We all have a few bad habits when it comes to the guitar. And awkward or bad finger placings are amongst the most common.
They afflict even professional musicians. Take Lindsey Jordan aka Snail Mail, who when asked rolls her eyes and sighs: “I have so many.”
She confesses: “I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this but my guilty secret is where I put my thumb – it is not behind the neck at all. It is all but protruding over.”
Then there is her finger picking:
“I’m a proficient finger picker but my actual finger skills are like so behind. Sometimes I won’t even realise. I’ll practice always without a pick and then when I get on stage I’ll be like ‘oh shit! This is not a song that we set up’ so I’ll use a pick.
“Sometimes my fingers bend backwards when I’m playing. I don’t know why. I do have a lot of bad habits but I did a lot on this new record [Ricochet] to accommodate that, especially live. A lot of what I play is finger pick so often in a song it’ll be pick – pedal – pick. Almost choreographic.
“But yeah that it’s mainly that and my finger going over the back of the neck. I need to get better at both!”
