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Pinkie Stabilization?
For all my 40 years of guitar playing, except when playing rhythm in a band in high school, when picking I've always stabilized my picking hand with my pinkie on the guitar's top. Just this last week I had my first lesson with a well-known fingerstylist in the area (great guy, too) and, as I expected, he mentioned the down-pinkie as something that can restrict my progress.
While I know this is bad form in classical guitar, is it also the case in steel-string fingerstyle? Are there not any good guitarists who have this "bad habit"? I'm working on not to using the anchor but so far the biggest thing I notice is not being able to attack heavily when I want to. The teacher alo suggested I bring my thumb more forward of my other fingers, again more in the classical vein. One of the things making this easier fo him was his positioning of his SCGC guitar in a somewhat classical position, with the hollow between the bouts resting on his left knee (he's a righty, of course). I believe his Santa Cruz is a Firefly, since he mentioned it had a short scale and cedar top, but it had a cutaway so I'm not sure. It had a gorgeous mellow tone. But the thing it that its body shape makes the "classical position easier than with my dreadnought, which keeps slipping around! Any suggestions as to how I can overcome these issues? Like buy a Firefly? Don't I wish ...
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1967 Aria Classical 1974 Guild D50 2009 Kenny Hill New World Player Classical 2009 Hoffman SJ 2011 Hoffman SJ 12 https://paulashley.weebly.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulAshley https://www.reverbnation.com/paulashley Last edited by lpa53; 07-03-2009 at 04:23 PM. |
#2
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Lots of great fingerstyle players anchor their pinky.
Stefan Grossman recommends people anchor it. It just depends what you are comfortable with. Re; the thumb...are you having problems reaching strings with it? Is it interfering with your playing? If not, I wouldn't worry about it. If it gets to the point where it does..then adjust. Everybody is shaped differently. This includes our hands. Experiment...but in the end, play with what is comfortable for you.
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"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke "It is in the world of slow time that truth and art are found as one" Norman Maclean, |
#3
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I suppose it never hurts to try something different and I'll give it a shot - at least during the lessons!
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1967 Aria Classical 1974 Guild D50 2009 Kenny Hill New World Player Classical 2009 Hoffman SJ 2011 Hoffman SJ 12 https://paulashley.weebly.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulAshley https://www.reverbnation.com/paulashley |
#4
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Unimogbert Last edited by unimogbert; 03-08-2023 at 12:12 PM. |
#5
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__________________
1967 Aria Classical 1974 Guild D50 2009 Kenny Hill New World Player Classical 2009 Hoffman SJ 2011 Hoffman SJ 12 https://paulashley.weebly.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulAshley https://www.reverbnation.com/paulashley |
#6
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If having the pinky touch the top is wrong, then there are some seriously good players who place their pinky on the top who are playing all-wrong...including...
As a teacher, & player, as long as a person is using the pinky as a placement tool and not putting pressure on it (touching down versus leaning on it) it doesn't seem to make any difference on their capability as players. For me touching down the pinky is much like the home row of keys used to get my hands back to the correct place on the typing keyboard. It keeps my playing hand oriented properly in relation to the soundhole. It doesn't live there and I never put pressure on it. In fact it lifts off the top regularly when plucking or strumming. Granted there are players who anchor or plant and lean on the pinky, and that would seem to me that it could very well inhibit proper angling and playing with the plucking/strumming hand. |
#7
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i never find it necessary to achor down the pinky.
and also, think about it, if you ever need your i, m, and r ringers to pluck the 3 bass strings (sometimes happens), your pinky anchor would be disrupted. and if you are anchoring down with pressure, that means your hand is not relaxed. as far as putting the thumb in front of the index finger, you gotta rotate your wrist, then it becomes pretty comfortable. the thing is, if your thumb and index fingers are picking 2 strings right next to each other, you don't want them to run into each other. when the thumb is in front and index in the back, they'll overlap eachother. if you practice for a weeks, i'm sure you can alter your habits more easily than your probably thought. |
#8
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1967 Aria Classical 1974 Guild D50 2009 Kenny Hill New World Player Classical 2009 Hoffman SJ 2011 Hoffman SJ 12 https://paulashley.weebly.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/PaulAshley https://www.reverbnation.com/paulashley |
#9
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#10
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I'm not a guitar teacher but f I were teaching a beginner to play, I would discourage them from resting their right little finger on the guitar. Whether one should work to discontinue the habit once ingrained depends on whether that habit prevents one from expertly executing a desired technique.
I don't recall observing Doyle Dykes or Tommy Emmanuel anchoring their pinkies but that doesn't mean they don't. I'll be watching both play this week, possibly both of them on stage at the same time, and I'll be making it a point to notice if they are pinky anchorers or not. |
#11
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He'll probably play this tune at CAAS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogc9KqjBsZo Doyle, anchoring off and on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O49uB...eature=related |
#12
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#13
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I don't see Tommy "anchoring" the pinky, unless I was just dazzled by the general brilliance of his playing.. he is using it as a guide in some passages.
As Larry says above, and I'll paraprase, is Anchoring and Planting are not optimal. Letting the pinky be a guide is different. Anchoring and planting are, well, permanent, and that could affect the dynamics of your playing. Some do it to great affect, others not. If you're learning from a teacher, and he instructs you to not do that, don't. Or find a teacher that's not so picky. You can do it, it's just practice after all. I struggled with it for years until I found a teacher that insisted I not "plant"(planting and anchoring suggest a long term stay), and I followed the advice. I don't plant on the uke anymore either, that was a tough one. I do brush, and use my fingers, pinky included, as a guide on ocassion. You'll find you can obtain a better dynamic. |
#14
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He teaches it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45vrY...eature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue3-y...eature=related |
#15
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By gosh he does! Just think how good he'd be if he learned the proper way!
Watching Tommy's style, it's obvious he has his own, but those basic boom-chicks are done as easily without planting. I, of course, am no Tommy E. |