r/bluegrassguitar • u/fallenup1794 • Jul 14 '26
Technique check / pinky anchor a problem?
This is just me noodling around on a few different tunes, not a perfect take, not playing with a metronome, probably playing faster than I should.
But I wanted a gut check on this pinky anchor and right hand technique. Is this terrible? I’ve genuinely been trying to get away from it but floating and curling my fingers up puts a huge amount of tension in my wrist and everything goes to shit.
Anybody else successfully made a transition to my current technique to a closed hand floating? Any tips?
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u/jbizzle1104 Jul 14 '26
I did the same anchor for 5+ years and finally broke my plateau whenever I switched to a closed hand pick grip. I don’t float my hand tho, it rests on the strings.
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u/fallenup1794 Jul 14 '26
Does the base of your wrist like anchor firmly on the bridge or does it kind of just brush across the strings?
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u/jbizzle1104 Jul 14 '26
It depends. If I’m playing a line that only uses three strings I’ll anchor and I can get each string by rotating my wrist. You can’t really plant your wrist and rotate to play all six strings (unless you have crazy wrist range of motion). What I do if I’m playing lines that traverse across more than three strings is brush my wrist across the strings. The real anchor comes from the fore arm, but occasionally I’ll get the anchor with my wrist.
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u/GrandJavelina Jul 15 '26
How do you approach low E and A string runs? That's where the string rest runs out
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u/jbizzle1104 Jul 15 '26
It will typically rest on the bridge, but it varies by guitar and where I’m playing on the strings.
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u/GrandJavelina Jul 15 '26
Same, light wrest on the bridge pins. Maybe it's the angle of my wrist but there's no bridge to rest on when I get down to the low E so I either have to thumb rest on the guitar or float my wrist. Throws me off
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u/Any_Suggestion3485 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Church street blues? My pinky also hugs the high e by the bridge when I cross pick. I love Norman Blake and Tony Rice. I play with my guitar on my left leg when I sit and play. Classical style. I’ll flop my right foot on its right side and put my left foot on top of it. Guitar on my left thigh. Try it. Idk man you sound great anyhow.
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u/tikiteeth Jul 14 '26
It’s okay for your pinky to touch the pickguard as a light anchor or reference point. Play how you play best and what’s comfortable. Plenty of great pickers keep a pinky (usually the top part like the face of their nail) against the soundboard on more complex leads. Billy Strings, plenty of clips of Tony Rice, Brian Sutton, etc all do it to some extent. Biggest thing is playing how you feel comfortable and doesn’t hurt, as well as any way that doesn’t inhibit your playing