Lesson: Left Hand Preparation for Classical Guitar

Left Hand Preparation (or Planting) Lesson. The main benefits of preparation in your left hand technique are: accuracy, speed, security, and efficiency. Another great term for efficiency is economy of motion (using small smooth motions). It’s a great way to practice your repertoire. It’s also a way to work on your left hand technique rather than just playing something over and over.

Times & Topics

  • 0:00 – Intro, Definition, and Reasoning
  • 1:45 – Why Prepare the Fingers?
  • 2:36 – Accuracy and Security
  • 3:28 – Example Practice (Sanz)
  • 7:49 – Preparation Tapping Exercise

You can see more lesson videos at the lesson archive page. You can help out the site and these free lessons by visiting the support page. If you’re looking for a technique book, try out one of my two books:

Here’s the video link on my YouTube Channel if you want to watch it there.

4 Comments

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  1. Hi Brad, again, just a terrific lesson which resonates with me. I was curious whether the left-hand planting you discuss here has any similarity or connection to Aaron Shearer’s Aim Directed Method approach for playing with the left hand. Hope you are well.
    Stephen Courtney