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#31
11-25-2019, 11:01 AM
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Perhaps "anchor" is the wrong word for what I do. JonPR's comment about moving to different positions for different tones made me realise that my fingers are touching the pickguard, but glide along in order to get a mellower tone near the board and a sharper tone nearer the bridge.
__________________
Jim _____________________ -1962 Martin D-21 -1950 Gibson LG1 -1958 Goya M-26 -Various banjos, mandolins, dulcimers, ukuleles, Autoharps, mouth harps. . . 
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#32
11-25-2019, 11:44 AM
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Quote:
Even so, it's still somewhat inhibiting, IMO. I like to have all my fingers free, not because I use the pinky to pick with, but I like to let it move with the others if it wants to. I find it hard to pick with my ring finger if the pinky is resting on the scratchplater.
__________________
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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#33
11-25-2019, 12:13 PM
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For me 'anchor' is the right term. I taught myself to finger pick on the only guitar I had at the time: An Epiphone 12 string. I wouldn't recommend this for the faint of heart but didn't know any better.
I needed some leverage to get enough pressure to finger pick all those strings so got in the habit of having my pinky on the pick guard. It's a habit I maintain now some 40 years later. In my defense, Leo Kottke's 'armadillo' album led me astray....
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#35
11-25-2019, 09:28 PM
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I posted this back in 2014...
Much to my surprise, I noticed a few years ago that I was using the high E string as a reference point. My ring finger rests lightly on that string when it's not in use. When I need to pluck that string I'll pluck it and let it ring as long as necessary, but as soon as it's done ringing out the finger is back resting against it. It does seem to provide a bit of leverage also when plucking the bass strings with my thumb. It seems to work just fine, but I have no idea how I manage to unconsciously keep lifting that ring finger off that string when it needs to ring out and to put it back against it when it doesn't. I also don't know how I managed to end up using this technique. I never gave it a bit of conscious thought, I just noticed one day that that was how I was anchoring...
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#36
11-26-2019, 05:08 AM
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 . You can see Bert Jansch doing this in some videos:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J7bqIVcg-k&t=7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPG6VMlKS60&t=120 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmVA7BHsF1I&t=66 Watch how he frees the ring and pinky and then returns them to scratchplate and/or top E string, depending on what he's actually playing (various points from the time stamps in each video)
__________________
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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#37
11-26-2019, 12:08 PM
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I did notice though that my technique has evolved beyond his in one respect: I used to use the "watch-on-the-floor" technique as he is shown doing. However, after forgetting my watch multiple times, I now use the clearly superior "watch-in-the-pocket" technique.
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#38
11-26-2019, 09:51 PM
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__________________
Jim _____________________ -1962 Martin D-21 -1950 Gibson LG1 -1958 Goya M-26 -Various banjos, mandolins, dulcimers, ukuleles, Autoharps, mouth harps. . .
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#39
11-27-2019, 07:01 AM
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 . You'll notice in the last one he was using the "cans of beer on the floor" technique. Not really to be recommended.... (unless saving them for later).
__________________
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen.
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