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  #1  
Old 06-04-2018, 11:47 AM
thechariot1x thechariot1x is offline
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Default Finger picking with the 5th finger

So I've noticed that most guitar teachers and books do not use the 5th (pinky) finger for finger picking, they only suggest using the first 4. I've never found an explanation of why that was though (so maybe you all can tell me). Is it bad to use the 5th finger in finger picking? my thinking has always been why give up 20% of my picking potential, plus it just feels unnatural to me to not have my 5th finger doing anything.
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Old 06-04-2018, 12:04 PM
Nymuso Nymuso is offline
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My pinky is an anchor baby. It sits on the top to anchor my picking hand. Many people rail against this practice, but there ya are. My ring finger rarely participates except for an occasional downstroke accent. The other three do most of the work.
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Old 06-04-2018, 12:12 PM
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VJP5 VJP5 is offline
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I don't know if years of playing piano and saxophone helped, but I use my pinky all the time for finger style playing. It just seemed natural to me. I will say, however, that I was told that the 'professionals' only use 2-4. Needless to say I do not go to that teacher anymore. There may be better or more advantageous ways to play, but to me, whatever works works!
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Old 06-04-2018, 12:21 PM
Tico Tico is offline
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6 strings, but only 5 fingers?
Why let a finger go to waste?

I'm self taught and have fingerpicked with all 5 over 50 years.
I didn't know any "better".

The argument for not using finger 5 may be it's the weakest of the fingers.
Nobody told that to my fifth finger.
It works just fine, thank you very much.
I'm just glad I didn't read any books from the experts, or take lessons.

FWIW, for classical piano they train all 5 fingers.
Over the centuries many exercises have been written, such as Hanon, that address and equalize nature's unequal anatomy of the fingers.
It's all a matter of the W-Word ... work.

Last edited by Tico; 06-04-2018 at 12:58 PM.
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Old 06-04-2018, 12:25 PM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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Never have, never will. I get by with thumb plus two or three fingers, but "pinky" does not get to play. If you can make it work, then good on you. But I can't, at least well enough to keep up with the others.
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Old 06-04-2018, 12:28 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
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A physical therapist recently told me that the pinky is far from weak. It actually has 4 tendons attached vs. 2 for the other fingers.
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Old 06-04-2018, 01:02 PM
piper_L piper_L is offline
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Oddly enough, harp players are also strongly discouraged from using the pinky finger. It’s always struck me as odd, not to use all the tools at your disposal. And it’s not really a question of strength, etc. - look how much we ask of the pinky on the fretting hand!

So use it as you wish, invent new picking patterns. Amaze your friends!
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Old 06-04-2018, 01:38 PM
Joscefi78 Joscefi78 is offline
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all merle travis needed was a thumb and an index finger
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Old 06-04-2018, 01:43 PM
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rick-slo rick-slo is offline
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Very, very few fingerstyle players, or classical guitarists, readily use the pinky finger to pick strings. The pinky is relatively uncoordinated. I use the pinky some but only occasionally for block chords and for tight arpeggios.
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Old 06-04-2018, 04:10 PM
thechariot1x thechariot1x is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rick-slo View Post
Very, very few fingerstyle players, or classical guitarists, readily use the pinky finger to pick strings. The pinky is relatively uncoordinated.
Ah okay, I never knew that was the reason. I tend to use my pinky pretty exclusively for the highest string in the picking pattern I am using. That makes sense though, I wouldn't really consider myself as primarily a finger picker or a classical guitarist (although recently I have begun working on a couple of classical songs but I play them on a steel string with a pick, my father would be ashamed haha). In fact, until maybe 6 months ago I would have considered myself primarily an electric player (Les Paul proud haha). I currently find myself spending most of my time on my acoustic, but I see them as both being useful but not interchangeable. I definitely don't shy away from finger picking when its called for, but I find myself playing mostly with a pick.
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Old 06-04-2018, 06:38 PM
jojobean39 jojobean39 is offline
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I took classical lessons and it’s really hard to use your pinky with the way you hold your wrist. It’s just not long enough.

I play electric as well and, as someone mentioned, that’s my anchor finger.

I haven’t seen many people successfully use it. Not saying it can’t be done. But it’s not common. The only person I can recall who does it well is Abe Laboriel, the bass player for... well, everyone.
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Old 06-05-2018, 01:30 AM
jstroop jstroop is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nymuso View Post
My pinky is an anchor baby. It sits on the top to anchor my picking hand. Many people rail against this practice, but there ya are. My ring finger rarely participates except for an occasional downstroke accent. The other three do most of the work.
You (and I) and Tommy Emmanuel and Tony Rice agree on the proper pinky process.
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Old 06-05-2018, 04:16 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Thumb and index was enough for Merle Travis.
Adding middle and ring might have seemed like overkill for him - "dang, they'll just get in the way!"

And as for pinky... hey, we p-i-m-a users have enough to think about with those four!

Still, I wouldn't rule out pinky. It's worth bearing in mind that it's not required for even the most advanced classical pieces (AFAIK) - but that doesn't mean one shouldn't use it if one finds it useful.

Personally, the only time I might use it myself is if I want a 5-string chord, and can't play two strings together with thumb or any other finger. And that's pretty rare. (I haven't encountered a tune yet where that's necessary - full chords can always be strummed.)
Mostly, I just use thumb, middle and ring for most fingerstyle (outside classical). Index is my spare when I need it (eg for chords). I never use the pinky for anchoring (I find that inhibiting), but it might sometimes (rarely) join in on a big messy chord.
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Old 06-05-2018, 07:09 AM
TJE TJE is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jstroop View Post
You (and I) and Tommy Emmanuel and Tony Rice agree on the proper pinky process.
My thinking as well! 😆
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  #15  
Old 06-05-2018, 07:24 AM
beninma beninma is offline
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Interesting question. I'm just starting out on this, I've been seriously working on fingerpicking for a few weeks after a few years of using a pick, just one more thing to work on.

I'm being taught to not use the pinky, and that's fine for now. Thumb for strings 4-5-6, index on 3, middle on 2, ring on 1.

Anchoring definitely doesn't feel right to me, at least not with the pinky. I am somewhat happy to anchor my palm up by the bridge or even on the bass strings if they're temporarily not needed but the pinky sure doesn't feel right if I use it as an anchor.

I need to see what is going to work in terms of moving my hand towards/away from the bridge to change tone too.

I watched a video recently with Tommy Emmanuel really emphatically claiming it was better to anchor. He said something like, "I want to be on the same team as Atkins/Travis/Haggard, they all anchored, I'm on that team, it's the winning team."
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