PLAY GUITAR a new method for the study of guitar by: Naftali Lahav (Page 12)

Take a second look at your left hand position!
Place it naturally without any effort or strain. Make sure that your wrist is not locked but rather free and loose. Hold this position for few seconds. Try to feel as if your hand is floating.
It is important to understand that there is no counter pressing from the left hand thumb - the palm's mass will be enough - (if you will locate your left hand and wrist correctly) The wrist is free and move slightly, supplying support to the fingers - accordingly to the finger's pressing action.

Mark and Press
"Mark and Press" is an important preparation exercise for your left hand fingers exercises that enable each left finger to act independently. The target here is to play with each finger without carrying your hand, wrist or others fingers into action. In other words its task is to enable each finger to play independently.

1. After placing our left hand, as it demonstrated above, Touch the third string slightly with your first finger at the tiptop of yours finger - see the photo below. Place the acting finger just a bit before the fret. We shall call this action: Mark.		2. After the "Mark" action we shall go on and continue to the Press action by pressing your finger against the string. While pressing, we should not operate a counter press with our hand or thumb; the mass of our palm will be sufficient! This way we are able to keep our left hand free while playing.

The "Mark and Press" practicing is most important exercise! This practice will release each of your fingers for an individual action - which is so important for playing the guitar. So practice this one every day for few minutes before entering the regular study time. Do it at list for two weeks!

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