About fingerpicking...

[JustMac]

I have been playing with my fingers for a long time now, but I'm beginning to pick up speed on leads. I use 3 fingers for almost everything and for me personally, it works best.

Now I've noticed my descending playing is considerably slower. I only today realized what it might be; I play ascending lines like this


( imagine frets 5-7-8)

index-middle-ring

But on descending lines

(imagine frets 8-7-5)

ring-index-middle



This wasn't a conscious decision, I've been doing it subconsciously. My question is, is this the right or wrong technique? I fear I'll never build speed this way!

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

Try pinky-ring-index for descending.

 

[Given To Fly]

What you are experiencing is actually completely normal. Your hands are linked in such a way that makes your pinky on your right hand do the same action as the your pinky on your left hand. A simple experiment will prove its true: turn your hands so that your palms are facing up (towards the sky in case there is any doubt). Now wiggle your fingers like you are "pretending" to shred." Your hands should be mirroring each other.
What you need to do is break this connection when playing guitar. One book I recommend is:Book
Matt is my former teacher and mentor and his technique is quite amazing. He plays nearly everything using a-m-i in the right hand. He explains the challenges and benefits of this technique throughout the book. What you are noticing about your technique is exactly what this book addresses.
The other thing that will help are these Ramos exercises. You do not have to follow the instructions exactly but the idea is to maintain a constant right hand pattern with a continuously changing left hand pattern. I play each group of 4 notes four times and go down each column but you can come up with your own method if you want. Honestly, this piece of paper is one of the best "technique builders" I've ever found. I hope this was useful!

 

[JustMac]

So I do a-m-i for everything? Ascending and descending? Will try the Ramos exercises!


I actually never use my right hand pinky when fingerpicking, is this a bad idea?

 

[cjms1997]

A lot of books claim that using the pinky is improper technique and can get in the way. I personally believe whatever is most comfortable for you, go for it. Experiment, find what you like the most.

 

[ElRay]

A lot of books claim that using the pinky is improper technique and can get in the way.

Yes, in the same way that "the books" used to say that the ring finger shouldn't be used.

Check-out the Postlewate book on Five-Finger Right Hand Studies.

 

[JustMac]

^ My pinky is too proportionately small to use with a consistent feel. For me anyway. So the fast guys who play fingerstyle with 3 fingers(I'm thinking Paco de Lucia, R.I.P),what do they do for 3nps descending licks?


On electric I can get away with lots of legato, but the classical does not afford me that ability,

 

[Given To Fly]

The pinky is usually used for rasgueado's and in special circumstances but overall its too weak to develop to the same level of p-i-m-a . Descending scales are played using a-m-i as well. If you play 4-3-1 descending with the left hand, a-m-i with the right hand should feel pretty natural. However, just because something should feel natural doesn't mean it always will and vice versa. When in doubt, watch John Williams. His technique may not be the flashiest but it is rock solid.

 

[vansinn]

I use various combinations of finger sequence, which is both good and (slightly) bad at the same time; it depends on how we can wiggle our brain off the beaten path..

Doing i-m-r for everything has been suggested, and won't argue against this.
However, in many cases of doing triplets, r-m-i is used, especially when doing serially connected triplets in such a fashion that the triplets melts together into a uniform da-da-da-da-da-da-da... sequence, and for this I feel r-m-i works the best.

Training for either sequence is a matter of repeatedly rehearsing these triplets to get a uniform equally spaced timing, while working on making them blend together, i.e. to avoid the r-m-i pause r-m-i pause... connected-triplets sequence - painstaking patience is required

I don't really play classical per se, so I don't have to adhere to strictly correct technique.
I see some players in bluesgrass and other styles, also on banjo, using the three fingers in a seemingly out of sync style, especially when playing really fast, which seems to deliver more of a free-flowing style.

WRT using the pinky, not only is this a weaker finger, but it's also more connected to the ring finger, plus the nail is usually somewhat slimmer and less dense, so obtaining a good tone may be difficult.

I think it's a matter of training that finger, which can be done by doing all sorts of combination exercises, like moving cards and coins across fingers.
Physical strength can be build using a medium-soft Theraband ball (the reddish-violet one) - this is also great for retraining fingers after an accident (personal experience).

 

[JustMac]

VanSinn, what order of fingers do you use when descending linear 3 notes per string?

 

[vansinn]

VanSinn, what order of fingers do you use when descending linear 3 notes per string?

Depends on playing fast or slow - I'm not a virtuoso de la fantastico
It's mostly r-m-i, but when it's a bout mixed triplets and something else in-between, m-i-m-i-m-i...

A teacher might attempt to correct my technique, which I'm gradually doing myself; not that how I do it doesn't work, just that I'm aware of when technique will limit further progression.

I think the most important of it is finding a good technique that works in a uniform way, and rehearsing this.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

What Given To Fly says is really interesting.
One of my close friends plays only classical, not even acoustic.
I play 99% electric but I'm willing to fill my gap on classic and I'm tackling this gap right now.
He studies with a teacher, I'm self taught.
So when we met, once every 2 months, we spend hours speaking about "guitarring", and once he addressed how classical teachers address the problem Given spoke about with the hands shredding example.
He told me that his teacher has him practice exercises with his entire arms.
Now it's hard for me to explain in a foreign language, but he has to make different movement with parts of his arm, starting from shoulders, going into elbows then wrists.
Most of the exercise imply one arm making a linear movement on a vertical or horizontal axis, while the other one makes circular movements.
Other exercise implies clockwise and counter clockwise movements.
So yes, that's really a big point.

BTW, on Ramos studiy, what does this mean?

Slur 2 notes, then 4

 

[Given To Fly]

What Given To Fly says is really interesting.
One of my close friends plays only classical, not even acoustic.
I play 99% electric but I'm willing to fill my gap on classic and I'm tackling this gap right now.
He studies with a teacher, I'm self taught.
So when we met, once every 2 months, we spend hours speaking about "guitarring", and once he addressed how classical teachers address the problem Given spoke about with the hands shredding example.
He told me that his teacher has him practice exercises with his entire arms.
Now it's hard for me to explain in a foreign language, but he has to make different movement with parts of his arm, starting from shoulders, going into elbows then wrists.
Most of the exercise imply one arm making a linear movement on a vertical or horizontal axis, while the other one makes circular movements.
Other exercise implies clockwise and counter clockwise movements.
So yes, that's really a big point.

BTW, on Ramos studiy, what does this mean?

The exercises your friend described might be part of Abel Carlevaro's guitar methodology which has you move your arm to shift your fingers into position rather than your fingers themselves; or it may just be stretching exercises, or Alexander Technique... It could be many things to be honest.

The "slur 2 then 4" means to hammer-on/pull off, which ever is necessary, every other note (2) and then every note (4). Its optional but can be a good technique builder too.