Hey Fingerpickers ... How many fingers?

[mickthemiller]

I find I can play some quite complicated stuff with just thumb and index finger.

[Silly Moustache]

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. ...snip ......

I had to google PIMA and found this :

In Spanish P stands for Pulgar(thumb), I stands for indice(index finger) M stands for medio(middle finger) and A stands for Anular(ring finger).

For my 'umble self, I never managed to play with more than my pulgar (I thought that was a type of rice), and my "Indice".

See this dismal example :

[Organic Sounds Select Guitars]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yep, all five for me. Using less feels inefficient.

[alien]

Thumb, index and middle fingers. Occasionally I use the ring finger, but that one is usually my anchor. I am also self taught.

[madhat]

Usually thumb , middle, index for me... occasionally add the ring finger.

Just what has felt natural for me I guess.

madhat.

[TConnelly]

Thumb, 1, 2, 3 (PIMA) for me. I really should be practicing pick, 2, 3, 4 sometimes as well for when I progress to learning jazz guitar someday. But the stark difference between the sound of the pick and the sound of flesh nubs stops me. Being an auto mechanic means nails are not an option. And finger picks just strike me as a huge pita. I guess what I need to do is work on tucking the pick in the crook of the first finger and play thumb, 2, 3, 4 a la Brian Setzer and others. That just seems like magic to me.

Cheers............................Todd

[JLT]

I don't use the pinky. My local blood bank likes this, because that means that they have one finger they can stick for a blood sample, and it won't mess me up. They usually insist on a middle or ring finger, but they were kind enough to make exceptions for musicians.

[ewalling]

I'm surprised that so many people use four fingers. I would have thought that was very specialized territory.

[Tico]

Originally Posted by ewalling

I'm surprised that so many people use four fingers. I would have thought that was very specialized territory.

Do you mean four fingers plus the thumb, or four 'fingers' including the thumb ... (which would be three fingers plus the thumb)?

[dkstott]

For many years, I only used my index and middle finger...& Thumb...

But about a year ago, I took classical guitar lessons solely to improve my right hand technique. The instructor was insistent that I use my ring finger and that I could NOT plant my pinky.

Every time I absent-mindedly planted my Pinky on the guitar top during a lesson, he'd stomp his foot on the floor.

That process broke me of that habit quickly.... LOL

[crikey]

Does "1, Thumb only" mean thumb only, or does it mean one finger and the thumb?

[BluesKing777]

Very interesting thread - people do everything, don't they?

I voted as thumb and 2 in the poll, but it isn't that straight forward!

Nearly 250 years ago it seems, I learned with thumb and 3 fingers and played that way for a long time. 7 or 8 years back, I started buying blues lessons dvds from Stefan Grossman and really gritted my teeth and other bits to learn thumb and index ala Gary Davis.

That man has fingers like pistons and pumps and mine, well, slightly pathetic, so I do a sort of hybrid bare fingered thing now where my thumb and index are the main dance partners for most of the time for country blues style picking and I throw a middle in if I play double stops and I can throw a ring if playing chords....or I have worked on strumming with my thumb down and index up. (Which I also use for single string runs....)

But thumb and one finger make a stronger sound generally. Worth working on so far!


BluesKing777.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by dkstott

But about a year ago, I took classical guitar lessons solely to improve my right hand technique. The instructor was insistent that I use my ring finger and that I could NOT plant my pinky.

I haven't had lessons since I was a kid, but was never taught to use my pinky as a support on the soundboard, and I play fingerstyle (and a bit of classical) with my right hand "free". And I do occasionally use my pinky to pick.

Maybe this deserves a different thread, but what's the purpose of planting the pinky? I've heard things like "having a solid base of support" but I've always gotten along fine without it.

(That said, I sometimes find myself planting my pinky when strumming. Go figure.)

[Gallopinghost]

About half the time I use thumb and index and the other half I add my middle finger into the mix, depending on the song. I try to not anchor my pinky, but it just goes there sometimes, usually when I'm travis picking. For a brief moment in 3 songs I'll use my ring finger when plucking a chord, but that's only because the song calls for it.

Some songs just sound better using a certain style, whether it be the rhythm it inflects or the tone a specific finger pulls out of the string. I usually play fingerstyle with bare fingers and my thumb sounds much fuller and my other fingers have a more piercing tone. The songs that require a fuller sound in the trebles I tend to travis pick so my thumb can work all six strings during certain portions of the song. As others have mentioned, this usually requires the left hand to do a lot more work with hammer-ons and pull offs to accommodate the lack of available fingers on my right hand.

[nedray]

Thumb and either two or three fingers, depending on the song or part I'm playing. Don't know what I would ever do with the pinky other than maybe a six string arpeggio.