That Dam Pinky

fooey · Post by **fooey** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:40 am

When im picking i tend to rest my pinky on the side of the e string, or on the guitar itself if im playing the e string. It feels stable to me and its how ive always done it.

Started doing little exercises yesterday picking without touching the guitar with my picking hand, was pretty gammy since im not used to it.

Should i keep practicing this new technique? or is the rest the pinky technique fine and not going to limit me in the long run?

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:22 pm

Whatever works for you. Most new techiques, if you stick with them, turn out to be a useful part of your arsenal at some time. I'd say stick with it and use both methods at differnt times.

In general, I use my bridge as a rest and pivot point for my picking hand. That also allows me to quickly mute individual notes to suit.

fooey · Post by **fooey** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:40 pm

yeah i have the whole open strings background noise going on at the moment. Working on it

Gelato · Post by **Gelato** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:44 pm

Rog wrote:Whatever works for you.

I totally agree with that philosophy. I've seen some insanely fast guitar players who anchor their pinky or other fingers on their picking hand on the body of the guitar, and it doesn't seem to have done them any harm

As long as your picking hand, wrist and forearm are relaxed (at any speed) when you play, where your fingers on your picking hand are placed on the body of the guitars or the string isn't really all that important IMO.

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 3:59 pm

People who don't anchor with their fingers generally do have some part of their hand as an anchor - generally the side of the hand on the bridge.

Guys with awesome technique who don't anchor with their pinky: Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, Yngwie (I think)

Guys who do (or did): Jason Becker, Shawn Lane, Michael Angelo

As others have said, it really doesn't matter too much. I tired to stop anchoring with my pinky a while back, and it was awful. ... So I started again

slash-ed · Post by **slash-ed** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:29 pm

yeah, whatever works is all good. besides your playing / style will no doubt evolve before you know it... i used to anchor my ring finger on the guitar body while picking... it worked at that stage of my playing level, but now as i've moved on to (trying) more technical stuff, i've sorta dropped the whole thing without even noticing it.

Optimus_prime · Post by **Optimus_prime** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:52 pm

I started working on my pinky a
little while back, made me feel like
a better player, didn't sound like it though

Mike_Hosking · Post by **Mike_Hosking** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:56 pm

haha just tried not anchoring, impossible finger picking, can do it with a pick tho, perfer not to tho.

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:31 pm

Actually when finger picking I don't anchor; I do the classical claw-hammer sort of thing. I find that works better for me

Vorbis · Post by **Vorbis** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:13 pm

Hmm.. I never really took notice of what my pinky was doing when I was playing...looks like the position varies with what I'm playing at the time. Picking chords it sits as an anchor just below my middle pickup. Fast solos its out of the way and my palm is resting on the bridge to mute strings. Rhythmic clean strumming it kinda floats and flails around.
Of course most of my stuff is heavy palm-muted riffing, for this of course you must use IRON FISTED DOWNSTROKES.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

thehenderson · Post by **thehenderson** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:26 am

I dont touch the guitar with any part of the hand, unless I'm going for some kinda of muting. In that case I'll use the knuckle of the pinky on the string I'm using, or the whole palm on wherever.

I don't understand how you can achor a finger while playing, that would mean your hand would hardly move. I'm all about the maximum movement

offender · Post by **offender** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:50 am

When I first started out very early on I used to anchor but I then changed and now only touch the guitar with my right hand if muting the strings on the bridge.

universe · Post by **universe** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:32 am

i do find my pinky is best for picking my nose, i generally prefer the outward twist style

i anchor my pinky solid when i fingerpick which is pretty effortless though of course i am fingerpicking minus one finger which is technically limiting but am so far gone theres no way im gonna relearn 'classical' style but ah well...if you are starting out try using your pinky i guess

subconcious reference points...ive always been fascinated at how eg.i could put my picking hand on my head with eyes closed or whatever and presto pick/fingerpick any selected string...i guess your fret hand and knee etc also serve as reference points.....fascinating!