Bracing Pinky on Mandolin

[jarednye]

When only playing two strings at a time (say E and A or D and G) is one supposed to brace their pinky on the pickguard for balance or should one be able to hit the only two their supposed to without using a bracing finger?

[T.D.Nydn]

Personally, I don't brace my hand at all....

[Mandobart]

IMHO, bracing or planting any part of the picking hand on the mandolin only limits your range of motion. A lot of people do it, it doesn't make you a bad player, but I believe it should be avoided like any habit that leads to poor technique.

[Ivan Kelsall]

In answer to you question - is it easier for you to play like that,or not ?. If it's easier & doesn't cramp your style,go for it.

Watch this - Adam Steffey / Emory Lester mandolins & Wayne Taylor (guitar) ''Down Yonder'' . AS 'plants' his pinky,but only when soloing,EL 'drags' his finger tips on the top = should use a pick guard.

Ultimately,it's down to what suits you personally - as it should be,
Ivan

[DavidKOS]

Personally, I don't brace my hand at all....

IMHO, bracing or planting any part of the picking hand on the mandolin only limits your range of motion. A lot of people do it, it doesn't make you a bad player, but I believe it should be avoided like any habit that leads to poor technique.

Although some fine players do plant the pinky, that should be saved for 5 string Scruggs and later style banjo!

EVERY classical mandolin method shows a non-braced picking hand. It is the proper technique.

[DavidKOS]

Watch this - Adam Steffey / Emory Lester mandolins & Wayne Taylor (guitar) ''Down Yonder'' . AS 'plants' his pinky,but only when soloing,EL 'drags' his finger tips on the top = should use a pick guard.

I find that odd, to sometimes plant you hand for solos and not to do so when strumming.

[B381]

I took my pick guard/pinky rest of to break myself of the habit, it was slowing progress down for me, now my hand floats.

[Phil Goodson]

Many of the giants of mandolin (that we aspire to be like) admit that they are self taught and adopted most of their technique at a fairly young age. Many have adopted less that perfect techniques but due to talent, practice, etc., have become excellent players IN SPITE of some poor technique. That fact does not justify adopting those techniques on purpose.
You might notice Thile, who had teachers from a young age, does not plant his pinky.

Nonetheless, one is free to do as he/she pleases.

[ralph johansson]

If, like me, you have small hands, planting the pinky on the top would cause your pick to dip too low for comfort. And planting on a pickguard usually creates a somewhat awkward hand position. One player who does make this technique work is Evan Marshall, by planting in a curious sideways fashion.

If you look at Stangeland's survey on mandozine.com you can see that the techniques enumerated basically fall into two categories. One is playing with a somewhat tightly curled fist allowing the hand or wrist to brush very lightly against the strings behind the bridge (an arm rest would probably get the hand away from the strings completely). That's the technique demonstrated by Mike Marshall in the d'Addario video on YouTube. The other uses a more loosely curled fist brushing against a pickguard, very similar to the technique used by many flatpicking guitarists (note that without a pickguard the distance between the strings and the top on a carved top mandolin is about twice that of a flattop guitar).

[DavidKOS]

Many of the giants of mandolin (that we aspire to be like) admit that they are self taught and adopted most of their technique at a fairly young age. Many have adopted less that perfect techniques but due to talent, practice, etc., have become excellent players IN SPITE of some poor technique. That fact does not justify adopting those techniques on purpose.
You might notice Thile, who had teachers from a young age, does not plant his pinky.

Nonetheless, one is free to do as he/she pleases.

"become excellent players IN SPITE of some poor technique"

This is the best reason to NOT slavishly imitate the players you like.

Whenever I see a fine player with less-than-textbook technique, I wonder how much more music they could play with more efficient ease, with proper technique.

[Louise NM]

I asked this question on the Newbies group. No one recommended planting. Some who did were trying to break the habit, but no one who didn't plant was trying to learn to. That told me all I needed to know.