when you anchor...

[spacetruckin]

just to see how you all play :)

[38thBeatle]

1 is the closest for me.I rest my hand slightly behind the bridge but bring it forward to damp when I need to. I domit without thinking though-I had to get my guitar out to check.

[Fourth Feline]

I'm a 'Pinky' man myself.

It allows me to pick between the pickups - and move back and forth between bridge and neck with the pick to let my ears chose the right dynamics / tone as I go along.  Resting the edge of my hand on the bridge and picking from there sounds too 'stiff'  for me, but probably great for Rock players.   :)

[Will]

All...

[_tom_]

Pinky on the corner of the bridge I think. Probably why I dont get on with strats much - you cant hold onto the edge of the bridge as well as you can on a tune-o-matic and its so low profile in comparison.

[Antag]

Any of #1, #2 & #4, depending on what I'm playing.

[MrBump]

1 if using a pick.

If I'm finger picking I tend to anchor with my little finger and pick with the remaining.

To add to the thread, what about tapping (for those of us that indulge)?  The EVH method is to grab your pick with your middle finger and tap with your forefinger...  Personally I find this too much hassle and tap with middle, ring and little fingers, keeping the pick held in my usual way.

Mark.

[_tom_]

For tapping I do it the evh way I think, it just goes there naturall whenever I tap and I cant even tap properly with the middle finger :lol:

[AndyR]

I answered 1 - that's what I do when I anchor. And it used to be how I played all the time...

But my style had to change when I broke my right arm (just below shoulder) in Feb 2007 - I was able to play electrics, just, after relearning where the strings were, even during the first 2-3 weeks (it hurt though!!). But because of the loss of arm rotation, I could not lay the side of my hand on the bridge anymore. So for a couple of months I had to learn to play without any damping at all with the right hand - very frustrating, but suddenly a whole new world opened up for me (started to sound more like Hank Marvin and Ritchie Blackmore).

After a few months I was able to put the old hand back where it belongs. I've since lost some of the "unanchored" technique, but it has changed me forever - my playing is generally more versatile and fluent. I think I also have a little of the pinkie resting on the body technique as well now - I never catch myself doing it, but after playing a while, the side of my finger feels like it's been brushing against something, it has that numb "over-stimulated" sort of feeling.

The arm's still not perfect but it's almost there now. I've been picking up my accoustic once every month or so and getting very disappointed with myself. For several months I couldn't get my arm over the body at all, and then when I could, I couldn't reach the bloody strings, let alone put the side of my hand on the thing! Last night was the first time since the accident that I've been able to play it normally with anything like the enjoyment that I've been getting out of electrics.

But I thoroughly recommend trying to play with out anchoring AT ALL for a while it really opens up some possibilities - but you might not manage it without some sort of intervention like I had forcing me to do it - and I wouldn't exactly recommend that bit... (throw yourself down the escalator at a tube station if you want to try it out though :lol:)

[Antag]

For tapping I use either my middle finger or the edge of the pick (like Joe Satriani occasionally does).

I've never been happy with any technique that involves changing the grip on the pick to tap (moving it in my hand to free the forefinger, putting in my mouth etc) - too easy to drop the pick or not get a good grip on it when switching back.  Plus I find there's no gain in speed or precision when using the forefinger.

[blue]

i rest my palm on the top corner of the bridge.  i also often find myself holding the lower side of the bridge pickup with my little finger.

for the little tapping i do i use my middle finger, keeping the pick where it is.  i've tried tapping with the pick and just don't like it.

[Will]

Well may as well elaborate.
General playing = all, generally little finger on body
Finger = anchored in some way
Chik'n pick'n = on bridge
Tapping = middle finger
and... Killer of Giants, 2nd and 3rd finger does the octave.

[il˙ti]

I answered 1. I don't always anchor, but when I do it's open fisted and without fingers touching the body. Tapping is with middle and ring fingers mostly, but I may use the index if I'm not holding a pick.

[Woogie]

and... Killer of Giants, 2nd and 3rd finger does the octave.

2nd and 4th for me ;) and I use 1st finger to flick it to activate the slide (if that makes sense)

[mecca777]

I couldn't remember off the top of my head, so I grabbed a guitar, and I seem to do a combination of methods; on the low strings I tend to have my hand resting on the bridge, open fist, where it's able to add palm-muting if needed. Then as I cross over from the middle strings to the top strings my hand moves off the bridge and I anchor with ring/little fingers on the body of the guitar. It's weird how something like that can develop without any conscious thought, and become so ingrained that I can't actually picture it without a guitar in my hand.

I tend to do the same "sliding over" thing with the fretboard hand as well; my thumb goes from Jimi Hendrix-style "over the bass edge" to centred on the back on the neck as I move from low to high strings, and then back again. I'm pretty sure I must have incredibly inefficient technique.