#16
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My pinky is physically so much shorter than my other fingers (which are quite long) that using it to fingerpick would cause me to do some weird angle thing with my hand that couldn't be good. So for me, I'll go thumb plus 3.
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#17
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Travis anchored three fingers on the scratchplate! Fine if you can do what he did with thumb and index alone. Atkins -he anchored with his pinky most of the time, but not all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHtwF-gpluc Haggard: I didn't have him down as a fingerpicker (and haven't found video yet), but I'll take Tommy's word for it. But the other point about their style in general, is that the damped bass requires the palm on the bridge anyway. That ought to be sufficient anchor. I'm still not anti-anchoring with the pinky. I just don't see it as necessary, even with Travis style. For Tommy himself - who plays much fancier than those guys ever did - I'm sure he finds that anchor useful. (And it doesn't inhibit your right hand picking different places on the strings, which is the advantage over bridge anchoring - you just slide the pinky along.) FWIW: Mississippi John Hurt anchored ring and pinky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BvT5X6WSo So did Big Bill Broonzy, some of the time, but quite loosely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pShRISHnQ and Skip James: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVww5r4Nk0 Bert Jansch - with quite a different style - often anchored pinky and/or ring (lightly) on scratchplate or against 1st string: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkX7Q2J7k48 John Martyn didn't anchor (his RH technique made it both impossible and unnecessary): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra_uv0uIY-g&t=21 Richard Thompson doesn't anchor - but his forearm is clamped to the guitar top (and he's hybrid picking): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdrG4tZf4uw&t=41 As for the topic, it looks like Thompson might occasionally use his pinky to pick with (his index being tied up with holding the pick), but it's not clear. None of the others do, and most make do with index and middle alone.
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen. Last edited by JonPR; 06-05-2018 at 08:03 AM. |
#18
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This is a non-issue IMO. Learn some picking techniques from others. Keep the ones you like, and discard the rest. Also create your own. There are far more right hand techniques than any of us will ever learn.
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#19
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(I've been fingerpicking for 50 years, and I learned something myself from this thread.)
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"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen. |
#20
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Same here. I’d love to have another available finger but the ergonomics don’t work.
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#21
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I use it mostly for playing chords in fingerstyle pieces where strumming would not be correct. Sometimes I’m anchored, sometimes I’m not, whatever works best for me to play what I’m playing. If you can use it for chording why shouldn’t you use it for picking?
Good luck, Jeff |
#22
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Of course, this is all in terms of conventional, classical-based technique. Flamenco players use the pinkie regularly. It's used in strumming and percussive techniques, and some players also pluck with it. I think there's a flamenco 5-finger tremolo technique.
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https://www.christophervolak.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCen...TNrJcTiGu9aPkw Last edited by Guitar Slim II; 06-07-2018 at 01:06 AM. |
#23
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Also, as mentioned in earlier posts it is not a matter of lack of strength as the grip strength on the pinky side of the palm is actually stronger than the index side. As regards classical guitar technique, pinky is seldom used as 99.9% of the repertoire does not require it, it's that simple. If you follow the evolution of technique from the lute it makes things clearer. Certainly the pinky has less independence than the other fingers and there are physiological reasons for this. The A finger suffers the same problem, though to a lesser extent. I won't bore people with the biology. There are however some modern compositions (eg Villa Lobos) which benefit from a five fingered approach in places, there is actually a published modern classical method (Charles Postlewaite) which promotes a five finger approach to the instrument and there is an acknowledgement in any case that developing the pinky is regarded as a a good thing, not something bad to be avoided, for balancing out the hand and improving overall control (eg see Scott Tenants' Pumping Nylon). It's correct that the pinkie is used in flamenco frequently for strumming, but not for plucking and not for the five note tremolo, which is fingered PIAMI. Last edited by JonnyBGood; 06-07-2018 at 03:59 AM. |
#24
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For me, it's nothing to do with the finger, it's the standard tuning and the way chords are formed. It makes sense to me to always hit the bass note with my thumb, so I don't need the pinky for the other strings. Maybe in a different style I would. I don't anchor my hand but my upper arm rests on the guitar right above the elbow.
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"Militantly left-handed." Lefty Acoustics Martin 00-15M Taylor 320e Baritone Cheap Righty Classical (played upside down ala Elizabeth Cotten) Last edited by SunnyDee; 06-07-2018 at 03:08 PM. |
#25
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Just because it's A winning team doesn't mean it is THE best way to do things. |
#26
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Agree with your post though this point is bit of a chicken versus egg argument.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#27
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Actually early repertoire was played with just PIM, and some traditionalists will still play it that way for aesthetic and interpretational reasons. The work of Sor is a good example. The addition of the A finger, with composers writing material that actually required 4 fingers, came later. Only in modern times are we seeing the emergence of repertoire that requires, or at least benefits from, the use of the pinky. So the repertoire drives technique, that's the way it has always been. |
#28
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That is the thing, it's a combination of both, at least if the composer plays or is at least cognizant second hand of the limitations and issues of the instruments.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#29
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I had a student who played thumb-n-four and he was quite good at it. But he failed to demonstrate any advantages to it. I do not think it is bad, but I am certainly not ambivalent about the topic. Most well voiced chords on guitar are well suited to a thumb-n-3 finger approach, but Thumb-n-four will get you a 5th note if you are playing complex jazz (and strumming will give you six notes simultaneously). It's also another digit to manage in the delicate fingerstyle dance and at times isn't necessary. If you really think playing is about maximum fingers in motion on strings simultaneously then your 20% loss statement makes sense. But if it's about playing great music, there are an awful lot of great thumb-n-two finger players in this world. I find that if I streamline chords and voicing in my arrangements (I write my arrangements), keeping things simple/pure/dialed-back a bit helps the melody tends to cut through better, and stays prominent. Sometimes more notes just makes the sound muddy. Just my 2Cents worth. |
#30
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FWIW.
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Tags |
fingerpicking, technique |
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