge for added support.

Also, I've been having trouble with tremolo picking lately and I am wondering if my habit of resting my hand on the bridge is causing problems in other areas. When you tremolo pick at high speeds should you free-float or is it proper to anchor for added support?

[N E Y]

I have gotten into the habit of resting my hand on the bridge when I play. I believe what I am doing is called "anchoring." Is this problematic? I play metal mostly so I do a lot of palm muting and my hand is usually close to the bridge. It just felt natural to rest my hand on the bridge for added support.

Also, I've been having trouble with tremolo picking lately and I am wondering if my habit of resting my hand on the bridge is causing problems in other areas. When you tremolo pick at high speeds should you free-float or is it proper to anchor for added support?

Anchoring your right hand as a form of support is also a form of immobilizing it for the more advanced playing demands.

The right hand that is free of any impediments to full motion range will have it's full technical potential unleashed as necessary and as needed by the demands of growing virtuosity on your part.

What feels natural to untrained and weak muscles of the forearm is not natural to the advanced virtuoso player..it is an obstacle. Many players simply adopt this paralyzing or severely limiting anchoring habit because of their initial weaknesses, instead of training the muscles of the forearm to do the right job for maximum speed and freedom.

With anchoring of the right hand one limits oneself to playing with distortion only, because there is no power in the right hand to play cleanly and eloquently with a semi- paralyzed right hand. One also can't play any type of arpeggios in any position between the bridge and the neck. And one is immediately subject to all excess tensions that arise when one tries to move the fixated hand from the first to the sixth string.

If you only want to play metal with heavy overdrive distortion only, for the rest of your life and ignore all other musical types of expression...Then maybe you can anchor your hand since you can play that way with this type of limitation...but don't expect to be able to play much more than that specific genre. In the end it depends on what you want to do or plan to do musically. Remember: technique is music embodied as body motion...so as the music changes so does the technique.

Tremolo picking, as you found out already, requires a free floating hand or it will be tiring and always hard to do for long periods of time.

You can find how to train your right hand completely for maximum speed and power in my DVD "Maximum Speed picking with Ney Mello"

There is in the link below an archived GP section called "The Best of Ney Mello" where you can read a bit more about it...
http://www.guitarprinciples.com/Ney_files/Ney.htm

Ihope this as been of some help to you Daniel


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney_mello
http://www.youtube.com/user/NeyMelloOfficial?
http://bit.ly/aSUSw6
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NEY-MELLO/8702485599
http://www.twitter.com/NeyMelloGuitar

[AcidPrax]

Well as much as I would like to only play metal I certainly do not want to limit my potential with bad habits. So from what I gathered what I am currently doing is bad and should be discontinued. I would like to able to play all kinds of music.

So free-floating all the time is the way to? I should kick my habit of hand resting ASAP correct? Again, the last thing I want is to limit my potential so any advice you have on proper right hand position would be greatly appreciated.

And thanks for such an in depth response!

[N E Y]

Well as much as I would like to only play metal I certainly do not want to limit my potential with bad habits. So from what I gathered what I am currently doing is bad and should be discontinued. I would like to able to play all kinds of music.

So free-floating all the time is the way to?

Except when muting is needed. Some light occasional grazing of the palm on the strings during playing is fine too, as long as your hand stays mobile...not anchored.


I should kick my habit of hand resting ASAP correct?

Yes, If you want to be free play at your ultimate potential, if you chose to go that far.

Again, the last thing I want is to limit my potential so any advice you have on proper right hand position would be greatly appreciated.

The best basic advice is in my answer post already. Read the archived posts. Beyond that, it becomes detailed training and systematic development procedures requiring actual teaching, which is another topic.

Good luck Daniel !





And thanks for such an in depth response!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney_mello
http://www.youtube.com/user/NeyMelloOfficial?
http://bit.ly/aSUSw6
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NEY-MELLO/8702485599
http://www.twitter.com/NeyMelloGuitar