General Music Chat

Currently working on playing with 3 fingers (Index, Middle and ring), and learning to playing with the ring finger has been taking a while.

Are they any exercises (besides practice, I do that already) that will help with the 3rd finger and/or eventually 4th finger?

Currently working on playing with 3 fingers (Index, Middle and ring), and learning to playing with the ring finger has been taking a while.

Are they any exercises (besides practice, I do that already) that will help with the 3rd finger and/or eventually 4th finger?

someone's gotta ask..might as well be me.

why three fingers?

you can play just as fast (if that's your goal) w two and have the exact same tone. or use a pick if you can play faster that way (w a pick tone) if that's important to you.

since your right hand (assuming you're rt handed) is your VOICE.....my approach to my right hand has always been to have as many different right hand options, moves, tones, and colors as possible:

two finger alternating pizzicato.
one finger "hook" ala james jamerson
thumb popping (slap)
straight thumb plucking or w palm mute
pick style
hybrid picking (pick and fingers combo)
gtr style fingerpicking w thmb, index, middle (this is also how i grab three string chords)

john entwhistle (The Who) would sometime play w three fingers but admitted there was no advantage to it and that it was only something he developed just for the visual "show" aspect of it.

if you're serious about pursuing the three finger thing....i'd say that any exercise that targets your picking hand would be on point and relevant whether you use two, three, or all your fingers.

I play bass on a lot of my recordings. If it's a faster piece I'll use a pick and turn the tone almost off on the guitar, you can't hear the pick hitting the strings and most people can't tell I used a pick. Slower tunes that need more "feel" I'll play without a pick.

Currently working on playing with 3 fingers (Index, Middle and ring), and learning to playing with the ring finger has been taking a while.

Are they any exercises (besides practice, I do that already) that will help with the 3rd finger and/or eventually 4th finger?

Believe it or not i use to play bass with three sometime four fingers but this was more just a natural thing to do rather than learn.
I did use to flick my middle finger back after initial pluck to double up the note, but who gives a sh*t.

I think slow repetition of scales, riffs whatever floats your boat would eventually pay off, a little each day really does train the brain.