I posted the original version of this update on the old forum; this is shorter and more to the point. The concepts he discusses and explains are invaluable if you want to learn properly. Some might find him irritating (I used to!) but his information is very helpful.
Thanks for sharing that Darrell.
I got something out of it.
Since I been playing lately w/o a pick and trying to do finger pickin. I thought it was a helpful video. Gonna start with trying to keeping my wrist straight. I ain’t played yet today, but I bet dollars to donuts that I bend my wrist to much.
Personally, I didn’t find anything irritating about that video at all. More like educational.
And its still out there and worth a watch in addition to this updated one.
Hey,
thanks for posting these 
He talks about using your pinky finger. Does anyone else do this? I’ve only ever used my thumb and three middle fingers.
Thanks for sharing, Darrell, some interesting insights!
At least my hand and finger positions seems to be right 
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So far, I haven’t used my pinky for picking, he’s currently used as my trusty anchor. I’m asking myself, if more advanced techniques include the little fingers as well? Would mean, I had to rearrange my braincells for this at a point 
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Have to try out the hand soaking thing. I can imagine the warmth helps with overall dexterity and fluidity of movements, but do the softened callouses on the fretting hand help??
He’s the expert, so probably worth trying!
yes! me too 
I sometimes hold my hands under warm water, especially in winter, and it helps with dexterity. I think the hand soaking would be worth a try too, test it out if it makes a difference with softened callouses. Couldn’t hurt to try it.
I too found the recommendation to use the pinky rather unusual. Actually, if you watch him play in his videos, he generally does not use the pinky.
All teachers that I have seen either recommend you use 3 fingers on the G, B and E strings or suggest using whatever fingers feel comfortable. Lots of players use the index and middle fingers to cover the 3 strings and many old timers actually only played with the thumb and index finger.
I originally learned using just thumb + 2 fingers (my first teacher was a '60s era folky and that’s how he played), but lately I’ve switched to the 3 finger style. For the kind of music I play, I don’t see any reason to get the pinky involved.
Generally speaking he uses the Pinky for embellishments to avoid moving his fingers from a shape he’s using.
The pinky of the picking hand? Your description sounds like you’re talking about the fretting hand.
Same thing applies to both, you’ve got a thumb and 4 fingers = 5, there are 6 strings so if you notice he only uses the thumb for the bottom 2 strings, he’s predominantly a blues player, that’s why he plays that way. It allows you to play a full 5 note chord, so sounds fuller - he regularly plucks chords instead of strumming, which is why this is good practice for finger picking.
Got it, thanks for the explanation!
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