Below are some photos of the fretting hand position of some common chords on a standard, nylon strung, classical guitar. The emphasis is to ensure that notes sound clearly whilst keeping the hand and the arm free of strain and tension. Key things to be aware of are;
- the fingertips should be as close to vertical to the fingerboard as possible with the hand arched from the wrist through the knuckles to achieve this
- the pad of the thumb should be placed on the back of the neck, approximately at the mid-point and as parallel to the frets as possible
- the fingers should be as close behind the frets in question as possible
- the fingers should not exert any more pressure on the strings than necessary as this will lead to hand fatigue and straining
- fingernails should be kept short
If the fingers are at extreme angles to the fretboard then this can cause;
- poor fretting, leading to buzzing or muted notes
- muting of adjacent strings
- hand strain as more pressure is required to fret the notes
- loss of accuracy and lack of fluency
