Guitar technique - the pinky

[ReCycled]

Many years ago, when I was first learning how to play guitar I was at one of my first decision points. I was learning simple blues scale runs and had a dilemma. If I start with my first note (say index finger, 1st string, A note) and then want to go to the C note - 3 frets up - do I use my little finger for that note or stretch a bit and use my ring finger instead? I knew proper techique was to use the pinky since it naturally falls right there. However It was a weak finger. The ring finger was stronger but you had to "cheat" and stretch to get the note. And you would encounter this situation again and again, all over the fretboard. Particularly in Blues Scales. So I knew whatever way I chose at that time, would set me for life in the way I play guitar. I chose the "proper" way (the way classical guitarists do it) and play that way to this day. But over time I would observe other rock guitarists and would notice they almost always use the cheater system and extend the ring finger. I'm talking Hendrix, Clapton, Santana, Alvin Lee, Stevie Ray etc etc. And they were fast, fluid and had a great vibrato. And no wonder because the ring finger is so much stronger to bend a note up and modulate it there. The only exception was Page who mostly still used his pinky on blue scales.
I've noticed that today's speed guitarists really use all fingers the correct way and really stretch the pinky to catch those higher notes above 3 frets from your index finger. But they seem to be more interested in cramming in as many notes as possible, in the shortest time.
Just wondering if anybody else came across this situation and which way they went...
 

 

[|iR|Focalor]

I never really learned what was traditional and "cheating", I just played however it felt comfortable to do so. And like you mentioned, the ring finger is stronger and easier to do vibrato with, so most of the time I will use my ring finger. Rarely do I ever use my pinky unless I'm doing some weird non-blues minor scale run that would make transitioning from string to string sound really broken if I didn't use my pinky... and it usually sounds broken anyway since I suck.

I think your observations of most classic rock/blues guitarists using their ring finger to stretch to those notes is because most of them are probably self-taught also. It could also have something to do with how blues was traditionally played in the decades before the birth of rock and roll. A lot of slide players keep the slide on their ring finger so that the two fingers behind it can mute the adjacent strings. A lot of the old blues guitarists from that era used special tunings to make fingering easier. They really weren't concerned at all with proper technique.

[ReCycled]

I agree that it's the music you produce that is the whole point. But when I started I didn't want to trap myself into bad technique which might hurt my ability to play as I advanced. So if I bend a note that's 3 up from my index, I fret it with my pinky but also bunch my other fingers to help bend it up and vibrato the note. If you watch old Django Reinhardt videos, the guy could only use 2 fingers and his thumb I believe, due to an accident. He was an acoustic Gypsy jazz player very famous in Europe and was an excellent player. He did whatever it took. Remarkable really.

I was watching a bunch of Buckethead youtubes yesterday trying to find him unmasked. But I noticed those long pointy fingers playing like a spider at warp speed all over the guitar neck. Very impressive at first, but tiring to listen to after a while. 

[quadz]

I agree that it's the music you produce that is the whole point. But when I started I didn't want to trap myself into bad technique which might hurt my ability to play as I advanced.

I doubt many players would argue against learning good technique.  But I'm not sure I regard how my fingers move on the fretboard with such permenance that I would feel trapped into any particular way of playing.

With bass playing I altered my technique a few times over the years.  In this case, right-hand instead of left-hand.

When I first started playing slap bass around 1989 or so, I initially begin with this sort of thumb position:



Over the years, I also learned this style as well:



There are also some variations, where the thumb bounces off the string, or comes down behind the string.

I regard the various techniques as different but not inherently bad.  They have perhaps strengths and weaknesses in various contexts, and each can color the sound a little differently.

Eventually I was able to switch between the techniques without thinking about it.

And while I don't feel I've ever truly mastered an instrument or a style of music, I still love how Charlie Parker put it:

  "Master the instrument, Master the music, Then forget all that shit and play."


Another similar experience on bass was I spent awhile trying to learn a three-fingered right-hand technique instead of the more traditional two-fingered technique, because some superfast players like Les Claypool and Billy Sheehan used three fingers.

And I recall thinking at the time, that three-finger style must be inherently superior to two-finger style, and as such I should learn to employ it all the time; that I should transition 100% to using three fingers and if I ever felt that two fingers would be easier that just meant I hadn't sufficiently mastered three-finger style yet.

Which was partly true -- it would have taken an assload of practice to learn the continuously unbroken 3-2-1 alternation pattern I was trying to apply to every single playing context.

So I eventually abandoned that attempt, but part of the reason was something I'd learned from interviews with some badass players on a bass right-hand technique video I'd bought about that time.

I remember being surprised at how some of the players, like Chuck Rainey, stressed the point that the shape of the fingers on the right hand each color the sound differently when striking the string.  So they'd say something to the effect of, sure I can break out a three-finger style if I needed to play some really fast run, but often I deliberately avoid alternating fingers and use only the index finger because the sound is more consistent.

So that information caused me to immediately abandon my erroneous idea that three-finger style was somehow superior and that I should strive to learn to play everything with that technique.

. . . . So this experience also reinforced the idea for me that various techniques have trade-offs, but one isn't necessarily inherently bad or good, and that one doesn't need to be stuck with any particular technique.  One can learn multiple ways of playing and use whichever technique seems appropriate at the time.


Regards,

quadz

[haunted]

I'll post more when I have more time and sobriety, but ironically my pinky is more reliable in situations like that, or any normal blues, major, or minor scale for that matter. I mean if I really wanted to pick it apart I'd say that my pinky is more reliable to play the note clean, however I hit my A.H. a little weaker, and my bends are a little more weaker than with my ring. Learning power chords improperly and piano might have something to do with my super pinky.

[haunted]

ahhh almost forgot. I developed a ganglion cyst in my wrist about the size of a golf ball. Barely noticeable unless I bend my hand back and it pops out haha. I swear it's making me play better

On a more serious note it kind of sucks.

[ReCycled]

Well here's a simple solution. I'd recommend Sarah Palin's new book - Going Rag.

[haunted]

Hmm... I'm down to try that after a little more research. I'm at work atm.

I've been dying to use some kind of barbaric method (I can feel it constantly and it's annoying as hell. if it was a normal cyst I would just cut it out myself) but the fact that it's surrounding my joint scares me a little haha. Popping it under pressure sounds good... I should probably do it soon, too because synovial fluid becomes gelatinous over time when it's confined to a tight area.

[ReCycled]

All kidding aside, I actually have something similar on one of my fingers. It's about a half inch in diameter and looks gross. I've already gone to my local doctor and she froze the finger, punctured it and then squeezed out a clear gelatin. I did more when I got home. Looked fine for a while, then just came back slowly after a few months. The key was to take out the cyst lining, which is a surgical procedure. I'll get around it sooner or later.
    

[|iR|Focalor]

Jesus Christ on a rubber crutch, this is the most disgusting thread ever. Even more so than the Spawndude shit-licking pic I posted.

[haunted]

My father commercially fished for 38 years with one half the size of the one you're talking about recycled, on his finger. He says it was a real pain in the ass while fishing.. For how big mine is (inch by inch and a half) it's not as bad as I would imagine. Guitar for hours a day doesn't bother it too bad, sensory adaptation or habituation seems to be serving me well most of the time. It has bad days and good days though.

Happy thanksgiving!