Following my post on good technique, I wanted to follow up with a detailed analysis of Segovia’s technique, mostly because it caused such a stir when I first made mention of critically evaluating the master. But I think we have much to learn from doing so. My basis for evaluating Segovia’s technique is to simply evaluate whether he used his body in a way that was efficient and healthy, according to the science of biomechanics and modern medicine, principally the four rules of efficient musculoskeletal function.
Below, I have taken a photo of Segovia from the internet and marked some of the most apparent issues that he has with his technique. I’d like to reiterate that his faulty technique did not make him a bad musician. But it does mean that he had to work harder than someone with good technique. It also means that he was at a higher risk of injury than a musician with good technique. Can you play guitar well with faulty technique? Yes. Would I recommend it? Definitely not. Good technique is safer, and more efficient. Why would you choose otherwise?
The top left photo is the unedited photo of Segovia that I took from the internet. You can use this to compare to the edited photos.
Excessive Right Hand Arch.
In the top right, you will see an image marked Excessive Arch. This photo show’s that his wrist is flexed too much. The limit of flexion should be around 10 degrees, 20 max.
To understand why eliminating arch is important, do this simple experiment.
1. Keeping your right wrist straight, wiggle your fingers as fast as possible.
2. Flex your wrist down toward the underside of your arm as far as it will go.
3. Now wiggle your fingers as fast as you can. Notice the difference. You will not be able to move your fingers as fast as when your wrist is straight. You will also likely feel tension in your wrist and forearm that did not exist when it was straight.
4. Keeping your wrist flexed. Try to touch your fingers to the palm. You will notice that your fingers have a limited range of motion, and likely cannot touch the palm without considerable effort or discomfort.
Keeping your wrists free of arch (free of flexion and extension) allows you to move your fingers more quickly, maximizes their range of motion, and eliminates muscular tension. Violating this rule can put the player at risk of developing tendonitis, De Quervain’s Syndrome and other hand diseases.
Deviation of the Wrists
Deviation of the wrists poses much of the same risks and causes similar problems as excessive arch, as both violate the principle of muscular alignment. Try the above experiment again, this time deviating your wrist. Start with a straight wrist, with your palm facing you. Then bend your wrist to the left or right for the experiment. Both wrists should have no deviation when you play the guitar.
Spinal Alignment
Because of the use of the footstool, the Maestro has a twisted spine and is not aligned. This means that he must use the muscles in his core body and back to hold himself up instead of allowing the spine to naturally balance. This leads to tension. It also puts the player at risk of developing scoliosis, lumbargo, herniated discs and other spinal disorders.
Since the development of many guitar supports, guitarists can now sit (or stand) without twisting the spine, and without raising one leg, which causes lateral curvature of the spine and further twisting.
Hyper Extension
You will see in his left hand, that the base joints of his fingers are bent backward away from the fretboard (extended) while the other joints are bent forward toward the fretboard (flexed). This violates the principles of uniform direction of joint motion and midrange function of joints. While it does not look particularly bad, the muscles that extend and flex the fingers are both pulling on his joints in opposite directions. This creates tension and puts him at risk for tendonitis, repetitive strain injury, tenosynovitis and more.
Concluding Thoughts
Though we might progress slowly, we as humans tend to improve a little in every generation. Segovia played the guitar when it was a new instrument. As we have passed through generations, we have learned about the body, about health. It is very exciting to see the developments in every generation. We are getting closer to having a codified and standard technique for the guitar.
How many great guitarists can you name from the past? From Segovia’s time? Now think of how many you can name today. I’m sure there are many, many more. Case in point.
As always, practice well, practice smart, and practice healthy.
5 Comments
Segovia played every day until he died in his nineties. We can safely say that his wrist position posed no long term issues.
Your suggestion to bend the wrist as far as it will go misrepresents what he is doing. The wrist is merely relaxed and not forcefully bent. "Twiddling" your fingers is quite easy if you actually do what he does.
Check out Alice Artzt's series on Ida Presti's RH technique for some of the physiology behind it.
I hope you know Segovia's possibly the greatest classical guitarist of all time and his right hand technique was flawless. If you think you are better then Segovia and apparently can teach him about technique you have a lot to learn.
Thanks for your thoughts Sam. Totally agree that Segovia was great. The point is that he was in the first generation of guitarists, and we (not just me) as guitar players have learned a lot since his time. Segovia gave us a great place to start from, and we can all grow and improve from there. At this point, standard guitar technique, like what is taught in major universities is very different from what Segovia did. It's about learning, and growing, and becoming better...not just imitating the past. I wrote this post to caution folks, as many young players have become injured imitating his right hand technique, which is not a healthy technique. While I don't agree with everything about the technique in the linked article, the following is an article by a former Segovia student who also thinks that copying technique is not a good idea: https://www.mangore.com/introduction-2-6-3 Let me know what you think.
We can criticize Segovia now because he taught us how to play the guitar.
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