Do You Anchor Your Picking Hand with Your Pinky

[wguitar]

Hi folks,

Please educate me on the pros and cons of anchoring your picking hand with your pinky. What has your experience been ?

THANKS!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by wguitar

Hi folks,

Please educate me on the pros and cons of anchoring your picking hand with your pinky. What has your experience been ?

THANKS!

Hi wg

I do not anchor, nor plant my pinky. I do touch-down (drop) my pinky as a place holder, and I lift it when needed.

I taught intermediate and advanced fingerstyle for 40 years.

I had zero issues with people who dropped/planted/anchored their pinky if it didn't restrict their motion or interfere with their play.

I also had no issues with people who floated their hands as long as they didn't become inaccurate in their finger-stroke or display lack of volume control.

In 40 years (and hundreds of students) I think I worked with 3 or 4 players total to stop placing weight on the pinky because it was interfering with fluent play. A couple actually came to me to help them stop the weight bearing.

There are so many examples of amazing players ranging from pure-classical style (and posture) to pinky-planters to try to make a one-size-fits-all declaration.

[rick-slo]

Many, many prior threads on this topic worth reading. For example

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=partne...2787j752477j12

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by wguitar

Hi folks,

Please educate me on the pros and cons of anchoring your picking hand with your pinky. What has your experience been ?

THANKS!

I taught myself without doing it, so I never do. It feels really awkward when I try, because it inhibits the movement of my other fingers. But I will often rest my wrist on the bridge, eg, to damp the bass strings.

But a lot of great players do rest a finger or two on the guitar below the 1st string. Merle Travis rested middle, ring and pinky on the scratchplate together, and it didn't exactly inhibit him very much!

Use the word "rest", though, not "anchor". Only a light touch is required, just to keep the hand steady in position.

[NormanKliman]

Yeah, I agree with that. In one of these advice threads, I suggested that someone anchor a finger, and “rest” is really the right word. As Jon said, the idea is to steady your hand, and I’ll add that it keeps your fingertips close to the strings, which means less effort and more accuracy.

[DukeX]

I float my right hand 99.99% of the time. If I ever rest a pinky I don't notice it. I palm plant on some bluesy stuff.

But in the end, whatever works.

[SongwriterFan]

Apparently not, not even when picking. I knew I didn't when strumming, but wasn't sure about when picking, so I had to look at this to be sure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZLKwB-qiPs