Arpeggios how many fingers?

[Toby267]

When practicing arpeggios, should we use the PIMA system exclusively? I just had a guy tell me to plant my ring finger and pinky on the body of the guitar and use it for stability while using the　thumb, index, middle to pick. While my old guitar teacher said to never vary from PIMA.

What should I do?

[Danny Poole]

Just for the people that don't know...

PIMA... These letters are abbreviations of Spanish words which are:

Pulgar = Thumb
Indice = Fore Finger
Medio = Middle Finger
Anular = Ring Finger

---------------------------------------------------------------
Toby, When you say "arpeggios" do you mean a finger picking style over a chord or do you mean like the example below.....

A MAJOR ARPEGGIO
|-------------5-------------|
|-----------5---5-----------|
|---------6-------6---------|
|-------7-----------7-------|
|---4-7---------------7-4---|
|-5-----------------------5-|


If you are talking about finger picking over a chord, as a guitar teacher I would have to say try to keep to the PIMA (I usually say it like this, T123 = Thumb, 1st finger, 2nd finger, 3rd finger). Use the thumb (P) on the 3 wound strings (6th E, 5th A & 4th D) and the 1st finger (I) on the 3rd G, the 2nd finger (M) on the 2nd B and the 3rd finger (A) on the 1st E string.

(A)||---|---|--- (Thin string)
(M)||---|---|---
(I)||---|---|---
(P)||---|---|---
(P)||---|---|---
(P)||---|---|---

Although I do play some song like that guy suggested

plant my ring finger and pinky on the body of the guitar and use it for stability while using the　thumb, index, middle to pick.

but these songs are usually songs that I learnt a while ago before mastering the PIMA finger use.

[Vix]

I just wanted to add that by stabilizing your hand on the body of the guitar, it's possible that it might slow your speed.

Personally, I think that it's better to learn to play without the need to stabilize your hand on the body.

However, there's no 'correct' way, really. I'd say just go with whatever feels right! But that's probably not the answer you're looking for.