Skip to content
How fussy are you w...
 
Notifications
Clear all

How fussy are you with fingering?

32 Posts
23 Users
0 Likes
5,117 Views
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

Hi all,

I've spent most of the last 4 years as a cheerful rhythm strummer, with a bit of erratic fingerpicking thrown in for variety. But in the last few weeks I've started to do a bit of work on playing scales and melody lines.

When playing chords, my pinky seems adequate for the job. It's never going to be a star, but it goes where it needs to and is generally accurate enough and strong enough not to let the side down too badly. When I play scales it seems similar - reasonably usable, although definitely not the first finger you'd pick to do a tricky job.

But now I'm starting to play songs, there's a frequent temptation to use the ring finger instead. I've got reasonable large hands, so it's often not hard to make the distance, and the control and sureness of touch is so much better.

My inner pedant is telling me that I should stick to 'the book' and make the pinky play its assigned position. Put the little wimp through some serious boot camp and toughen it up some more.... But then another inner voice says "If two good fingers were enough for Django Reinhardt, then three will be fine for you... use whatever sounds best..." ... :twisted: :shock:

Any opinions please? Do you use all four equally? Other than Django, are there other well known players who perhaps use only the three with the best control?

Cheers,

Chris


   
Quote
(@rparker)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5480
 

I've been trying to use the pinky when I should durign the past couple months. I used to not worry about it, but as I got caught out of place a time or two, I just said the heck with it and have been using it.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
ReplyQuote
 Taso
(@taso)
Famed Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 2811
 

I only use my pinky when I have no other choice. In my opinion, if you aren't trying to play technically advanced music (think speed metal type stuff) the pinky isn't really that necessary. So I only use it if my ring finger is busy with something else (ie, double stops).

Chords though, I use it often, obviously.

http://taso.dmusic.com/music/


   
ReplyQuote
(@trguitar)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3709
 

Wow .... I'm the one who usually doesn't do things the right way .... :? Ummmmmmm ..... I use my pinky as much as I use my other fingers. Really ... I use it alot, I like to use it. I am speachless. :roll:

"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --


   
ReplyQuote
(@joehempel)
Famed Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 2415
 

I HAVE to use my pinky. My hands are so small that I can barely make the stretch across 4 frets. Like 2 to 5, it's really really hard for me, so it's essential that my pinky has some strength.

In Space, no one can hear me sing!


   
ReplyQuote
(@almann1979)
Noble Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 1281
 

i broke my little finger a couple of years before i started playing, and it didnt heal very well, it is much less flexible than my other little finger.
Even so, when i decided i wanted to make more use of it, it really took only a few weeks of 15-20 minute intense "little finger exercises" every day before i saw a huge difference, and now i use it all the time. Weather or not you should use your little finger is not for me to say, but if you choose to use it more, it really wont take long to get it upto speed.

"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

Thanks for all the speedy replies. :)

I'll certainly continue to hammer away at using that pinky, but it's interesting to see that it's not universal. Somebody pointed me to a guitarist called John 5 (who seems to have played with a range of well known bands) and suggested that he doesn't seem to use his pinky. I looked at some Youtube clips and - like Taso - he didn't seem to use it. Or at least I didn't spot it if he did.

I don't seem to have a problem playing scales - but then I'm just making up little runs and tunes as I go, so it's easy to automatically give the pinky simple jobs. It's when I play melodies from scores and need it to do something a bit more expressive than just fret the note that I'm tempted to use another finger.

I'm sure my pinky will get better (it already has improved) but I'm not sure I'll ever be keen to do thing like pinky bends (??), or be able to get the subtlety of touch from it that some of the others can manage. I guess I'll get better at changing the whole hand position in advance too, in order to avoid some of the more awkward feeling moments.


   
ReplyQuote
(@greybeard)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5840
 

There are many player that don't use their little finger as much as you'd expect. Certainly, up until his started playing a lot of acoustic, Eric Clapton was vary sparing with his little finger. Speed merchant Gary Moore also uses his ring finger in runs, where I'd expect him to use his little finger.

I happily use mine, even in bends. I see it as just another part of my hand, to be used as necessary. Very early on, I found a set of exercises that got me into using my little finger and I've simply carried on using it (Exercise). It certainly helps you to get the independence in your little finger - you'll notice that early on when you're doing the 3-4 & 4-3 exercise.

I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
Topic starter  

There are many player that don't use their little finger as much as you'd expect. Certainly, up until his started playing a lot of acoustic, Eric Clapton was vary sparing with his little finger. Speed merchant Gary Moore also uses his ring finger in runs, where I'd expect him to use his little finger.

Thanks very much indeed for that. :) It's exactly the sort of observation that I was hoping to hear. I had a quick look at some Clapton clips yesterday, but they were fairly recent. I couldn't see very clearly, but it looked like he was using his pinky. However, I had rather expected that skipping on the pinky use might be fairly common among lead players who use pentatonic scales a lot, as they appear to be fairly easy to play with less fingers. Interesting that Clapton started out not using it much, but developed his use of it. Gives me hope! :wink:
I happily use mine, even in bends. I see it as just another part of my hand, to be used as necessary. Very early on, I found a set of exercises that got me into using my little finger and I've simply carried on using it (Exercise). It certainly helps you to get the independence in your little finger - you'll notice that early on when you're doing the 3-4 & 4-3 exercise.

Great looking exercises. I'm sure I've seen something similar before, but they've vanished into the murky piles of things that I was "going to get back to one day".... and then lost. :roll: I'm printing them out now, so will try and remember to do a little each day. Intriguing that you emphasized the order on the return trip, as - sure enough - I instinctively started doing it the wrong way - and it does make a difference when I do it as you say. :wink: Thanks for that.

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote
(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

As a classical guitarist I have to use my fretting hand pinky a lot, I have to stretch to positions that mean all four fingers have to be able to do their thing and regularly have to do it at the same time.

I have my students work on Greybeard's one-finger-per-fret exercises combined into one, so they're using all four fingers on each string each time. It does help to build fretting hand dexterity - I have a student whose pinky was crushed by a flying brick in a building site accident when he was young and I've got him working this exercise once or twice slowly each day. His ability to get his fingers in place for barre chords has come on in leaps and bounds.

A :-)

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
ReplyQuote
(@greybeard)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5840
 

Alan,

Try them as I've posted them, you'll find that the 3-4 / 4-3 exercise is more difficult on its own than as part of the 4-finger run (having other fingers on strings, as in the 4 finger exercise, makes the exercise easier). I also do a 1-3-4 / 1-2-4 / 1-3-4 /1-2-4......etc up and down the strings, as I find that that helps a lot with dexterity - my brain has difficulty with the change of middle and ring fingers between the 1-4 pair.

Edit:

This is the 124/134 Exercise
|-------------------------------6-8-9-7-8-10------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------6-7-9--------------7-9-10-----------------------------------|
|-------------------6-8-9---------------------------7-8-10----------------------------|
|-------------6-7-9----------------------------------------7-9-10---------------------|
|-------6-8-9-----------------------------------------------------7-8-10--------------|
|-6-7-9------------------------------------------------------------------7-9-10-6-7-9-|

1 2 4-1 3 4-1 2 4-1 3 4-1 2 4-1 3 4 1 2 4 -1 3 4 -1 2 4 -1 3 4 -1 2 4 -1 3 4 1 2 4

Move further towards the nut as you get better a spread of your fingers.

I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN


   
ReplyQuote
(@gotdablues)
Estimable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 129
 

And Jimmy Page in most of the early Zeppelin stuff, I don't think he ever used his pinky. Proof? Try playing Black Dog, no use for the pinky whatsoever!

Of course, in most cases, as in box type scales, its usually 1 finger per fret all the way up and all the way down :)

Like Greybeard and them said

Pat


   
ReplyQuote
(@moonrider)
Noble Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 1305
 

My inner pedant is telling me that I should stick to 'the book' and make the pinky play its assigned position. Put the little wimp through some serious boot camp and toughen it up some more....

Your innder pedant is absolutely correct. It may SEEM easier to not use the pinky now, but you'll soon come to the point where the pinky makes it easier to "git 'er done." Then you come to the point where only the pinky will enable you to play a passage. Going back and relearning when you hit that point is a pain. Literally.

Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.

Moondawgs on Reverbnation


   
ReplyQuote
(@elecktrablue)
Famed Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 4338
 

I use both pinkies a lot. I use the one on my fretting hand to be able to make the reaches that I wouldn't otherwise be able to make. And, I use the one on my picking hand because I fingerpick a lot and, to me, it's just easier to use the pinkie on the high e string.

..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-

"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"


   
ReplyQuote
(@noteboat)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4921
 

I'm fussy, and I'm not. I don't believe there's a "right" way to finger anything... but there are efficient and inefficient ways. How efficient a fingering will be depends on the context.

A good example is the open G chord. If a song has other chords like C or F or G7 in it, I'll finger the G using 3-2-4. But in something like "Over the Hills and Far Away" there are no first fret notes - it makes much more sense to stay in second position and finger it 213.

I have to have a reason to use a non-standard fingering. Valid reasons might be efficiency, the ability to sustain some notes while others move, or the size of my hand. But lots of harder stuff simply can't be done if you haven't developed the ability to reach for things or use all your fingers (try playing this Bb(add9) if you've always avoided stretches: x1353x) - so I don't consider "it's easier" to be a good reason. If I can't see some bigger picture efficiency, I learn to use the 'standard' way.

For single notes, I use the one-finger-per-fret rule up until about 10th position. After that, the frets are so much closer together I'll often use just three fingers.

Where I'm really fussy about fingering is getting a good sound. There are some chords, especially on a classical guitar, where being off a hair causes string buzz. But that's not so much about what finger I'm using... it's about precisely placing whatever fingers are needed.

Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL


   
ReplyQuote
Page 1 / 3