Mark, I mis-spoke, I meant to say a flat pick with thumb and index, and my middle finger for picking, sorry for the mix up. It's not my main way of playing but I like to use it now and then to vary the sound. But again, I find myself pinky-braced when doing this as well, makes for a lot of cramps in my right hand. I've tried just letting my hand hang there but I guess I've been doing it the other way so long, it's hard to change. Today, as Rick suggested, I just used my right hand playing a simple pattern over and over, and just let it hang there, well, it's gonna be a while to break this habit, tell ya the truth, it don't sound as good, but my right hand sure feels a lot better.

Peter T., I do it now and then when playing a simple blues tune, say in E or A. I find I can play the shuffle or bass notes with the pick and use the middle to pick the treble strings and add some fills. Working on getting my dad-blasted pinky off the top of the guitar, as this bracing makes my ring finger fairly useless for picking. I also find myself doing it a lot when jamming with friends. It pretty much pisses them off because they've never tried it, and like Rick said, it's no harder than any other technique, once you start learning it.

MTed, I think I caused the mis-understanding here by saying index instead of middle fingers. Sorry for the mistake. Its just a flat-pick with thumb and index, and the middle for picking.

Rick, As I said, my ring finger is pretty useless, but I've been trying to get it into the action, trouble is, I've been 3 finger picking for so long, I can't seem to get it going. But your suggestions are great and I think I have the patience to exercise them. Today I drove my dog nuts for a half-hour trying to free up my right hand, played the same little pattern over and over, it's gonna be a while.

Oh, and Rick, why were you watching the Blue Jays game when my Giants were clinching the NL West? Tsk Tsk!

Thanks gentlemen, and again, sorry for the mix-up.

Clifton53