little exercises that contribute to general
facility but they are, at best, pebbles on a
Guitar
THE GUITARIST'S HANDS
John W. Duarte
The hands are the tools with which a
guitarist creates music; the whole body is of
course important in varying degree but it is
the hands which select and initiate the
notes. As music itself changes (and in this
century it is doing so at a dizzying rate) so
too do the demands made upon the hands.
Like any other part of the body, the hands
develop according to the amount and type
of work they are asked to do. Naturally
there are limits-present readers are
unlikely to SCI' the guitarist who can span 12
frets or play 1.500 notes per minute, but we
can all aim to develop our own hands to
their inbuilt limits and may do this PUl~
posefully.
The usual diet of scales, arpeggios,
studies, and injunctions to cut out excessive
finger-movements play their part in build-
ing efleetivc hands but, for the most part
built on the foundation of the tonal music of
previous centuries, they arc no longer
enough. The simple lact is that we do not
know what our hands may be asked to do
next year, as music unfolds, and our most
realistic option is to train them to perform
(lily type of movement that is physically
possible. Most teachers haw their favorite
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46
whether minimal movement is whollv desir..
able in performance. It is very natural to
large heach. One way in which the frontiers
of music are advanced is through composers
demanding more and more from instrunu-n-
tulists, if the guitarist is prepared to face this
new music then his/her own frontiers will
also be pushed forward more quickly and
painlessly.
The ultimate objective is that of artistic
music-making, but the actions that it re-
quires are physical and mechanical ones.
Exercises aimed at co m pr c h en s ive
capability of the hands must therefore he
constructed and conceived in mechanical
rather than musical terms; musical studies
inevitably foster the movements associated
with the type of music concerned and to
some extent 'dilute' the objective itself e.g.
a study designed to develop left-hand slurs
seldom consists wholly of left-hand slurring.
The standard material is of course invalu-
able and, when it consists of pieces of
music, a welcome relief from 'mechanics',
but so too is a background of more forward-
looking work that treats the hands purely as
tools, to he developed to the limit of their
(and our) capacity. Such work is not new to
bowed-string players or pianists and it
doubtle-ss contributes to their higher
degree of reliability in performance. \
In relation to guitar playing there are five
hasic attrihutes that are valuable in hands:
1. Flexibility--parlicularly tlte ability of
the len hand to stretch along and across
the fingerhoard;
2. Dexterity-the ease and security with
which the hand can move from one
situation to another;
3. lndependence--the ability of individ-
ual fingers to move, or the two hands, to
ad independently of the other(s);
4. Stahility--each hand should 1)(' able to
do as much as possihle from a stable,
secure position. concentrating the max-
imum activity in the fingers; and.
.5. Ecorwmy--of dI<wt and movement,
minimizing unproductive efftlr!.
The last two objectives are seldom com-
pletely attained, because we are by nature
imperfect machines, and it is debatable
"With the-se thoughts in mind, and the
realization that progress often springs from dissat-
isfaetion with the status quo. I have. together
with my outstanding Venezuelan student Luis
Zea, devised a program of work designed tn
develop and control the hands in guitar playing
(The Cuitarist's Hands. Universal Edition. No.
2(926), over a minimum period of 14 months. It is
not an easy path hut if on" wants the cookie, one
must he prepared to hand over the dime-s-or
whatever the going price may he." John W.
Duarte
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move the body in response to music and the
'static' performer may well be less musical
(or more repressed) than one who indulges
in some excessive, demonstrative move-
ment. Such movement is, however, clearlx
less hazardous if the player clin play withOl;t
it and has objective control over the hands.
if it has no cushion of secure control, that is
a different and more accident-prone situa
tion.
Flexibility is a key attribute and if it is
improved it hecomes easier to develop
dexterity, independence and stability, since
these are adversely affected by restricted
flexihility. It is thus a thread that runs
through the entire program. Economy is
also a prime objective: Excessive movement
is equivalent to aiming at a target from all
unnecessarily long distance and is, equally.
wasteful of energy. 'Ioo much left-haud
pressure is tiring and militates against
freedom of action. One needs to develop
the ahility to apply minimal tim'e with
minimal movement-toward which ideal
much of the work is directed, concerned
with tileusing on small, economical move-
ments, one at a time. By resting the leH-
hand fingers, fill' instance, on the strings ill
specific dispositions, and depressing one or
more icuhau! l~ftil!g or depressiiu; any of
the others, one focuses sharply on single.
minimal movements and discourages the
unused fingers [rom sticking up in the air.
All exercises are to he executed to thc
metronome (suggested striking rates are
given) so that the movements are made
when required and not when the hand
dictates.
It is obviously impossihlc to describe
such a program in detail in an article. The
purpose here is to indicate one way ahead
and to explain the thinking on which th«
program is based, The work involved does
not replace any existing approach but
complements it; the improvements it brings
will also make it easier to tread the
established and well-trodden paths. Among
musicians in general, guitarists are not the
least impatient to get to grips with "tunes"
and "pieced' (OK, so it took Segovia 2.5 years
to get that far; but I'm unrealistic enough to
expect to do it in 2), and disciplined to face
the hard grind of huilding the necessary
technique-the implicit hope of the "quick
huck." Performance is the tip of a very large
iceberg; the unseen part is the countless
hours of work spent ill forging the tech-
nique (and the hands) through which it
hecomes possible. At no time in the history
of the guitar has this work heen more
important, and the need to look heyond the
existing stock of music more vital.
John W. Duarte, world renowned guitarist,
teacher, writer. and composer was honored Oc-
toher 10, 1979 by a special concert of his
compositions at Wigmore Hall to celebrate his
60th birthday. Performers included Americans
Gregg Nestor and Alice Artzt who with others
presented guitar solos and duets. guitar with
harpsichord. and songs with guitar and with lute.
AMERICAN STRING TEACHER