Using My Middle Finger

Citrus · Jul 25, 2009

No no no, not that way =p
I've been stuck in the habit of only using my pointer and thumb to play and want to get use out of my other digits. My question was whether I should strictly use the finger for one string (its a lot less dexterous than the other 2) and keep it on the a string of should I try to learn to move around with it too? Also, should I try to involve my ring finger in too or is that extraneous?

Brad Bordessa · Jul 25, 2009

It depends what kind of style you want to develop. If you slowly work at it, things will fall into place and it will be second nature. It probably won't make sense to use your middle finger on any but the A and E strings. But if you do learn to use it, a lot of doors open and it's easier to play. I use my middle finger as often as my index.

If you use your ring finger you will have a finger per string, but I can't see anybody getting that much use out of it.

kalbears13 · Jul 25, 2009

I assume you're talking about fingerpicking?

haha well I was in the same situation. I only used the two and somewhere in there I got to using the middle finger. I think it was out of practice and just forcing myself to do it. It's a lot easier to learn to use the middle finger if you play the same pattern over and over too. Hopefully I can start incorporating some ring finger but I think I need to speed up my left hand before I even need to pick fast enough to use it.

DaveVisi · Jul 25, 2009

Hippie Guy said:
It depends what kind of style you want to develop. If you slowly work at it, things will fall into place and it will be second nature. It probably won't make sense to use your middle finger on any but the A and E strings. But if you do learn to use it, a lot of doors open and it's easier to play. I use my middle finger as often as my index.

If you use your ring finger you will have a finger per string, but I can't see anybody getting that much use out of it.

You'd be surprised. For fingerstyle, a Uke is ideal with one string per finger. Any song that I do that requires plucking individual strings always uses the ring finger on the A string.

ukulelearp · Jul 25, 2009

I used to play like that, but I picked up more complicated picking and haven't gone back. It takes practice, but makes things a lot easier and allows for mroe complicated songs and patterns. But as a disclaimer, I learned fingerpicking on a guitar first and then translated it to a ukulele.

wfwhitson · Jul 25, 2009

Here are some videos from woodshed that show diffrent finger picking patterns, scroll down about half way on the page.

http://howtoplayukulele.com/fingerpicking-videos/

Citrus · Jul 25, 2009

thanks for the help everybody, I'm working on writing a song right now and I'm practicing with the middle finger for it so I learn it that way.

Hidden Character · Aug 9, 2009

When it comes to finger picking and your middle finger, I found that doing the in to out picking a really good way to get your middle finger accustomed to strumming a string :3

heres the link: http://ukuleleunderground.com/2008/04/12/uke-minutes-11-in-to-out-picking/

Using My Middle Finger

Citrus

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Brad Bordessa

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kalbears13

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DaveVisi

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ukulelearp

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wfwhitson

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Citrus

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Hidden Character

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