Do you use your pinky finger while finger picking?

I have not seen any finger picking lessons that involve the pinkie on the strumming hand.

I observed the pinkie used with the thumb, index, middle and ring finger many years ago at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN :?

The singer/songwriter stated he used the pinkie to rapidly double pick the high e string. He would catch the string with the ring finger then immediately pick it again with his pinkie.

David Hodge discussed figure style and finger assignment in his lesson: House of the Rising Sun

BS :D

Sometimes I do. My teacher for some reason insisted on it, and it is for example quite handy when you are picking four strings at the same time in a rhythm part.

I doubt many people do use it, but there is no doubt it would be better technique. Just the same as learning to use your pinky for fretting has obvious benefits.

I met one of the best fingerpickers alive, Doyle Dykes, at a guitar clinic in Williamsport, PA. Although it looked like he used his pinky, I asked him after the session and he said "Nope, it's just hanging there." I don't think the technique can get much better than his! The guy's got his own line of Taylor guitars, after all.

For any that haven't heard Doyle Dykes, click his name here and be linked to an Amazon.com page containing an album and several audio clip samples.

By the way, the song on that page "White Rose for Heidi" is the song that defines the line of Taylor Guitars with the rose headstock.

I play a classical guitar and i can fingerpick quite fast.But i haven't tried to use pinky.I can , i mean its not that its tough for me , but that its simply not required.But guitar is your baby and you play it like it sounds best to you and people around you 8)

And by the way , these taylors are pretty cool.
An even cooler guitar is this one (Don't blame me if you faint :wink: )

http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/choosing/guitars.php?p=c&g=4&m=D-100%20Deluxe

Thank you :lol: :lol:

I pretty much always use my pinky finger. Whenever I finger-pick, there is like a 95% chance that my pinky will be used. I use it alot, because I just always assumed that you were supposed to finger pick with all your fingers. Once I learned differently, or at least that most people don't use all fingers, I didn't care, and kept going with all five.

I play a classical guitar and i can fingerpick quite fast.But i haven't tried to use pinky.I can , i mean its not that its tough for me , but that its simply not required.But guitar is your baby and you play it like it sounds best to you and people around you 8)

And by the way , these taylors are pretty cool.
An even cooler guitar is this one (Don't blame me if you faint :wink: )

http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/choosing/guitars.php?p=c&g=4&m=D-100%20Deluxe

Thank you :lol: :lol:

That is the definition of guitar porn. I've seen that before but [insert expletive] that thing is crazy.

I play a classical guitar and i can fingerpick quite fast.But i haven't tried to use pinky.I can , i mean its not that its tough for me , but that its simply not required.But guitar is your baby and you play it like it sounds best to you and people around you 8)

And by the way , these taylors are pretty cool.
An even cooler guitar is this one (Don't blame me if you faint :wink: )

http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/choosing/guitars.php?p=c&g=4&m=D-100%20Deluxe

Thank you :lol: :lol:

That is the definition of guitar porn. I've seen that before but [insert expletive] that thing is crazy.

I don't know what you mean by your comment but as far as i meant by saying that 'guitar is your baby' it means that you don't have to go always by rules or hardcore theories.You can alter them if the overall sound is good to ears.

I mainly finger pick now and sometimes I catch myself using my pinkie if I am plucking two strings at once. For example, if I were to pluck low E and high E at the same time I would most likely use my thumb and pinkie. Also, I can pluck those two strings at the same time in the above fashion, and that leaves me three other fingers to pluck strings with at that same time. :wink:

I never use it and I don't think it'd be useful to use it, because when you look at your pinky it's alot shorter then your other fingers, so using it would alter the shape of your hand while fingerpicking and cause un-necessary tension, plus i doubt you could get good volume while using it. Of course, if you're not a serious fingerpicker then it's not a big deal either way.

I know it's used in some classical and flamenco stuff since it has its own letter designation. It's definitely weaker than the others, and using it requires a perhaps less comfortable hand position for the other fingers, but that's the same for the left hand. At the very least, you can pluck a 5 string chord.

I've seen some classical pieces that require the use of the pinky. Specifically where there is tremolo picking involved and other similar rhythm patterns where the thumb and index or thumb, index and middle are used to play melody lines. It's not common but it is done. I use my pinky once in a while. I would love to be able to use it more. An extra picking finger couldn't hurt your playing.