Do you 'anchor' your picking hand?

[knotty]

If so how and where?

What about when you change guitars eg HH to strat?

 

Do you know what pros anchor and who does not?

 

I am trying it out but it feels so alien, I am deciding whether to persevere.

[kit_strong]

I don't. At one point I did and then I had to relearn my entire right hand technique which kind of sucks.

I started of learning from a DVD and it taught a non-braced picking technique. Just when I started getting comfortable with that I took a group class through the informal classes program at UT and the instructor there had us resting a finger on the body.

Fast forward a couple of years and I'm in maryland and hook up with a new instructor and the first thing I have to do is revert back to a non-braced technique.

 

There are plenty of great guitarists out there which do brace but if you think about the physics of it you are really limiting both your attack and speed when you brace.

[poolshark]

I do not. Never really had a reason to do so.

[Maess]

Pinky anchored near the bridge only for solos.

[photon9]

I do brace on solos. I never realized that your not supposed to. I've made half hearted attempts to play unbraced but it feels like my picking hand is out in space and I lose all sense of orientation and precision.

[bad mutha-humpa]

I change throughout a set depending on how I'm playing. I usually plant my pinky for fingerstyle picking. Strumming is freefloating with palm muting as needed...whatever works really.

[cephus]

A guitar is like a pommel horse. You have to get around on it.

 

I sometimes just have my forearm on the top. Sometimes I have a finger or 2 down. Sometimes I am hovering. Sometimes I have the heel of my hand down.

 

The idea that you are going to anchor or not anchor is weird. You have to be flexible. You have to apply different techniques depending on what you are trying to play.

[m90guy]

Oddly I never thought about it until now. Picked up my guitar after reading this thread and noodled a bit. Apparently I anchor my pinky on the pickguard by the bridge pickup on arpeggio's, and then I achor both my pinky finger and my ring finger on the high e string when playing leads. exept of course when playing on the high e or b I move my fingers off their anchor.

 

Weird.

Im guessing bad habits from never being formally tought on guitar???

[faberbz]

If you look at high-end jazz boxes, they don't call the floating pickguard a pickguard.

 

They call it a finger rest.

[peavey_impact]

Yes, I anchor my pinky - so much that it has actually worn a hole straight thru the finish between my pickups:

 

[hshaitan]

I do when I'm on higher strings or trying to go a little faster, but most of the time it's not.

[bcjames]

It depends what i'm playing. If I play something intricate, especially with the band, I tend to as it gives me a reference point when i'm moving around.

[hshaitan]

Yes, I anchor my pinky - so much that it has actually worn a hole straight thru the finish between my pickups:

 

That's a lot of frets...

[Mustaine-who?]

No

[photon9]

If you look at high-end jazz boxes, they don't call the floating pickguard a pickguard. They call it a finger rest.

 

That is cool. I never knew that.

[Selsaral]

For precise picking like lead stuff, I have to anchor. I rest my hands on the strings out in front of the bridge so that on a strat I pick in between the neck and middle pickups. I also rest my hand this way to palm mute and keep noise down. I use it to mute the strings that would normally make a lot of noise as I release bends.

[bluesway]

no, it's bad technique. Howard Roberts addresses it concisely in his "jazz guitar technique in 20 weeks" book:

 

The right hand seems to be the greatest limiting factor for most modern-day guitar improvisers. It appears that once a style of picking has become habitual, it is very difficult to change, and frequently, total retraining is required. So, taking into consideration that there are many techniques one may use to execute a given passage, we must constantly remind ourselves that flexibility-the ability to adapt the right hand to a variety of moves- is the key to longevity. The big thing to avoid is any kind of anchor system that inhibits freedom of movement. Observe anchors at the elbow, at the wrist, grasping the pickguard with the little finger, etc.; all of which may be functional for a specific sound, but should be viewed with caution when considered as the basis of overall right hand technique. Remember: keep it loose! - like a guy strumming a ukelele in a pineapple field. If there is any rigidness in your picking leverage system, it can stop you like a brick wall when tempos get fast.

 

I'm pretty much 100% in agreement with him...especially at bebop gigs. :crazy:

 

PS - if anyone's interested in a pdf of that book, btw, PM me with your email. (sorry, howard. )

[bluesway]

If you look at high-end jazz boxes, they don't call the floating pickguard a pickguard. They call it a finger rest.

that's something carried over from long before the time when plectrum technique was carefully studied in the same way that classical technique was. It no longer applies.

 

and if you think about it just from an efficiency standpoint, the anchor is a crutch.

 

A variation that i take on it is this: i do a "loose fist" type of picking and my highest knuckle on my pinky (the one closest to the nail) will sometimes slightly brush the pickguard. it's not an anchor, but more of a 'guage' to keep my picking level....well now, it's more of a habit. when i REALLY want to get great tone out of my guitar for a particular run (like the head in a ballad, for example), i have to move it from there and position my hand differently, but i usually DO have that pinky-knuckle skimming along the top of the guitar surface somewhere.

[bluesway]

Yes, I anchor my pinky - so much that it has actually worn a hole straight thru the finish between my pickups:

 

well, dude, CUT YOUR NAILS!!!

[bluesway]

Weird. Im guessing bad habits from never being formally tought on guitar???

yup, but you can train yourself out of them.

 

i taught myself, too, until i went to the university...that was a pretty harsh wake-up.

[paulskirocks]

My palm is very lightly sitting on the bridge, always ready for muting, but not really anchored... More like a feeler... My pinky hangs down and and lightly feels the guitar, but isn't anchored... It moves with my hand and is relaxed... So, my palm and pinky are like depth finders, not anchors...

 

Years ago, my palm was much more anchored, but over time I learned that it was limiting my fluidity...

[Patuney]

Ditto on Paulski's style, I think it's the most technically sound picking style.

[drstone]

In the beginning of my intermediate stage, when I began using a metronome and chromatic scale and what not, I anchored. Shortly after I decided it was a crutch, and I wanted full technical ability without having to do that. luckily that was before any kind of technique became set in stone. now i find i can use both proficiently, although I like un anchored more

[Hubert Stumblin]

When I was a kid I self-taught myself to anchor. I even had someone give me lessons for a while who didn't make an issue of it. Then I took some serious lessons in my late 20s and early 30s and the first thing my teacher did was to break me of the habit.

 

It really is a lot better, IMHO, not to anchor. It frees you up for a lot more in the way of technique.

[DaveAronow]

I drill three holes into my guitar so I can hold it like a bowling ball, and then I just glue a pick to my index finger and wiggle that back and forth to play.