Guthrie Govan Discussion

[Wickedpicker]

I've been watching a lot of you tube video's lately and notice a lot of players picking without any of their picking hand touching the guitar. I've always anchored with my pinky and am wondering whether this is common to most people and what disadvantages there may be. It's a slow day so I thought i'd see what most people do and what their thoughts are.
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It goes to eleven!

[Scias]

When im using fingers to play the strings, I usually have at least one or two fingers resting on the pickguard. I sometimes do it when im using a plectrum too. I guess the only time i have my hand 'floating' is when im playing the lower strings. In any case I also rest my palm on the bridge most of the time so it's ready for muting. I'm usually resting my right hand on the guitar in some way or other, apart from when im right-hand tapping of course.

I guess its good practise to have a pinky on the bridge cos your hand will be more balanced and stable, but I find you should do whatever the hell feels right.

You guessed it. my day's been slow as well.

[RD]

Don't do it. Go to guitarprinciples.com and ask on their forum. These people are about the only ones that really know what they are talking about and there's given in depth explanation in the book you can get there.

Basicly, you can never optimally use the weight/momentum of the arm & hand when you're already resting on the body of the guitar. Just think about that for a moment.

Besides that simple truth, your pinky will limit the mobility of the arm as well and you'll be forced to move the arm with your shoulder, which isn't a good thing, since the role of the shoulder should just be to keep the arm in place. That provides the stability alot of these great players have.

I'm not gonna start a discussion here since I know that's useless since there are too many people that will try it without anchoring for 5 minutes while they have been playing WITH pinky resting for 15 years, and then tell me it doesn't work for them (again go to the forum of guitarprinciples.com), but I guarantee you that all really great pickers like Shawn Lane, Al DiMeola, Gypsy Jazz players, etc. usually don't anchor for the same reasons. Some people TOUCH the guitar with their pinky sometimes, which isn't the same as RESTING on it.

[1mbmb1]

[quote="RD"]Don't do it. Go to guitarprinciples.com and ask on their forum. These people are about the only ones that really know what they are talking about and there's given in depth explanation in the book you can get there.

Basicly, you can never optimally use the weight/momentum of the arm & hand when you're already resting on the body of the guitar. Just think about that for a moment.

One can do that WITH anchoring, also. Maybe you can't.

Besides that simple truth, your pinky will limit the mobility of the arm as well and you'll be forced to move the arm with your shoulder, which isn't a good thing, since the role of the shoulder should just be to keep the arm in place.

Nobody defined the role of anything while playing guitar (and if. it must be the work of some narrow minded person) and you'll not be forced to move the arm with the shoulder when anchoring.

I encourage you to try and experiment different ways of doing things. Explore and then look (or better feel) at what you find.

[RD]

The narrow minded person is the one who makes statements without studying the book first.

Anyway, suit yourself. Ignore everything I wrote.