Week 1 - Technical Foundation // May 3

joosje This is sounding good!

I see what you mean about the pinky - it does get just the sliiightest bit tense while you play. I think it's the entire right side of your hand though, rather than just the finger itself.

I think what might be happening is the same as what was happening to Eric before. Your hand might not be used to the amount of preparation you are doing now, and it hasn't yet found an angle at which it can play pluck every string comfortably. What I'm seeing is that at the very beginning of the preparation movement, it tends to "rush" to the strings a bit to get there on time, and it doesn't quite reach the angle at which you would be able to play all strings without moving.

Try the following: practice 1A in front of a mirror or while recording yourself. Then practice 2B and stop right after you prepare the fingers after a pattern.

Then compare the shape and position of your hand. Is your hand in the exact same position where it was for 1A? Then it will be comfortable to play all strings. Is it in a different position? Then it will be tense.

(This is not the end, it's possible for your initial playing angle to be good and to still get tense throughout the pattern - but in your case, I think what I'm seeing is an initial tension caused by the angle more than a generalized problem after that.)

What you might also try is to bring the palm of your hand just a little bit further forward, to allow the a to have a better angle of attack - start with your regular preparation position, then just move your palm a little forward, like in the video I made for Eric at the bottom of this thread.

When it comes to the rest stroke, this is also sounding really great! We have a bit of a different issue here (although it's sounding quite nicely), where the palm of your hand wobbles a little from left to right. It seems that the palm is trying to compensate a little bit for a movement that could be coming from just the fingers themselves.

I see you've been training your extensor muscles to allow your fingers to go far away from the string when they do their "opposite motion" (while the other finger is playing), which is great! But make sure you're only using your fingers for that, not the entire palm. If the palm wobbles, you'll lose agility and high speeds will make it more tense.

Gokce Turkmendag this is great! Thank you for posting these, Gokce. I'm going to make some targeted comments on some of these exercises, and then we'll dive into the right-hand pinky question! Let's do this.

1C: Aim for just the tiniest bit more volume! You could project a little more here.

2A: Don't put the thumb down before you're ready to begin the next pattern. No preparation until you start the next chord.

2B: Make sure you are totally even with rhythm - it got pretty stable after the first chord, but it tends to go back and forth between in time and slightly out of time.

3A: Alright, for this and the other rest stroke exercises, let's talk about the pinky!

What I am seeing here is a lot of tension caused by the angle of attack. The pinky is only a symptom, rather than the cause of the tension.

When you play rest stroke in this angle, it is easier to change strings regardless of fingering (so basically, regardless of whether you're doing direct or indirect changes), and it's also slightly easier to go through the strings faster, resulting in a more tinny but also more percussive sound.

However, it is less comfortable for your wrist. Look at that almost 90° angle it needs to achieve in order to play in this position! The unnaturalness of that position is a large part of what is causing this tension.

More importantly, I feel like the tension is already there in the pinky (and, I'm assuming, invisible but similar tension at the root of the thumb, on the other side of the hand), even before you play.

That is the kind of habit that we have to fight against, because there is no need for your fingers to be tense at all if you are not playing.

I think that rest stroke is just causing your hand to feel like it needs to be tense, even before you play a note - perhaps due to the higher effort required for making the nail go through the string, or perhaps due to the uncomfortable angle of your palm.

This means, however, that we can tackle this even before you play. Place your hand in position for playing rest stroke. Use your left hand and grab the pinky, wiggling it around. Grab the whole palm, in fact. See if you can stay in the same position without that tension that forms at both ends of the hand.

Once you've achieved a relaxed and comfortable RH position for rest stroke, start doing any rest-stroke exercise from the first week with open strings only. Then, while you play, gently touch your hand with your other hand. Is it still tense? When does the tension start? See if you can conserve that non-tense feeling you've achieved before playing while you play, too.

More importantly, start experimenting with a different RH position - perhaps one where you don't need your wrist to be at quite such an extreme angle for rest stroke. It is possible to make this one work, but it will be a bit less comfortable from that point of view.

Folding the fingers into the hand might work as a band-aid solution, however, long term, it can only serve as a stepping stone.

It's a little dangerous, because you are no longer seeing the symptoms of the tension, but most likely, the tension is still there - at least for the time being.

You might be able to use this as a way to trick your hand into being less tense, but if you do, you have to be extra careful and sensitive that you're not still holding onto tension that is now visually invisible.

Gokce Turkmendag wonderful, so happy to hear you've been enjoying them!