As you all know, Gilbert is a bit of a boss with using his ring and pinky fingers together, very quickly.

Do you think it's worth practising so I can be as comfortable as he is with using those fingers in combination, or just do what's comfortable? Hand size isn't a problem - mine are almost as large as his.

Gilbert Way.

Comfortable Way.

Thank you.

Do what's comfortable. I tend to use pointing, middle pinky on lower strings and pointint, ring, pinky on B and E strings. But most people will tell you that using two different fingerings for the same thing in a different place is just horrible

I play using Gilbert's way and my hand is nowhere near as big. There are different schools of thought on the subject. I think that since you're working on your left hand you might as well get all of your fingers good. Playing two whole steps using finges 1-3-4 is a good way of doing that.

I'd say use whatever you feel like is more comfortable and fluid sounding. There's an advantage and disadvantage to both. Personally I like the way you're doing it.




Here's a really good finger exercise (and sweet lick to boot). Only use 1 pick stroke per string. This is on the top two strings. For each note you will use one different finger

i = index
m = middle
p = pinky
r = ring

---------10------------
-8-9-12-----12-9-8--
i m p r p m i


Try doing this clean, without losing power, and all hammers/pulloffs (you can pick each string once if you have to switch strings). It's really tough and is awesome for finger independence. No alternate picking. This gets really hard to keep up at fast tempos.

Cheers, guys.

I can do both almost as easily, but I seem to default to index, middle and pinky most of the time.

Bean - that exercise is frustrating! I'll have to keep practising.

Cool, glad the exercise is challenging! It's great for that stubborn ring finger/pinky!



I'll elaborate why I like the Index Middle Pinky combo for that shape.


---------------------------------5-7-8
---------------------------5-7-8------
---------------------4-5-7------------
---------------4-5-7------------------
--------3-5-7-------------------------
-3-5-7--------------------------------


Your fingers don't have to shift as much if you're playing 3 note per string scales like this. If you default with Index, ring, pinky, you have to change the way your fingers are positioned twice (between the A and D string, and again between G and B)! It's much more efficient to use your middle finger for the 5th fret of the first 4 strings. It's more "in line".

But again, do what's more comfy for you. I actually defaulted from Paul Gilbert's way of doing it to your way, because I liked the idea that my fingers didn't have to change movement as much.

Yeah, I see why it makes absolute sense to use the index-middle-pinky combo for that particular shape. I think it makes a lot of sense to use it for a lot of things, actually, but then some things make more sense (especially higher up the neck) with index-ring-pinky. The fast section in I Cannot Tell a Lie comes to mind.

Thanks for taking the time to tab that out and explain it to me.

It's all really in the context you're playing. In the lick Bean proposed I use the middle finger but I tend to use the ring finger in :


just because it makes more sense not to switch. Although I noticed that I do it only ascending

I usually use the index - middle - pinky to play that pattern Bean showed us.

Although, I realized that when I was playing that same G scale one octave higher, on the 15th fret, my index finger ends up messing up with the position of the pinky. Therefore, I found out that using index - ring finger - pinky works better for me for the E and A strings.

That said, I don't care too much about technique nowadays, but that was something that was really bothering me, cuz the scale wouldn't sound good enough to my ears. That´s what you should look for: whatever pleases your ears and hands.

Aye, it's best to practice both, then you can just do whichever is easier for individual licks without having to put much thought into it.
After about the 6th fret on the E string it gets more awkward for me to use my middle rather than index finger anyway.

Play without thinking then go with what's easier for you to play with. I honestly only play with the index-ring-pinky combo when I'm playing big stretches. Example:



Much easier to play 14 with your middle and 15 with your ring