Can anyone explain the functional difference or purpose of the two different left-hand styles I see most guitarists using? There's the normal, four finger style I usually practice, and there's also the style where the fingers are more at an angle with the strings, you don't use your pinky, and it's more akin to bending and vibrato. Why do these different styles exist, and how can I incorporate them both into my playing?
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
There's also the thumb over style (Hendrix)
Different strokes for different folks. People who do a lot of bending tend to use their ring fingers for the bends, since it's got more strength than the pinky. In extreme cases (Clapton, etc) they end up not using their pinky at all - they simply stretch for the notes they need with the ring finger.
The four finger approach is the 'traditional' one, and it has the advantage of being able to play more combinations of notes. You'll stretch at times, depending on the position, but using the pinky means all sorts of double-stop combinations are available. Figures that are simple with ring-pinky are darn near impossible if you're using middle-ring, as in the three-finger approach.
Thumb over lets you have additional bass notes. Hendrix did it a lot, mostly because he had very big hands, and it was comfortable for him. Some other folks do it, particularly finger pickers - including Clapton when he's doing fingerpicked stuff.
No reason not to incorporate all of them if you're comfortable with them. About 95+% of the time I'm doing the traditional, but I'll use three fingers (especially in high positions) or thumb over if it gets me where I need to be.
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Thanks, Clapton is what I had in mind actually. I wondered why he played with three fingers while others, like Satriani, switched between those styles in the middle of songs back and forth. Practicing bringing my thumb over doesn't sound like a bad idea either.
"There's no easy ways man," he said. "You gotta learn the hard parts for yourself."
