Hey Fingerpickers ... How many fingers?

[The Bard Rocks]

Like the OP, in the beginning I decided I'd use them all and that's the way I practiced.. for a while. At some point along the road, I stopped worrying about it. Now, it's thumb and 2 fingers most of the time. The ring finger gets infrequent though somewhat regular use. the pinky is now used as an observer.

If I break a nail or cut a finger, then other fingers fill in temporarily.

[curbucci]

Thumb and index. No finger picks.

[Slinky]

I guess I'm one of the six, two-finger finger pickers,

[Bon Scott]

All five if necessary. I'm really not a great finger picker, though I just started studying classical after almost 40 years of playing, out of an interest in improving my right hand technique. I use what it takes on steel strings. One of the first fingerpicking songs I ever learned was Zep's Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You, which I think is much easier using the pinkie. I've noticed that in general, the pinkie activates autonomously when necessary, like in Pink Floyd's Is There Anybody Out There, when the thumb hits a bass note on the A string followed by the arpeggio hitting all four higher strings. Not sure how to do that with only i, m, and a and no pinkie The pinkie generally hits only the high E string.

Thumb and two fingers.

[jaybones]

Index, middle and ring along with thumb for me.

Could never use my pinky for anything other than anchoring the hand on the soundboard.

[KenL]

Just two, thumb and middle finger. And I anchor with my little finger.

I'm self-taught, been playing that way for a very long time. I had somebody tell me that I use a "banjo roll" technique, whatever that is.

I get a very rhythmic thing going with just the two. And, FWIW, I was in a guitar shop last week and played the Dead's "Friend of the Devil" for quite a while on an old & interesting cherry B/S Martin that they had. When I finally stopped, some guy from across the room gave me a golf clap and a "very nice."

Not that that has anything to do with this conversation, but it made my day and I wanted to tell somebody. That song has a great walkdown/walkdown/hammer on that sounds great fingerpicked.

[Dru Edwards]

Four total, thumb and three fingers. I've never used my pinky.

[j3ffr0]

For most practical purposes it's thumb and three for me, so I'll vote that way. However, I do use my pinky on some moderately fast five string arpeggios.

Come to think of it, I also use the pinky when I need five strings in jazzier chord/melody type arrangements. That's not my main thing either, but I do it enough that it ought to count. I guess I should have picked all five, but too late now.

[Dronfield]

Hi

I originally learned classical guitar and was taught thumb plus 4 fingers.

Have recently started my guitar lessons again (after nearly a 30 year gap) but am now concentrating on steel string acoustic blues, and method we use is thumb plus 3 fingers (little finger not used).

If you watch Mark Knopfler, he uses just thumb and two fingers, with his ring/little fingers braced against the guitar body (pays electric and acoustic using same method).

I guess what this thread shows is that whilst there is "text book" technique, plenty of people play to a high standard using their own method, and no one size fits all.

Rich

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by Dronfield

I guess what this thread shows is that whilst there is "text book" technique, plenty of people play to a high standard using their own method, and no one size fits all.

Rich

My impression is that as acoustic guitar players, in contrast with most other musicians, are largely self-taught, it's a bit like the Wild West with everyone doing whatever feels best. I've heard Stefan Grossman teaching online students to use only the thumb and two fingers with the little finger resting on the top. I've heard other teachers, Duck Baker for one, recommending three fingers. Still others have said it's poor technique to rest the little finger on the top.

I do the thumb and two or three fingers with no little finger on the top because, first, the classical guitar book my brother had when we were teenagers stipulated the three fingers and second, because Grossman suggested we can get more punch on blues/piedmont with this combination. I think he's right. With two fingers I feel I can 'pummel' the guitar a bit more and also drag my fingers across two strings at times. It can create a different kind of sound. Oddly, I've always rested the little finger on the top when playing with a flatpick - I don't know why because I never do it when I'm fingerpicking.

[ObiWanSymbian]

Thumb + four.
Took me a while to make the ring finger cooperate with the rest, since the pinky has always wanted to be a part of the pack. All it needed was making the ring finger join the rest.
It helps a lot, especially, when there are faster lines of melody and/or repetitions in the higher register.

[martingitdave]

Whichever fingers I can coax into action on a given day. At a minimum, a thumb and index. Occasionally more. Occasionally all of them (unintentionally)


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[mercy]

thumb and 3 fingers to be specific

[DanR]

Thumb and three,
For me,
You see...