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Thread: practice tips for precise fretting

  1. #1

    Default practice tips for precise fretting

    I am a beginner and would appreciate any tips anyone could give me for practice that would develop precise fretting techniques.
    How I practice now is to take a piece of music, (Midnight on the Water, or a minuet) and practice it measure by measure, very slowly, ( 50 BPM+/-) while watching my fingers. After several runs at that measure, I'll move to the next measure. In addition to my usual 45 minute daily practice session, sometimes I'll sit in front of the TV and practice a measure that gives me the most difficulty time after time.
    I have also tried fretting measures without watching my fingers, and but I am afraid every time I fret sloppily doing it without looking will just imprint a mistake in my brain.
    Suggestions most welcome. Thanks.

    Fred

  2. #2
    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: practice tips for precise fretting

    You're probably doing what you need to be doing at this point. Internalize the music you're playing and learn to think in terms of fret position so that you're not consciously reciting numbers. It's OK to look at your left hand for the time being to ensure good accurate finger placement at the fret. Over time, and with much repetition (I'm talking years here, not weeks or months), it will become very natural to the point where looking at your hand doesn't really add anything of value. So use your visual sense to help your other senses as long as you need to, with the goal of weaning yourself off of it over time. It will come together, along with all the other coordination issues like pick placement/timing, left-and-right hand timing, etc.
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  3. #3

    Default Re: practice tips for precise fretting

    Try adding in using your ears to tell you if you are fretting correctly. After you have the tune mostly under your fingers and know how it sounds in your head, listen and not look, and make adjustments as necessary. This way you are also training your ears/brain to listen, while also doing all the other things with left and right hand.
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  4. #4
    Gibson F5L Gibson A5L
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    Default Re: practice tips for precise fretting

    Hold the mandolin in the same position relative to your body each time you practice. . This puts your hand positions in the same place relative to the instrument. Check out Mike Marshall's and Chris Thile's videos on YouTube on this. Secondly always look at the fret you are shifting to and your hand will stop in the right place. The repetitive practice and working the kinks out slowly is good .... two thumbs up. Enjoy the journey... R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

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  6. #5

    Default Re: practice tips for precise fretting

    Thanks for all the tips- Something about the noise that a mandolin makes that makes my head feel good-

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: practice tips for precise fretting

    Quote Originally Posted by fcr View Post
    Something about the noise that a mandolin makes that makes my head feel good-
    Now there is a T-shirt!!!!!!!
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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