Two to three fingers

[Stanleyism]

I am currently in the process of trying to advance to the three finger method from two. I want to know how you went about doing this and how well it worked.
I am trying to do this by first: taping by middle and ring fingers together and using as if they were just one finger until I feel i have enough finger independence to try taping my middle and index fingers together and doing the same thing, and then use them all independently.

[Xanthyr]

I didn't do that, so I have no idea how effective it will be for you. What I did was I folded up my hand and just used each finger separately to get individual control while holding control over the rest of my fingers. Eventually you will get the hang of things. Just walking around the house or during your day, tap your fingers in a steady beat or tap along to basslines in songs you hear. I do this constantly and I breathe three finger walks.

[GabeN]

I practiced songs very slowly plucking with my fingers in a ring to index pattern. After a few months, it was second nature. The trick to learning to use 3 fingers is just like any other technique: PRACTICE!

[VinylRepairKit]

I broke my index finger once so I started using and ring finger to compensate. By the time the index healed I had developed enough control over the ring to start learning rhythms using all 3 together. So I guess so you could go and get a hammer and...

[Connor]

i just played everything i normally do with 3 instead of 2, the real difficulty is getting good at string switching and avoiding triplets.

[Sasa]

i play with three fingers sometimes. but you know, more about two 8) some grooves are freaky hard to play with your three fingers. the thing is when you start to play the mentioned method you face such problem as finger sequence (or should i say finger cycle?). anyway, practice it with your metronome and you'll be there 8)

[jschwalls]

I was forced into 3 finger back in 1995... I was in a band that played alot of fast rock songs , lots of pumping 8th note grooves. Anyway,The day of a big show I sliced open the end of my middle finger, I tried everything I could to make due with the injury.. But it all failed... So on the spot my ring finger just took up the slack and tried to compensate.. It was strange. After that I tried many different ways to make 3 work...
My problem was getting a pattern of 3 (fingers) to work against 4... typical subdivision of musical notes.... because lets face it triplets are easy even with a bad 3 finger techique.

what I finally came up with was playing consistant Ring, Middle, Index....

each time making the next finger in sequence acccent the 1 of the 4 note group..

ring, middle, index, ring
middle, index, ring, middle
index, ring, middle, index

I practiced making sure the the 1 of each group got the accent. Doing this kinda tricks the ear into not noticing the subtle differnces between the tone each finger has naturally...

anyway... I made a very simple video awhile back for a student.... maybe it will help you, or better yet maybe it will spawn a new idea for you, which I always encourage...

Have Fun...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVRCqJfAqoQ

[Erick Lam]

I just started using the ring finger in tunes. I never used a fixed pattern. I saw Gary Willis live and noticed how little his hand moves and tried to do the same.

Search youtube for Gary Willis and look at his instructional videos, part 2 and 3. That's pretty much how I practiced, even before I saw that video, albeit a bit unfocused until I saw it.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

If you haven't gotten really into it, I'd highly recommend using your thumb as your third finger. It's much more of a natural feel, and it aids in string skipping more than you'd realize.

Otherwise, I didn't get comfortable picking index, middle, ring until I had play with four fingers (thumb, i, m, r) under my belt. Getting past the triplet feel of using those three fingers is probably the most difficult part.

[chaosMK]

Do some exercises where you just play with your ring, for a few days.

Then start doing everything you are used to doing with your index/middle with your middle/ring.

I did something like that.