Fingerpicking Beginner Options

[Skalde]

Hey,

I am about to improve my fingerpicking. There are a lot of great lessons about this topic, but I wonder how many fingers I should use. Normally I would use my thumb, playing the 3 bass strings and indexfinger, middlefinger and ringfinger playing the other strings. When I play like this my pinky rests on the body of my guitar. I wonder if there is a reason I should not involve my pinky in the picking process. What do you think? I assume it depends on the style your playing, but what the benifts / cons on not the pinky finger?

regards

[Muris Varajic]

Pinky is the most weak, that's why it's rarely in use.
There is no rule whatsoever so you can try applying it more,
won't hurt.

[Skalde]

Thanks for your answer, I will give my pinky a try

[Ramiro Delforte]

If you're willing to give the pinky a try first I recommend to watch this lesson about Brett Garsed, he's an amazing fusion player that uses the pick and the rest of the fingers of the right hand to play.

[Ivan Milenkovic]

You can use what ever fingers you like - what ever gives you best results and sound mate. I haven't ever practice fingerpicking systematically (only through jamming and lick playing), so I kind got used to using only thumb and index all the time, and middle and ring sometimes. But after a while I could play a lot of useful stuff, and even do some fingerpicking jobs. So it's all about practicing the way you like it, and being consistent enough with it.

[Dejan Farkas]

As Muris already said, pinky is the weakest and also shortest finger so it is not so much of an use, I recommend to master the fingerpicking without pinky first

Resting pinky on guitar body is a mistake common to beginners, I suggest you to work on to avoid it because it limits the movement of other fingers. It could be tough in the beginning but it's worth it

[wrk]

As more fingers you can use as better it is, but as Dejan said, before you try to use the pinky for picking try to avoid to rest the pinky on the body. A lot of player do this and go fine like this, but at the end it will block the movement of your hand, especially your ring finger.

The reason to place the pinky on the body is that it gives you the impression to have more stability in your hand. This stability helps you maybe at the beginning, but will cause you problems later.

[Pavlov]

Resting pinky on guitar body is a mistake common to beginners, I suggest you to work on to avoid it because it limits the movement of other fingers. It could be tough in the beginning but it's worth it

Even when picking with a pick? Strange. In the beginning I always picked without resting the pinky, then my guitar instructor (who I have to pay with 10 years of experience, not a random friend) actually recommended resting the pinky at most times.

[Dejan Farkas]

Even when picking with a pick? Strange. In the beginning I always picked without resting the pinky, then my guitar instructor (who I have to pay with 10 years of experience, not a random friend) actually recommended resting the pinky at most times.

I referred to figerpicking here, when I started playing guitar in music school I used to rest pinky finger beacuse it gives some impression of stability as wrk said, and my instructor was encouraging to get rid of this habit, and now I thankful to him

When it is about a pick, there are various techniques and more freedom because generally you use only two fingers (thumb and index) to hold a pick, so you should do it in the most convenient way for you. But having in mind that it doesn't limit your movement

[Skalde]

Resting pinky on guitar body is a mistake common to beginners, I suggest you to work on to avoid it because it limits the movement of other fingers. It could be tough in the beginning but it's worth it

Thank you, I did not know that

[Dejan Farkas]

You're welcome, if you need any help with it don't hesitate to ask