Pinky or third finger?

vince

Hi All,

I've been working through Gypsy Picking and videos, and I've noticed almost everyone fingers a diminished run (the variety frequently played over dominants) with the first and third finger. I can finger it this way, but naturally use my pinky (even though I have pretty big fingers). I've unlearned some other fingerings as they were constricting in connecting phrases, but I can't see that being a problem here. What are your opinions? Is there a risk of pinky injury when stretching it out?

thanks!

kevingcox

The only issue I have with using my pinky is that I often run up the diminished arpeggio and the down a minor scale (like the run in Mtn. Ste. Genevieve) and my dexterity with the minor scale using my ring and pinky fingers is not great.

That said, I have definitely had issues trying to stretch my ring finger out for diminished arpeggios and experienced knuckle pain as a result so I usually use my pinky up until the very last note before I switch to some other pattern (so I will use my ring finger at the top of the arpeggio).

Jazzaferri

I suggest getting fluent with both. I often burn up the diminished chord run and then use the pinky to fret another note quickly. Found it useful to do it both ways up and down

MichaelHorowitz

I think with the standard diminished run (going up 2 notes per string) will work pretty well with either the 3rd or 4th finger. But a lot of other arpeggios really work better with the 3rd finger, or in many cases ala Django with the 2nd finger. A lot of Andreas' fingerings in the Gypsy Fire book are like that....he got them mostly from Bireli and there's a conspicuous lack of 4th finger usage (and Andreas is of course fully capable of using his pinky if he wants to.)

M

vince

Does anyone have an example of a time when the pinky should definitely not be used? I'm thinking of the G minor arpeggio (i.e. intro of Minor Blues), where a pinky would limit the ability to pull off the A# D G sweep (and then the A).

Thanks Michael, Jazzaferri, and Kevingcox!

Jazzaferri

Why would a pinky limit a pull off. It's my preferred po finger as it is shorter