Herringboned - Posted - 01/27/2026:  15:51:40

I was reading an interview with Earl where he talks about using his little finger on the bridge when playing.



"I also do my muting or tone control for the real high notes with my pinky. On certain notes if the sound is too bright or ringy, I use my pinky hard against the bridge to cut it back some."



This kind of makes sense, and for something like Sally-Ann where there's a lot happening up the neck at speed, this kind of little finger muting gives more note separation and staccato.



I hadn't really encountered this notion, or noticed other players doing it so wondered how common it was as a technique.

Edited by - Herringboned on 01/27/2026 15:52:16

Herringboned - Posted - 01/27/2026:  22:55:18

Questions like this make me miss Gabe a lot. There were never questions too stupid for him to answer...

Edited by - Herringboned on 01/27/2026 22:55:44

stanleytone - Posted - 01/28/2026:  03:46:52

Doug Dillard hooked his pinky around the bottom end of the bridge most of the time when playing. Sort of an anchor for him

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 01/28/2026:  06:16:31

And Lynn Morris perched her little finger on the treble-side top corner of the bridge.

chuckv97 - Posted - 01/28/2026:  07:53:52

Earl paid attention to detail. John McEuen said Earl had a groove in one of his fingernails to get a more distinct slide. Earl also told Bill Keith to lift his finger off the third string, 9th fret at certain times when Bill was showing him how his TAB for Sally Goodin ( or Cumberland Gap?) sounded.

Jack Baker - Posted - 01/28/2026:  08:56:00

Hi Chuck,

Yes Earl did mention to lift off that 3rd string in sally G.....from Bill's lips to me...Jack   p.s. I think Earl wanted that note to be dead for an  1/8 beat   that chord was an a minor position but acted as a G postion for Earl in this tune. He did this trick in several of his tunes up the keyboard....Jack 

Edited by - Jack Baker on 01/28/2026 09:06:29

Herringboned - Posted - 01/28/2026:  12:55:36

The other right hand quirk I noticed while watching Earl play Sally Ann, is that Earl lifts all his fingers off the head momentarily. He does it a lot during this tune and it always seems to be on the same beat of a bar. I guess this would give the opposite effect to muting a note?

youtube.com/watch?v=n7cVf0sK6o8

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 01/28/2026:  15:06:24

quote:

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Originally posted by Jack Baker

Hi Chuck,

Yes Earl did mention to lift off that 3rd string in sally G.....from Bill's lips to me...Jack   p.s. I think Earl wanted that note to be dead for an  1/8 beat   that chord was an a minor position but acted as a G postion for Earl in this tune. He did this trick in several of his tunes up the keyboard....Jack 

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Yeah, I heard Bill tell that story, too. Bill Emerson used to refer to that general technique as "touch and kill", BTW.