Hey Fingerpickers ... How many fingers?

[Steel and wood]

Originally Posted by RP

Ditto........

Ditto for me also! (Thumb and two fingers = index and middle fingers).

[TBman]

T + 3

The pinky watches for any mistakes

[BrunoBlack]

Thumb and 3 fingers, without resting my pinkie on the guitar.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by 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.

Todd in Chicago

You are correct. Most classical players are taught that way. The designation, if I recall, was P , I, M, A. I remember being told P= thumb, but I have to guess that i=index, m=middle and have no clue what A is. My pinky is way too short to be of any use.

Having learned this way as a kid was such a good thing and I believe almost a necessity if you're ever going to play hybrid. If you have to hold a flat pick with thumb and index you don't want to be short a finger when it comes to finger picking in that style.

[TBone-Idle]

Thumb and three fingers. Thumbpick + bare flesh. Palm anchored into the bridge. Thumb for bass strings and one finger allocated for each treble string (a rule that is frequently broken as occasion demands).

[MikeL]

Hey Tico

I play the same way you describe and yes it does seem to be unusual!

I was also self taught with a few books - I remember getting a book from the library on Spanish guitar method and I guess that is where it came from. My hand just flows there, no anchoring.

There is a downside... I am not good at damping at all because if my hand touches the saddle then I lose that freedom and can only play with thumb and 2/3 due to the necessary bending of the fingers. On a dread I have no problem but 00/000 its difficult. As a result I do quite bit of left hand damping.

[Tico]

Originally Posted by MikeL

Hey Tico

There is a downside... I am not good at damping at all because if my hand touches the saddle then I lose that freedom and can only play with thumb and 2/3 due to the necessary bending of the fingers. On a dread I have no problem but 00/000 its difficult. As a result I do quite bit of left hand damping.

Interesting.
I have not experienced that.
Perhaps it could be attributed to the variation of anatomy between people.

I assume you're referring to damping/muting with the right edge of the palm of the right hand near the bridge (assuming you're playing right handed).

Perhaps exercises optimized to practice what you say you're not good at would help.
A good teacher can troubleshoot, isolate, and develop exercises that help you work on specific difficulties.

[DanleyJ]

Thumb and three fingers. Sometime just index and middle and sometimes middle and ring and then all three together, but they all get used. I've been doing it for so long I don't even think about which fingers are being used at any point. They just work all together and pick the correct string for the sequence of notes that I am playing. I also use all to "pinch" chords and strum with the back of the nails for rhythm. You can get some great funky things going with just your fingers.

[oldgitplayer]

It depends on the picking pattern and rhythm I'm using. Anything from thumb + 1 to thumb + 4. And that can vary in different parts of a song.
There are no rules is always the easiest rule to follow.

[steelvibe]

Thumb and 3 fingers.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

You are correct. Most classical players are taught that way. The designation, if I recall, was P , I, M, A. I remember being told P= thumb, but I have to guess that i=index, m=middle and have no clue what A is. My pinky is way too short to be of any use.

Having learned this way as a kid was such a good thing and I believe almost a necessity if you're ever going to play hybrid. If you have to hold a flat pick with thumb and index you don't want to be short a finger when it comes to finger picking in that style.

The 3rd finger is a Spanish word (maybe in association with Flamenco)?


MASCULINE NOUN
(anatomy)
a. ring finger
Me quebré el anular jugando al básquet.I broke my ring finger playing basketball.

[Monsoon1]

proper classical guitar is 4 fingers with the thumb being assigned the lowest 3 strings.

[rogthefrog]

All 7 fingers.

The pinky is a perfectly usable finger. Not using it is a disservice to the kinds of things you can do.

There's a Villa Lobos piece (Prelude 3) that strongly benefits from using the pinky, for example. It allows you to pluck the chord instead of strumming it, and it sounds better that way.

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by Monsoon1

proper classical guitar is 4 fingers with the thumb being assigned the lowest 3 strings.

I'd call that "traditional" rather than "proper". There's nothing improper about using the pinky.

The same way that nobody learns classical with the Segovia hand position anymore, even though it was the One True Way back during his time--see Julian Bream, Turibio Santos and Roland Dyens, and compare them to younger players like Tatyana Ryzhkova or even Sharon Isbin.

[MrDB]

I learned originally with Thumb + 4. But I was never satisfied with the type of sound I got that way.

So I re-learned Thumb + 3 and to me it's much better. I get more of a driving, rythmic tempo that way.

Maybe I just have an uncoordinated pinky finger.