Hey Fingerpickers ... How many fingers?

[Tico]

I'm asking about the hand that plucks the strings.

I didn't know any better so I've always used 5 ... (thumb and all 4 fingers).
55 years ago I must have figured, why let a finger go to waste when you have more strings than fingers?
I hear people say they like the pinkie to stay anchored to the top for stability.
From the beginning I just got used to my hand hovering over the strings.
I've no difficulty; I never pluck the wrong string because my hand floated out of position.

I didn't learn this from a teacher. (I'm self taught)
Over the years I've noticed I rarely see anyone use all 5.

After gigs players come up to ask me how I can use my pinkie at all, let alone with proficiency.
I think it's only possible if you start that way, preferably at a very young age.
I suspect it's 87.25% brain wiring and 12.75% physical.

I have all my beginning students use all 5.
This hasn't been a problem because beginners don't 'know any better' and all of their fingers are noobs to the task.
Some students with years of playing can not adjust so they use whatever they've become accustomed to.
Music should be fun, not torture.
IMO every student should thoroughly enjoy reaching the highest level of playing that is possible for that individual.

Admittedly, some superb guitarists use fewer fingers.

[Kerbie]

I usually use thumb and three... index, 2nd and ring. But for some Piedmont blues songs, I'll use thumb and two... index and 2nd.

Thumb and two. I get everything I need done with this arrangement. I also do not assign fingers to strings. What ever works in a given situation.

[TheChicagoTodd]

I took some classical guitar lessons about 30 years ago....so my memory might not be so good, I thought in general the thumb was mostly used for the 3 bass strings and first finger for the g string, middle finger for the b string and the ring finger for the high e. With that being said, I do remember some exercises on the three high strings using my first and middle finger.

So in summary....lol..I have no clue!

Todd in Chicago

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[RodB]

Thumb and 3. Often need less, never more. Rely heavily on my middle finger and ring rather than a lazy index.

[Pitar]

All 5. I could have written the OP's starter thread except I learned over a 2 year period (self taught) from scratch, put it down for 29 years and came back to it at the beginning of 2005. Very well practiced in all the incorrect habits, but I can deal with it, I use as many fingers as needed to put out the music. If assigning fingers or keeping it loose works, that's what happens. I'll use less or more depending on the piece. My little finger is as dexterous as the other three but it does not have the power to pluck the same timbre they do. So, I reserve it for necessity only and the rest take up the slack.

[Racerbob]

Thumb and first two fingers.

The pinkie is used to locate hand as I don't rest my arm or hand on the top of the guitar or bridge. I'm told by those who hear that I get a lot of projection from my fingers even though I use just a hint of nail and mostly flesh on the fingers along with a custom thump pick. The top is allowed to sound without restraint this way.

Just how I figured out to play.

[chrislongAgain]

Originally Posted by Racerbob

Thumb and first two fingers.

The pinkie is used to locate hand as I don't rest my arm or hand on the top of the guitar or bridge. I'm told by those who hear that I get a lot of projection from my fingers even though I use just a hint of nail and mostly flesh on the fingers along with a custom thump pick. The top is allowed to sound without restraint this way.

Just how I figured out to play.

me too. sometimes i wish i used all 5 fingers and don't LIKE that i use that pinky as an anchor, but overall it works very well, at least for me.

[zmf]

Thumb and index 90% of the time. If it's good enough for Doc and Merle, it's good enough for me. But I need to do a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs to get the sound I want.

Why only two digits? It feels good.

[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by TheChicagoTodd

I thought in general the thumb was mostly used for the 3 bass strings and
first finger for the g string,
middle finger for the b string and the
ring finger for the high e.

This is pretty much what all of the books I learned from said.

[RP]

Originally Posted by A-Mac

Thumb and two. I get everything I need done with this arrangement. I also do not assign fingers to strings. What ever works in a given situation.

Ditto........

[Glennwillow]

I learned to play with thumb and my first two fingers, index and middle. In more recent years as I bought and learned to play from some instructional DVDs, I learned to incorporate my ring finger. It has taken a while, but now I can usually substitute my ring finger for picking notes I would normally play with my middle finger.

For example, I recently broke the nail on my middle (picking) finger (not from playing guitar), so I have been using my ring finger to pick up the slack until that nail grows back.

- Glenn

[mattwood]

Thumb and three for everything with an occasional fail with the pinky.

[dkstott]

Thumb and 3 fingers. I rarely plant my pinky on the guitar.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

I usually use thumb and three... index, 2nd and ring. But for some Piedmont blues songs, I'll use thumb and two... index and 2nd.

This describes me, as well.