Should i plant the pointer?

[jpsychc]

In practicing the Yngwei chunks, should we be planting the pointer finger? I saw a tom hess video where he said that doing that prevents you from feeling the constant rhythm and you want to be pressing down a finger with every note in order to develop the hand sync. right now, doing yngwei chunks it is much easier for me to plant the pointer but that’s because that’s the way I practiced it, i am wondering if my might benefit from lifting it and pressing it down each time it is needed.

planting also seems to make the string change more confusing and difficult so i wondered if perhaps it would help to re-learn the pattern without planting?

Same thing goes for a descending 3 note chunk (9-8-7-9-8-7) should i be planting the pointer in that?

how about the first string of the poptart lick? Do I use all four fingers and not even shift positions after the first four notes, and keep the pointer planted the whole time? (5-8-7-5-4-7-5-4)… in that 8 note run, should i
A) keep my pointer on 4 the whole time and use all four fingers
B) just use 3 fingers and keep the pointer planted on 5 at first until it moves to 4 and then keep it planted on four; or
C) not plant it at all, in which case, i still don’t know whether i should be shifting positions or using all four fingers and staying in the same position?

[joebegly]

It’s a good question! Does this thread shed any light on it?

Fretting Hand Synchronization - anchored index finger?

Hi guys. I had a question about developing picking speed; specifically about how to make it easy for my fretting hand (FH) to keep up with my picking hand (PH). If we take a simple example, for instance the classic Yngwie 6 note pattern moving up and down on a single string, it seems to me that there are two subtly different approaches to what your index finger should be doing: either it’s locked in place as sort of a baseline, or it’s relaxed and only re-fretted every time it needs to play a no…

I think it’s the same thing you’re asking and has some opinions/caveats noted.

[tommo]

I think this is again a case where it’s good to be aware of different options, you don’t have to choose once and for all!

E.g. you could try each new lick with both planting and not planting, and see which one works best.

[LuckyMojo]

Yngwie plants the index finger. It kinda makes pull-offs impossible without it.