ring finger on 2 finger technique

[MCBTunes]

is the general rule of thumb to pull ring and pinkie into a fist like and just have the M and I fingers out? or to let the ring and pinkie fly out in the air?

[darkfish01]

The way I play is I let my fingers go free. My ring finger almost always moves with my middle finger, but doesn't actually hit the string. It's weird, but that's what it does. My pinkie finger usually hovers over the strings or body.

[MCBTunes]

thats how I played....

but i always got sore between the pinkie and ring finger.... and i was a little sloppy.... then i watched Muse live and he only has his ring and index out.... i tried it... more stamina but less speed and my fingers dont cross strings as well...

this is probably a preference or what feels good question... but i thought like the "thumb on back of neck not over top" could be similar...

[DrewBud]

I always try to "tuck away" my ring and pinky fingers, however you want to make sure they're relaxed as well as your whole hand being relaxed. One of the worst things you could to would be to clench them up and tighten up that hand as it will affect your playing and could lead to injury.

[lemur821]

I tuck mine as well, but not tightly. They're just curled enough that they don't touch the strings. They do move a bit with my plucks. It's all very loose.

[Sonic_Death]

I feel a tension in my hand when I try to play holding my ring and pinky in.. I figure why not let them go free, it doesn't feel as restricting when playing.

I always look at peoples hands when they play and usually people have different styles.. at shows I feel funny sometimes with my pinky sticking out, but who cares haha

[JimmyM]

This question is a "whatever" question, meaning that neither way is wrong and neither way really has an advantage over the other. So...whatever

[embellisher]

I let mine go free, for a few reasons.

When I am playing my six, I use the pinky to mute the highest strings when playing the lower strings.

I sometimes use my ring finger in alternation with my index, instead of using my middle finger.

And, when playing triplets, I use all three fingers.

[lowphatbass]

I don't like the idea of "tucking" anything. My reasons are very similar to Jeff's in that I have done extensive work on my three fingered technique over the years, although I am mostly a two finger guy these days. Perhaps a bigger reason for my "open stance", if I may be allowed to "embellish" a bit, is my open hand slapping. I find that my ring and pinky finger help to counter balance my thumb when I slap, so much of what I do in Church involves switching from slap to fingerstyle quickly. I am always prepared to lay down either as the Holy Spirit often moves more quickly than one can predict during service and like anything, success comes through preparation.

[Amphetachronism]

I'm just a newbie, but I tend to use my ring and pinky to mute strings. They just seem to naturally fall in place on the string above the one i'm playing. If I'm playing the E string, I just pull them up above the string and out of the way, ready to drop onto the E and mute it when I move onto another string.
I know most people use their thumb to do that, but this feels really unnatural and unstable to me... I usually leave it on the pickup unless I'm right up on the G string. Probably bad technique, but it seems to work...
I just seem to have naturally done that since I started playing. I can play pretty fast, clean and smooth that way and I don't have to worry about muting with my fretting hand as much.

[lemur821]

Part of the reason that I "tuck" mine is that that's where I like to have them when I need them to pluck. I don't like to extend them since that's not where they go naturally when I relax my hand. That's about where I put mine. My ring finger points at the strings more than it curls up, and my pinky only curls a little more than that. To me, extending them feels funny and stressful. Going by this thread, it sounds like you should just do whichever is comfortable for you.

[droo]

I usually ignore the ring and pinky and let them do what they want -

however after playing for 2 hours with bad stage monitoring I've usually blistered my first two fingers and have to start using the ring finger as a backup...

[geoffkhan]

I have developed a muting style which utilizes those fingers.

At a normal resting position I have my thumb on the E as an anchor, also muting the E. I have my pinky on the A string, keeping it muted. And then I have my ring finger resting on the D string, keeping that muted also.

When I play on those strings, I take off the resting fingers as needed. You get used to it, and it's great for keeping the unused strings quiet.

Or if you imploy the floating thumb, you can let your thumb rest on all the lower strings, keeping those muted... either way is great.