In today's online classical guitar lessons, we'll break down the oft overlooked finger indications in guitar scores. While these are suggestions, it's a good practice to explore what the editor has written and decide whether you agree or not.
The importance of Finger Indications
When we're starting out, it can seem like enough of a challenge just to play the right notes, and we often neglect the other information in the score. A very skilled reader may be able to take it in on the first read through, but it's rare to play the right notes, plus the dynamics etc. etc.
A VERY important component of a guitar score is the finger indication. Trust the editor enough at least try the suggestions before ignoring them.
It is rare that numbers in the score indicate the fret where you play a note. But what do all of those numbers mean? Read on!
Fret Hand Fingers
regular numbers indicate a finger number for the fretting hand. 1, 2, 3, 4.
encircled numbers indicate the string number.
➀ ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅
A Roman Numeral usually indicates the fret number where you will barre. for example: Ⅵ indicates a barre at sixth fret. Some editors (like Berklee College of Music, William Leavitt) use this to indicate the position where the music is to be played, in other words the fret number where your index finger can fret notes.
Plucking and Picking Indications
Lastly, we also receive indications for our plucking hand. There are italicized letters: p (thumb), i (index), m (middle), a (ring), e (pinky).
For those of us that use a pic or plectrum, we also see the following symbols:
⊓ (downstroke), ∨ (upstroke)
all finger and string indications will appear next to, or directly above or below the note to which they apply. Barre indications usually appear above the section of music to which they apply.
All the Information you need - The Thinking Guitarist
Remember that if we wanted extremely specific directions of where to play something, we can always use tablature. In fact some method books that focus on note reading will still employ tablature, especially when teaching scales and arpeggios.
Note reading is integral to any guitarist's development, and including finger indications gives you all of the information you need.
If you're struggling with a piece, the finger indications can be helpful to aid your reading.
The finger indications will give you enough information, beyond the pitch indicated on the staff, to help you find the note. A good editor will include finger indications in the case of position shifts or to provide a solution when an alternative might seem just as good; in that case, the editor or composer usually has a musical end in mind, like creating legato through the various voices.
Note Reading - Context Clues
Despite constant complaints from online guitar gurus about how difficult reading notes on the guitar can be, if you approach things practically, it's actually pretty obvious how and where to play something.
Only one note on the guitar can be played in 6 places, and that is the pitch of the➀ high E string (to clarify this only happens on guitars with 24 frets, usually electric guitars). Usually only 4 of those positions are used in the majority of classical guitar music until you reach an advanced level, and at that only 3 of those are very commonly used. And this is the case for many of the notes we can play 5 times or less.
At that, your line of thought should always focus on what is easiest for you as a player. So if a piece asks you to play that high E pitch, it's unlikely you would play it at 19th fret on the ➄ A, or 24th fret on the ➅ low E (assuming you have an amazing custom instrument with 24 frets.
We most often play the high E at fret 14 on ➃ D or 9th fret on ➂ G if the context demands. In other words if the notes leading up to or surrounding it have led us to that location. Often it's part of a chord, or we're playing other notes even higher like a very high E on 12th of ➀.
So this really narrow it down! Sometimes an open string can facilitate arpeggio patterns or helps us free up our hand to make a position shift, or its just easy in the context of a piece. For the fretted E on ➁ it might be part of a chord or it might just sound more musical to play the fretted note because of its tone vs. the open string.
Narrowing your options - Fretboard Knowledge
With that in mind you can then use your musical intuition and the finger indications to narrow down the possibilities. Take the following example. Here we have a few notes that we can play in a few positions. I can imagine playing some of this at first position, or 3rd, or even 5th position. The two questions to ask are: What is easiest? Why would I do that.
Playing at 5th position would demand a barre and some pinky agility. Unless the context demands this, I'm not too interested in playing up there. But for demonstration, this is the finger indication that would direct you:
Tablature included for discussion. There is still not a consensus on how to indicate barres amongst software programmers and different editors. This example is generated in Guitar Pro, which uses “B” for Barre followed by the fret, and the "½" is telling you to barre half of the strings. Others may simply use a roman numeral, or you may see “C” followed by a roman numeral, with “C” standing for Capo meaning use your finger as a “capo” at the indicated fret.
Notice that I've only given information on where to play the low C and that you'll need a Barre at 5th fret. Given that first indication, the other notes should be quite obvious, but the barre indicator may be helpful as well.
Another solution is to play this all in third position:
It might be considered redundant to indicate string numbers and finger numbers for the first two notes. So an editor could instead simply give the following:
This should be enough for us to know where to play this. Again, there are two possibilities where the octave C's can be played, and given the following notes and finger indications, only the one at 3rd fret makes sense. Context!
Finally, if there is some previous context to this selection, we might play the first two notes differently:
Given the low G on beat 1, it only makes sense to play the octave C's in first position. The finger indications in bar 2 provide just enough context to figure out where to play the F and the A. It is unlikely to make a shift up to any higher frets, and we know third position is one of two places on the guitar where we can that F with first finger and the A with pinky. In this context, it happens to be the most convenient so a string number is not necessary.
Close Reading
This week, revisit some of your well learned pieces and consider whether you're following all the indications. Often the editor has reason, technical or musical, for their recommendations. Can you figure out why certain indicators are given?
Craig Winston | Classical Guitarist
Craig Winston is a classical guitarist and teacher in Denver. He holds a Master of Music Degree in Classical Guitar Performance from Lamont School of Music. He has performed throughout the United States as a solo performer and with various rock and theater groups. Craig is available for recitals, house concerts, private events a guitar lessons.