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Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck
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The pros of closed positions
In open position, you usually have only one way to play a chord or series of
notes. But in position playing you have the whole neck — that is, all the frets
and strings above open position — and that provides several different ways
of playing a given passage of music. This is liberating, but it also means that
you have to understand a little more about how the music you hear and see
(if you’re looking at sheet music or tab) relate to the guitar neck. So you have
to couple some brain power to your technique to make it all work.
Fortunately, the minor pentatonic scale (covered in Chapter 8) makes that
easy to accomplish. But consider the following advantages of playing single
notes in closed position, instead of in open position or grabbing the notes
randomly by ear:
You can play a passage of music in any key just by moving your hand up
or down the neck. You don’t have to relearn the melody with a different
fingering, as you would in open position.
You can move any piece of music around the neck to find exactly the
right key for whatever reason the musical situation calls for — a singer’s
vocal range, the key the band knows the song in, the position you think
looks best for TV, and so on.
You get to know the entire neck of the guitar just by moving the licks you
already know into different places.
When you know the five pentatonic positions for a key, a few licks and solo
passages that use those patterns, and a sweet-note lick or two to throw in,
you’ll have a big chunk of the fretboard under your command. And that’s just
for one key!
The details of closed, numbered positions
To understand exactly where or at what fret to play, look to the strategy
known as position playing on the guitar. A position is the group of frets that
can be played by the left-hand fingers in a fixed place on the neck. In position
playing, the left-hand first finger plays the lowest fret, the second finger plays
the next highest fret, and so on, covering a four-fret span. Positions are
named by their lowest fret number — the one the index finger plays.
For example, to play in fifth position, move your left hand along the neck until
your index finger hovers above the fifth fret. (Most guitars have a fret marker
here.) Now you’re poised to play in fifth position. Check out Figure 9-1 for the
proper position.
TEAM LinG