do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

[spuds]

Does anyone here find that its a lot easier to rest your pinky on the pickguard when you're plucking with a pick?
I mean, not for lead riffs but for like... plucking a chord progression where all the strings are allowed to ring out.

I've heard many times that this is actually bad practice?
Why is that so?

 

[sgstrat]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Flatpicking, no. Fingerpicking, yes.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Flatpicking, no. Fingerpicking, yes.

Ditto. I tend to "attack" my guitar when picking with a pick.

 

[chcjunior]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

The only contact I have with the guitar surfact with the picking hand is incidental.....as in it might brush against it during strumming. I can't really think of any reason why that might be bad if you do rest the pinky. Maybe mobility?

 

[spuds]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Well, I've always rested my pinky on the scratch plate when I pluck with a pick. I find it gives me some sort of reference about which string my pick is really going to hit. I find myself completely lost everytime I take my pinky off the scratch plate and i keep missing strings or hitting the wrong ones.

So, theres nothing wrong with anchoring my pinky there?

 

[presa_tito]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

I think you would have more mobility if you didn't totally rely on resting it there. Nothing wrong with it, but I would try to be able to do it no resting on the guard as well.

 

[Jonny R]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

I think sometimes it is in contact as a kind of reference yeah. Not generally though, but I do use both the heel of the hand and the fingers to manage location and muting etc.

 

[Mincer]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Technically, its wrong. Kinda like a dancer holding onto a bar- it is a reference, and then they let go when they 'feel' what it is like to have their spine aligned. It feels strange. You shouldn't have to judge how far away from your pinky the pick is, to know where your G string is. You should *just know* where the G string is. Theres no way to play a funky rhythm with your pinky connected to the face of the guitar. Or hybrid pick. Or pick very quickly- look at the world's best players- their right hand is always free. BTW, holding your pinky there on an acoustic guitar stops the vibration of the top, making a nice acoustic sound like plywood.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

A friend of mine does that when he solos and it looks like it works for him. I on the other hand actually pick with three fingers not two like most people (thumb,index and middle finger) so my pinky doesnt really reach as easily as two fingered pickers.

Although i have done it before for slow ringing out chords and the like just whenever i feel like doing something different.

 

[JfromHouston]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

When I am riffing and not using the high E I have a tendancy to grab the E with my pinky and kind of hold the string. It's a bad habit thats proving tough to break.

J

 

[some_dude]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

I play with three fingers (T, I, & M) and when soloing I used to ankor (sp?) my pinky to where the pickguard would be on other guitars.

Now pick with both two and three fingers and for some reason I just stopped doing the ankor thing without even thinking about it.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Sometimes when I arpeggiate chords or play some scales I do. But for any faster riffs (either lead or rythym), and most chord work I don't as its too limiting.

 

[spuds]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

My pinky isn't rested there when I solo. Since my palm is muting the lower strings, it acts as my reference...

however, I must lift up my palm when I want the strings to ring out when I pluck so i have to rest my pinky on the pickguard...

so this is pretty bad huh?
its so hard to break the habit.

 

[MikeS]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

It took me a long time to stop using the base of the bridge as a reference... I picked real close to the bridge, but that still didn't stop me from palm muting from time to time. What finally drove me nuts was hearing the vibration the heel of my hand would send into the lower strings. I tend to still use a point of reference, only now I rest my forearm on the body, which still gives my wrist a lot of freedom.

 

[Dime59hum]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

You NEED to break that habit. It is wrong, and you need to break that habit since its also acting as leverage? Ever seen one of those wannabe shredders with there fingers in the pickguard? Thats for leverage, and it is the quickest way for them to get fast, so they anchor there fingers there. I would break it as soon as possible.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Whatever works, works. I don't do it, but Steve Morse does, and that guy can alternate and hybrid pick the brains out of pretty much anyone on the planet.

 

[tone4days]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

nope - i keep my pinky free .. i do rest the heel of my right hand on the bridge frequently though

 

[spuds]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

You NEED to break that habit. It is wrong, and you need to break that habit since its also acting as leverage? Ever seen one of those wannabe shredders with there fingers in the pickguard? Thats for leverage, and it is the quickest way for them to get fast, so they anchor there fingers there. I would break it as soon as possible.

But I only do it when I'm plucking chords where the strings ring out... When I play lead, I take my pinky off coz my palm resting on the lower strings acts as my reference....

So you're saying that this habit is worth breaking just for the use of plucking chords?

 

[Mincer]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

Whatever works, works. I don't do it, but Steve Morse does, and that guy can alternate and hybrid pick the brains out of pretty much anyone on the planet.

Actually he doesn't...he stretches his pinky across the strings he isnt playing to mute them-- he never touches the face of the guitar. Ive watched him play about 2 feet away and even asked him about it.

 

[McLaughysSN]

Re: do you rest your pinky on pickguard?

i used to, but thats when i was just starting.. right around 3-4 years of playing when i started getting better and better with leads the pinky came off.. i think as playing develops (speed for the most part) the pinky will come off