Should I change my fingerpicking technique?

[BluDChyLD]

I've been fingerpicking for about 7 months now and I've made good progress with it. I've learnt some challenging pieces (classical gas, bouree, anji) and I can play them without any problems.

Over the past few weeks a few players have said that I should change the angle of my hand with my fingerpicking. If you take a look at the picture you'll see what I mean.

The top picture is how I usually fingerpick. I taught myself to do it, to be honest I didnt think I'd use it as much as I do I hardly use a plectrum anymore. I didnt really look into technique I just started using my fingers and gradually got better with it...

The bottom picture is the way Im trying to play right now. Im finding it really difficult but I think if I take it slowly I should get there fairly soon. I can still play accuratley but I have to do it very slowly. I cant believe that changing the angle of my hand slightly makes such differance! As Im getting more into classical playing I think using the right technique will pay off in the future. What do you guys think?
Thanks,
Dawson


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dawson.thomas/fingers.jpg

[Guni]

Hi BluDChyLD,

To be honest it is really hard to give set advice based on the 2 pix. It would be great to see you in action. Are you standing there or sitting?

What I can say is that the top pic actually looks ok to me. I mean were you pick the strings is also a question of sound. The second picture looks more like the standard classical way to hold the guitar, although it looks a bit forced at the moment. This might be due to that you are actually not using a real classical guitar, so the body of your guitar might be slimmer. For sure picking the strings closer to or above the soundhole will result in a warmer tone.

Guni

[EricV]

I guess I wouldn´t really be considered a specialist in fingerpicking-techniques for the acoustic / classical guitar ( I did learn a bunch of classical pieces, but never took lessons for it so I guess I didn´t play those the "exact right" way... they sounded good though ).

However, here´re my 5 Cents:

I guess it depends on what you wanna play, and on what kind of guitar. I pretty much fingerpick the way you do in the first picture.
My buddy J. Brocks, who is a specialist for classical and flamenco guitar called that "preacherman´s right hand", which pretty much means it is ok but not the exact right way.
I think that way of holding the right hand is fine for steel string acoustic ( especially if you wanna use muting-techiniques etc. ) while the picking in the lower picture looks similar to the way real classical players do it.
I dunno if it makes sense to use that technique for the steel string acoustic. If you wanna get into classical and flamenco guitar, it seems to be the right direction.
Just my opinion though
Hope this helps
Warm regards
Eric

NP: Jake E. Lee- Surfing With The Alien ( track )