Hi Neil and Target members:
I have been on the TARGET course for one month now and must say I'm loving it - great job, I can actually play songs all the way through and not just stop at the end of an intro riff etc.. - I would class myself as still very much a beginner guitarist and I had been playing on and off for 7 months before I joined TARGET and had the basic open chords down. Ive been working on "Wish You Were Here" (song which inspired me to pick up and learn guitar), "Norweigan Wood" and most recenlty "Don't Fear The Reaper". My question is to anchor or not when picking out notes like in the intro of don't fear the reaper. I ran across this in my first few months playing and was told not to anchor my pinky and was told it would be best in the long run to float with my palm as close to the bridge so this is what Ive been doing and it feels quite comfortable now. Neil - you mention anchoring in your "don't fear the reaper" lesson are you referring to the pinky or other finger(s)and is it it entirely necessary for someone who has learned the habit of not doing it? - this question goes to more advanced players as well, I would be interested to here what other think and are doing with their pinkies and other fingers when picking out a long melody or solo etc
I'm still a little confused on this topic on which direction to take?- seems like some experts say anchor and some say NOT !
Neil -keep up the great work - you have certainly made me a better player in the last month.
Thanks - Tom
Flat Picking and The Anchor
Tom,
Congrats on your first post.
As someone who was taught to anchor my pinky about 45 years ago, I can tell you from personal experience that it's an almost impossible habit to break -- at least it is for me. The upside of anchoring your pinky is that you have some stability: you hand doesn't float around. The downside is that your pinky and ring finger are absolutely useless for fingerpicking. Yeah, I'm still able to fingerpick, but I sure wish I could get my ring finger involved.
If you've got a choice, don't anchor it.
Congrats on your first post.
As someone who was taught to anchor my pinky about 45 years ago, I can tell you from personal experience that it's an almost impossible habit to break -- at least it is for me. The upside of anchoring your pinky is that you have some stability: you hand doesn't float around. The downside is that your pinky and ring finger are absolutely useless for fingerpicking. Yeah, I'm still able to fingerpick, but I sure wish I could get my ring finger involved.
If you've got a choice, don't anchor it.
If you are talking about anchoring your pinky don't do it. I am self taught and the only good thing I taught myself was not to play a G-chord with my 1st 2nd and 3rd finger I've always used my 2nd 3rd and 4th. I broke myself of anchoring the pinky finger and can't believe the difference it has made. Neil has a gift for teaching guitar he has the ability to teach economy of motion. Not everything will work for you but I guarantee 99.9% of it will so hang in there.
Hi Gang,
I love the line about some experts say this and others say that. At least everybody can be right somewhere along the way. Along those lines, I generally like to have students learn to anchor when flatpicking and not when fingerpicking. My old student MattB, took me to task on this saying that if you ever expect to shred like Yngwie Malmsteen you can't anchor when flatpicking, and he makes a great point. I'm not sure if this made it into one of the video conversations we had recently. This type of shredding is probably a bit off most of our members' radar anyway, at least for the time being.
Depending on the student's level, starting with Don't Fear The Reaper, using the anchoring technique is what I usually recommend. Songs like Norwegian Wood and Wish You Were Here are not exactly the same thing as they are a hybrid of single string picking and strumming, where I might prefer not to anchor. I could easily flip-flop on some of these approaches depending on the student's goals as well.
There are so many different techniques to master on the journey, and even when I say learn 'Song X' with this technique, I might tell a different student to learn the same song with a completely different approach.
Don't forget, the songs in the TARGET Program are really exercises disguised as songs and sometimes I teach them a bit differently than the writer may have played them for very specific reasons. Other times I think it is the best approach to get exactly what the original artist was doing down and add his tricks and techniques to your toolbox. It is all part of expanding your horizons and advancing your playing as efficiently as possible.
Neil
I love the line about some experts say this and others say that. At least everybody can be right somewhere along the way. Along those lines, I generally like to have students learn to anchor when flatpicking and not when fingerpicking. My old student MattB, took me to task on this saying that if you ever expect to shred like Yngwie Malmsteen you can't anchor when flatpicking, and he makes a great point. I'm not sure if this made it into one of the video conversations we had recently. This type of shredding is probably a bit off most of our members' radar anyway, at least for the time being.
Depending on the student's level, starting with Don't Fear The Reaper, using the anchoring technique is what I usually recommend. Songs like Norwegian Wood and Wish You Were Here are not exactly the same thing as they are a hybrid of single string picking and strumming, where I might prefer not to anchor. I could easily flip-flop on some of these approaches depending on the student's goals as well.
There are so many different techniques to master on the journey, and even when I say learn 'Song X' with this technique, I might tell a different student to learn the same song with a completely different approach.
Don't forget, the songs in the TARGET Program are really exercises disguised as songs and sometimes I teach them a bit differently than the writer may have played them for very specific reasons. Other times I think it is the best approach to get exactly what the original artist was doing down and add his tricks and techniques to your toolbox. It is all part of expanding your horizons and advancing your playing as efficiently as possible.
Neil
Thanks for all the responses guys -I'm going to stick with what hes been working up to now and that is to float with my palm just above the bridge pins and no pinky anchor- it seems to work well and anchoring now feels restrictive and weird. I think the anchor approach will work well for complete beginners new to picking long patterns of notes because it does give a point of refernce and depth for the hand and will probably make moving from note to note quicker than just floating for the first time where the error will be higher.
Floating will take longer to master as I have found but that old hand muscle memory will kick in eventually and you will know where you are without the need for a reference point.
Cheers - Tom
Floating will take longer to master as I have found but that old hand muscle memory will kick in eventually and you will know where you are without the need for a reference point.
Cheers - Tom
mebarrac wrote:
Can I say that in my very inexperienced view, the difference is that with finger-picking you do actually have a reference without an anchor, and that is the "home" position that Neil often refers to in his lessons, where the thumb alternates bass notes and the ring, middle and index fingers are each assigned to a string. Of course D chords require a shifted position but at any rate, there is a reference without an anchor.
When you go to flat-picking that reference is no longer there, so an anchor becomes more important.
So, I am just passing on my understanding having followed through a lot of lessons with Neil.
Hey Tom.Thanks for all the responses guys -I'm going to stick with what hes been working up to now and that is to float with my palm just above the bridge pins and no pinky anchor- it seems to work well and anchoring now feels restrictive and weird. I think the anchor approach will work well for complete beginners new to picking long patterns of notes because it does give a point of refernce and depth for the hand and will probably make moving from note to note quicker than just floating for the first time where the error will be higher.
Floating will take longer to master as I have found but that old hand muscle memory will kick in eventually and you will know where you are without the need for a reference point.
Cheers - Tom
Can I say that in my very inexperienced view, the difference is that with finger-picking you do actually have a reference without an anchor, and that is the "home" position that Neil often refers to in his lessons, where the thumb alternates bass notes and the ring, middle and index fingers are each assigned to a string. Of course D chords require a shifted position but at any rate, there is a reference without an anchor.
When you go to flat-picking that reference is no longer there, so an anchor becomes more important.
So, I am just passing on my understanding having followed through a lot of lessons with Neil.
Thanks tovo - that makes sense, FYI - I havent even touched finger-picking yet in my guitar journey just strumming and picking out melodies etc... I have got the whole finger picking thing to look forward to 
- can you or anyone else off the top of your heads recommend a very good beginner song (lesson) that uses basic fingerpicking technique?
Cheers Tom
- can you or anyone else off the top of your heads recommend a very good beginner song (lesson) that uses basic fingerpicking technique?Cheers Tom
Tom,
Welcome to TG from Texas.
Neil explains your question in a really good example. There are several techniques to use "Reference" points besides 'planting' or 'anchoring' the pinky. One of the reasons to not do so is the fact that the body of the guitar 'vibrates' and by touching the guitar in any manner, especially the top, it mutes the tonal effect. However, it stands to reason that by even having the guitar touch the body, it does so anyways. Playing classical style, the thumb is often stopped on the next string down, more or less 'resting' the thumb when possible, giving you that same 'reference point'. Bass also uses the thumb in a lot of ways to stop (rest) on a string you do not want sounded, even muting the unwanted string at times.
There are several good songs here to start out 'fingerpicking'. "Angie" (Rolling Stones) is one, and the Hector Garcia series, even though it's classified as "Classical" has several things that can get a beginner going in the right direction. "Irish Dance" is the easiest song in this series, and try the "Guiliani Right Hand Excercises" there also.
Again, welcome to TG, enjoy!
Welcome to TG from Texas.
Neil explains your question in a really good example. There are several techniques to use "Reference" points besides 'planting' or 'anchoring' the pinky. One of the reasons to not do so is the fact that the body of the guitar 'vibrates' and by touching the guitar in any manner, especially the top, it mutes the tonal effect. However, it stands to reason that by even having the guitar touch the body, it does so anyways. Playing classical style, the thumb is often stopped on the next string down, more or less 'resting' the thumb when possible, giving you that same 'reference point'. Bass also uses the thumb in a lot of ways to stop (rest) on a string you do not want sounded, even muting the unwanted string at times.
There are several good songs here to start out 'fingerpicking'. "Angie" (Rolling Stones) is one, and the Hector Garcia series, even though it's classified as "Classical" has several things that can get a beginner going in the right direction. "Irish Dance" is the easiest song in this series, and try the "Guiliani Right Hand Excercises" there also.
Again, welcome to TG, enjoy!