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Old 04-16-2012, 03:07 PM
kats45 kats45 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 12tribes View Post
Hello,
Been playing acoustic/electric guitar for many years, but just started 'Travis-Picking' about 2 weeks ago.

Loving it, but before I start building too many habits…I want to lockdown the fingerpicking technique.

Right now, I'm focusing on learning these 2 things…
1. 'Dust In The Wind' - loved this tune from my younger days, and the chording seems easy enough. Making some headway here.

2. Following exercise #12 from this link: http://www.guitarhabits.com/16-legen...king-patterns/

So…my main question is…

Which fingers should I use? Travis was a thumb + index player. Then I found some Tommy Emmanuel videos, and it looks like he's using all fingers except pinky. I'm leaning towards Tommy's technique.

The second question is…

Is it vitally important to 'glue' a finger to the body for reference? It really seems to help me lock into position, but I don't want to be limiting myself unnecessarily.

Really appreciate any suggestions or advice.

Craig
I've been using Mark Hanson's Travis Picking book too. As to the fingers to use, I use all the thumb and all the fingers, except the pinky.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of anchoring your pinky on the face of the guitar. Pete Huttlinger explains that the face of the guitar is the soundboard, so if you place your finger on it there could be some interferance. Those are probably not his exact words, but you get the idea. I think it just forms a dependency that can be restrictive.

Then again, you'll find others who take a different stance.
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