leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,452
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
|
Post by leoroberts on Apr 8, 2013 13:11:54 GMT
I'm sure that the 'whatever suits you best' response is all that matters - I wonder if Mark Thomson could manage those marvelously annoying triplets with an anchored pinky, mind
|
|
minorkey
C.O.G.
Too many instruments, too little time
Posts: 2,992
My main instrument is: hurting my fingers!
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"72dd98"}
|
Post by minorkey on Mar 24, 2023 11:20:02 GMT
The question for me is...why not pick with the pinky? A digit going to waste there!
|
|
|
Post by Matt Milton on Mar 24, 2023 11:26:23 GMT
I've never anchored the pinkie finger and it feels very unnatural when I've tried to do it. I've never felt any 'instability' in my playing. I just don't see the need.
I have noticed recently that I rarely pick with any more than my thumb and first two fingers. Occasionally my fourth finger. Not sure I ever use my pinkie actually.
|
|
minorkey
C.O.G.
Too many instruments, too little time
Posts: 2,992
My main instrument is: hurting my fingers!
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"72dd98"}
|
Post by minorkey on Mar 24, 2023 12:20:02 GMT
If you play classical its illegal. You'll get arrested if spotted anchoring or picking with the pinkie
|
|
juliant
C.O.G.
Posts: 323
My main instrument is: Lowden L23
|
Post by juliant on Mar 24, 2023 21:23:24 GMT
Do I anchor my pinkie? Oh yes. And wrap my thumb round to play the bottom E. As far as technique goes I'm a complete disaster, according to friend wot play the thing properly!
|
|
|
Post by dreadnought28 on Mar 25, 2023 4:32:58 GMT
Fingerpicking anchored Flatpicking not anchored
Always that way since I learned to fingerpick in 68/69
|
|
Phil Taylor
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,388
Mini-Profile Name Color: 680908
Mini-Profile Text Color: 121311
|
Post by Phil Taylor on Mar 25, 2023 9:47:26 GMT
I think I am a 60 anchor 40 floater kind of guy. I don't think it affects the sound much if anything at all. Actually, whilst writing, I have just checked my videos and it suggests I anchor all the time Phil I said this in 2013 however I wouldn't say I 'anchor' it which gives the impression it's solidly on the top. It's more a light touch for me and it does come off quite often. The question for me is...why not pick with the pinky? A digit going to waste there! As for this minorkey I do use my pinky for harmonics occasionally. Phil
|
|
|
Post by forestdweller on Mar 26, 2023 9:18:31 GMT
If you play classical its illegal. You'll get arrested if spotted anchoring or picking with the pinkie Not quite true, I know some classical players use their pinky playing some Villa Lobos pieces.
|
|
|
Post by martinrowe on Mar 26, 2023 11:21:28 GMT
I've sort-of started to. I'm highjacking this thread in a way as I almost always use a plectrum nowadays. We don't seem to have many threads about plectrums on here - rant over (that's often as good as it gets). I avoided putting my little finger on the soundboard for a long while, including when fingerpicking, for all of the standard reasons. Nowadays, as I've adjusted the position of my plectrum, and therefore my hand, I've found more and more that my little finger is on the soundboard, although there is no pressure and it leaves and rests very quickly for only a small amount of time. It's orienting my hand and it does it in such a way as to place my hand almost parallel with the strings - it makes my hand feel more relaxed so anything that does that is the overriding principle for me. This whole area is constantly monitored though so it may change. In the past I'd always listened to the 'guitar police' and kept away from placing the finger on the soundboard but I remember a Tony Rice video where he's asked a similar question to this and his answer was - 'sometimes'. I think he said he fixes it when playing very fast passages, as playing fast passages means moving the plectrum a very small amount and he therefore needs an anchor - makes sense. A mandolin player who is known to get a very, very clear tone is Adam Steffey (in Alison Krauss' band for a time), he is 'famous' for planting his little finger. You often get this don't you: 'either this... or this'. The world seems to be getting very polarised. Perhaps another way to frame the question is 'What is your hand position when activating the string that gives you the best sound'? My answer, at the moment: it varies. Aggravating really isn't it
|
|
|
Post by fatfingerjohn on Mar 26, 2023 11:39:43 GMT
Mine's very simple and follows most of my excuses for being a rubbish player i.e. I'm physically not constructed to be a good player. My pinky is too short and other fingers not flexible enough/limited stretch to anchor the pinky; if I anchor the pinky I can't even touch the other strings most of the time, other fingers won't bend to do so. So I don't have to worry about it; job done! FFJ
|
|
minorkey
C.O.G.
Too many instruments, too little time
Posts: 2,992
My main instrument is: hurting my fingers!
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"72dd98"}
|
Post by minorkey on Mar 26, 2023 15:46:35 GMT
If you play classical its illegal. You'll get arrested if spotted anchoring or picking with the pinkie Not quite true, I know some classical players use their pinky playing some Villa Lobos pieces. Yea I've seen videos of them playing in prison 😋
|
|
juliant
C.O.G.
Posts: 323
My main instrument is: Lowden L23
|
Post by juliant on Mar 26, 2023 16:31:31 GMT
If you play classical its illegal. You'll get arrested if spotted anchoring or picking with the pinkie What about playing a classical with a capo, anchoring *and* wrapping the thumb to get the bass notes? Probably a life sentence!
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Mar 26, 2023 18:48:37 GMT
I anchor the pinkie when playing fingerstyle and I drop the heel of my hand onto the bridge to deaden the bass notes. When playing Gypsy jazz I adopt a floating hand position and a "broken wrist" style position and I play Gypsy picking style best I can. When I play flat-picking I try to adopt a floating hand but now I use alternative picking, and sometimes I anchor my pinkie... Sometimes I mix up all the styles and just do my own thing. The Gypsy jazz police spoiled that style for me for a long time, but now I don't care. At my level I'm not sure any if it really matters, so long as it doesn't cause tension and stress and ganglions, all of which have happened when I've tried to apply someone else's rules to my playing.
|
|
minorkey
C.O.G.
Too many instruments, too little time
Posts: 2,992
My main instrument is: hurting my fingers!
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"72dd98"}
|
Post by minorkey on Mar 27, 2023 7:06:35 GMT
If you play classical its illegal. You'll get arrested if spotted anchoring or picking with the pinkie What about playing a classical with a capo, anchoring *and* wrapping the thumb to get the bass notes? Probably a life sentence! You sir are doomed 😋
|
|
|
Post by jwills57 on Mar 27, 2023 23:29:09 GMT
Lots of great, great players anchor their pinkie, as has been pointed out, so who am I am to say. But as a guitar teacher myself, instructing someone who is just starting out, I encourage not to anchor the pinkie, for the simple reason that anchoring the pinkie brings tension into the hand, because you are activating muscles. The more tension you have in your hands and body, the less accurately your playing will develop, in general of course.
|
|