Hi John I have found the same problem. My pinky and ring finger wish to act as a unit. I finally gave up thumb under on R lute because of this and use a very light touch with pinky on B lute. And often lift lt to get to 12 and 13 courses.I notice some very good layers often do the same. I’d be interested in other’s comments as well.
Dick > On Feb 26, 2017, at 3:52 AM, John Yentes <jackyen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello all, > I am sure this is a topic that has been beaten to death at some time or > another, but I figured I would try to find some opinions as they are a > bit difficult to come by when merely searching on google. > I have done a good bit of practicing while resting my pinky on the > soundboard which proves to be mildly helpful when searching for some of > the bass strings, however, I have been practicing for the past couple > months without doing so and have found that muscle memory tends to take > care of me rather well. I am still a beginner on the baroque lute. > I have mastered some of the shorter Gaultier and Weiss pieces (I'm sure > the term mastered is entirely subjective) and have found that I am able > to play with a much lighter touch and have far better dynamic control > when my pinky is free rather than resting. I tend to owe this to the > fact that my pinky and ring finger are hopelessly connected together, > so my range of motion is not great when playing with a rested little > finger. I have also noticed that there are a few professional players > who tend to play with a free little finger as well. > I don't use gut strings, but I have heard that one must play closer to > the bridge to achieve a good tone when using them, so the practice of > resting the little finger on the bridge seems more practical in this > situation. I, however, have found the best sounds for Carbon/nylon to > come either from directly behind the rosette or perhaps somewhere in > the middle. I apologize for the long winded post. any thoughts on > this? > Jack > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
