Bouncing fingers – why it`s one of the worst guitar `techniques` around and how you can fix it

One of the worst habits a guitarist can have (and one I used to be very guilty of committing myself) is the habit of `bouncing` their fingers off the fretboard. I talked about this briefly in my Ultimate Guide to Practicing Scales but want to expand upon this, as it is a very important subject. It is also important to know about the guitar repair tips.

In this post, you will learn why `bouncing` your fingers can really hamper the way you play guitar, why fixing it will make a big difference to the accuracy of your playing and how to actually fix it.

First, let me be clear about what I mean by `bouncing` your fingers off the fretboard.

I call it `bouncing` as when a guitarist plays a note, once that finger has just been used – they then `bounce` the finger a large distance off the fretboard creating a big gap between the finger and the fretboard.

There are multiple reasons why `bouncing ` your fingers so far away from the fretboard causes some big issues.

These issues include:

A lack of accuracy when putting the finger back on the fretboard
It takes longer to get the finger back on the fretboard, thereby slowing down your playing.
Hampers the development of finger independence; as the action of keeping fingers close to the fretboard requires more control
Left and right hand co-ordination suffers as one hand is lagging behind the other

I chose this riff because when most beginner guitarists play it, they are guilty of bouncing their fingers off the fretboard – big time.

I often teach this one to beginners as it is something fun for them but also gives me a chance to cover what we are doing today and most beginners really do bounce their fingers when playing this one!

Notice how far the pinkie travels to get to the fretboard for the final note of the riff (played on the 13th fret). This is super common with beginners and the reason it is so bad is that when the pinkie is travelling so far, the chances of it accurately landing on the string are shortened.

Instead of hitting the string in the middle of the finger, most guitarists land with their finger slightly off the string resulting in a buzz note. It doesn’t always happen but when bouncing your fingers, the chances of this happening increases.

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