3-Finger vs. 4-Finger Approach for Fretting Hand: What Do You Think?

Playing Technique
#1

Hey CTC!

I’ve been experimenting with the “3-finger approach” (little to no pinky use) versus the "4-finger approach"for my fretting hand, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve noticed that many legendary guitarists use a 3-finger approach, including:

  • Eric Johnson
  • George Benson
  • Michael Schenker
  • Wes Montgomery
  • Eddie Van Halen

To illustrate the difference, here’s a quasi-chromatic scale example:

e—-9-8-7-6------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B—-----------9-8-7-6------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------G—----------------------9-8-7-6-------------------------------------------------------------------------------D------------------------------------9-8-7-6--------------------------------------------------------------------A--------------------------------------------------etc.----------------------------------------------------------E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  • 4-finger approach: Uses pinky, ring, middle, and index fingers.
  • 3-finger approach: Uses ring, middle, and index fingers, often with position shifts (e.g., sliding the index finger).

When I tried both approaches in a non-musical setting, the differences felt subtle. The 3-finger approach seemed harder or maybe slightly sloppier because of the index finger shifts. But when I played an actual improvised solo/licks (jazz in my case) I noticed a couple of things:

  1. I felt a general sense of somewhat more strength/power in my fretting hand by eliminating the pinky
  2. a little more rhythmic “drive” in my playing

That said, I did miss my pinky! Some licks didn’t quite work and I had to adjust fingerings. Other thoughts on 3 vs 4 finger approach? thx!

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#2

Incoming goodpost from Tom in 3, 2, 1…

Jokes aside, I mix and match. I just avoid using pinky and ring at the same time (due to Tom’s influence), and in fact that basically cured a decades-old recurring RSI (YMMV, people have different tendons, etc.)

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#3

Similarly based on Tom’s influence, I use a system where I treat my fretting hand as having three different options - index, middle, and then ring/pinkie, with the ideal of minimizing situations where I move from ring to pinkie and vice versa.

This has led me to a system where I make a lot of one fret shifts while leaving my index finger on the same fret.

This explanation is a bit gnarly so if anyone’s interested I’ll talk about it in more depth with fretting diagrams of what I mean at a later date.

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#4

Agreed on Tom’s influence on this. Hugely beneficial for my situation. I’m missing 1/2" from the tip of my middle finger, so I’ve been pointer-ring-pinky for most of my playing career. I don’t have much feeling in it and the way that the nail bends keeps me from using it for certain chords. But learning what Tom had to say about it made me start to use it more and there are quite a few ideas I was finally able to do, and others that I can do far easier than I could before.

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#5

Age old race track driving analogy: “You paid for the whole track, use the whole track”. Do whatever works for you, but if you got 4 fingers that work, you’re way ahead of the game. Django had 2, Tony Iommi, has 3-ish. Just use what you got. Even if you don’t use them all the time, it’s good to know they’re there.

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#6

My “rule” is: From the 9th position up, everything goes with 3 fingers unless it’s a real stretch.

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