Anglo Question - Using Pinkies To Hold/steady The Concertina

[Don Taylor]

I was watching a Youtube video of John Kirkpatrick:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2tYMmluY6s

 

at about 1:30 he starts playing and he is using his pinkies to hold or steady the concertina. He does use his pinkies to play notes, but returns them to the steadying position.

 

None of the tutorials that I have mention this technique. I tried it briefly and it feels quite comfortable for me. I have big hands, not as big as JK's hands, and can rest/press my pinkies on the fretwork easily.

 

Before I get used to this hold, is it considered to be a bad habit and are there any downsides to doing this?

[Guest mglamb]

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Edited August 10, 2013 by mglamb

[Ransom]

If bracing with your pinkies is a bad habit, a lot of EC players are going to be in a lot of trouble! =)

[gcoover]

Maybe it makes some sense to steady it with the little fingers if you play standing up? I always rest the Anglo on my left knee, and both pinkies are busy finding notes and chords so they're never used for bracing.

 

Gary

[Steve Mansfield]

If bracing with your pinkies is a bad habit, a lot of EC players are going to be in a lot of trouble! =)

On the contrary, I'd have thought that if anglos were all fitted with thumb straps and 'pinkie' rests, and maybe at the same time do something about the note arrangement and get it so that the same note plays on both push and pull, then we might be getting somewhere ;-)

[Anglo-Irishman]

Looks to me as if he's just "parking" his pinkies against the ends until he needs them (which he does in this clip). Some people stick temporarily unused fingers up in the air, but John K's method looks neater.

 

I just ran through a couple of tunes on the anglo standing up, and noticed that I just keep the pinkies hovering over the buttons where they will be needed. So it's a personal thing. Everybody's hands are different, especially with regard to the relative length of the fingers. My pinkies are relatively short, so parking them out at the side is not really an option for me.

 

Cheers,

John