Fingerstyle - thumb and index finger?

[bshpmark]

When I bought a guitar not long ago, I mentioned to the store owner that I could not play fingerstyle. He said, "Well, one day you will set down the pick and start playing with your fingers." Well, that happened to a little degree last night. I had the best 3 straight hours of guitar playing since I started in January.

Now my question is this - right now I only seem to be able to coordinate my thumb and index finger. Are there any other fingerstylists who use just this combination?

I know that working the other two fingers will take time and much practice but I was just wondering if there was someone I could listen to who used the thumb and index combination.

[Bryan T]

Merle Travis allegedly only used his thumb and index finger.

Personally, I think you should try to develop you thumb, index, middle, and ring finger. Then you can make stylistic choices about which fingers to use.

Bryan

[banpreso]

lots of old school fingerpicking blues player use only their thumb and index.

if you want to expand your use of fingers, you can consult a teacher, or just friends who play fingerstyle, they might be able to suggest a few excercises.

[Sugar Bear]

First...

The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking by Mark Hanson

Then...

The Art of Solo Fingerpicking by Mark Hanson

Buy them, use them. Max bang for your guitar studying buck. You'll be glad you did.

Sugar Bear

[rbbambino]

I'm sure that others will have their strong opinions, but the suggestion that you try and use your thumb index middle and ring fingers is a good one. At the very least you should try and get your thumb index and middle fingers working. I did that for many years then I decided to go with thumb and 3 fingers, so I married each finger to a string for a while. i.e. index to the 3rd string, middle to the 2nd and ring to the 1st. That works to get them all involved, but in the end you will want to have some independence. Your index and middle fingers are the strongest and most nimble (if you are normal ) so you will want to use them most of the time when picking a melody, but there are times when you will want to use all 3 fingers.. Plus you thumb of course.
I know this all sounds rather confusing, but that's what I would suggest.

[sigma]

Paul McCartney uses thumb and index finger on 'Jenny Wren'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36dtjxUMWdM

[patrickgm60]

I agree with the posters who recommend you develop your middle and ring picking fingers, also.

In case you don't like learning by book, CD, video, etc., (I'm one of those folks) one technique that will help you ease into fingerstyle is to begin "grabbing" chords with your picking hand. For example, start with the first position E chord and place your thumb on the upper side of the 6th string, index finger on the lower side of the 4th, middle on the 3d, and ring on the second. Practice "grabbing" the chords, i.e. moving your 2/3/4 fingers upward and your thumb downward to make those four strings sound simultaneously. Your hand should look like you are concealing a small orange in it, i.e. rounded.

Practice grabbing at different tempos, move to different chords, then begin playing arpeggios, i.e. same strings, same finger movements, but one finger/note at a time.

I started playing acoustic guitar when "Dust in the Wind" first came out. I tortured myself going from basic fingerstyle to playing DITW within a matter of weeks. I felt spastic at first, but quickly progressed. Good luck!

[Opa John]

Yep......I heard the same thing about Merle Travis.....thumb and index.

I used to play guitar with an old 5-string banjo picker who only used his thumb and index finger. He went by the name of "Stormin' Norman".....long before anybody ever heard of Norman Schwartzkoph.....He could make that old banjo sound like Earl Scruggs was playing it. Never did figure out how he did it.......his fingers were moving too fast!!

But, if you're just starting to get into fingerstyle, you'd be well advised to cultivate the use of at least one more of those fingers.....and two more would be even better. Like I always say.....Do it right and you don't have to do it twice!! I've been doing it for so long with just the thumb, index and middle finger, that I can't seem to get that ring finger to do much. It's too late for me to change now.

[crikey]

When I saw Steve Earle a few years ago I had binocs and every time he fingerpicked I tried to zero in on his right hand. I swear he only used a thumb and an index finger.

[walternewton]

In one of his instructional videos Stefan Grossman lists a number of players who used just their thumb and index finger - I believe including Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson and Rev. Gary Davis - if you're into that old school, Country Blues kind of sound I'd look into his stuff at guitarvideos.com, he is both a great player and teacher.

I wouldn't be too worried about the other fingers not cooperating yet after just one night of practice though!!

[Brent Hutto]

It depends on what kind of music you want to play. There are certain rhythmic styles that generations of players have mastered using just one finger and a thumb. I like that country blues stuff as much as the next guy but I really dig more elaborate arrangements with three and four notes at once and various ways of using roll patterns on fancy arpeggios. Some of that can't be done with less than three fingers plus thumb and a whole bunch of it needs at least two fingers plus thumb.

In my dreams I would use a pick and three fingers along with chord-melody patterns in the left hand. But that takes more than just enough fingers, it also requires some talent...

[kramster]

I started my finger pickin' with thumb, fore, and middle fingers and worked on different patterns and rhythms until no thought was needed... could just feel it. Then would add or take away for different feels/styles... all good and shooo is fun. You'll find your own comfort zone and then push it from time to time to your next level... I don't even use a pick... my 1 3/4 cents

[fatt-dad]

I just use the thumb and index. If you want to hear how others play with just thumb and index, listen to Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake (crazy good) and go listen to John Cephas. You can watch John Cephas on YouTube. Same goes for a few cuts by Rev. Gary Davis.

You can do alot with just the thumb and index!

f-d

[TBman]

Assuming you are righty, don't fret any of the strings and just stroke the 6th string with your thumb, then the 4th with your index, the 3rd with your middle and the 2nd with your ring finger. Then go back up the strings in the opposite order. It doesn't matter how fast you go at first. practice this everyday a few minutes a day for 10 days, then take a two day break from the exercise and tell us what happened when you did the exercise again.

You'll be surprised.

[Coffeecup]

I would agree with the others - it's worth spending the time developing other fingers; it will happen more quickly than you expect. Just limiting yourself to thumb and one finger sounds pretty basic and won't satisfy you for long.

My suggestion would be to try playing arpeggios. An easy start would be The House of the Rising Sun. - thumb on the appropriate bass string then index on 3rd, middle on 2nd and ring on 1st, then back down again. i.e. B-3-2-1-2-3.

There are umpteen picking patterns that can be done this way and it doesn't take that long for them to become completely reflex, and they sound effective as an accompaniment. Get that weighed off and the next step of partially changing left hand fretting from straight chord fingering to adding some of the melody isn't too big a step.

As usual, just start off slowly and develop the timing.