What Are the Guitar Finger Names?

It's a good idea before having any discussion to define the terms. We can then be sure the words and symbols we are using mean the same thing to everyone involved in the discussion. I ask all of my guitar students to know these terms so that we can communicate clearly in our guitar lessons.

To avoid confusion, we name the fingers of the left and right hand differently on the guitar. This is necessary because guitar music is written on a single staff and requires two fingers to play one note. Using the same name for each hand's fingers would be very confusing!

This is different than the piano, for example, because the piano requires one finger to play one note, and the hands are written on two different staves.

The right hand fingers are named after the Spanish names for the fingers which are in parentheses below. They are abbreviated with a single letter.

• thumb = p (pulgar)
• index = i (indice)
• middle* = m (mayor or medio)
• ring = a (anular)
• pinky* = c or s (chiquito)

You can remember this as a single word: PIMAC!

*different dialects of Spanish may call the fingers by different names. Sometimes the middle finger is called corazón; sometimes the pinky is called meñique. Don’t be confused by this, because the way we name the fingers on the guitar is standard.

The left hand fingers are numbered 1 to 4, starting with the index. The thumb is generally not used, however, we list the thumb (T) because it is sometimes used in modern guitar tablature.

• thumb = T
• index = 1
• middle = 2
• ring = 3
• pinky = 4
• no finger or open string = 0

When making annotations in musical scores, it is common to write the fingers to be used into the score when practiceing.  Here is an example of this, from my working copy of Bach’s Cantata BWV 140, 4th movement.

Here is another example, using the left hand fingering annotation on chord charts. In this case, the numbers tell you which left hand finger to use to press each string.

To play the E chord, in the above example, you will:

• place "2" (middle finger) on the second fret of the second string
• place "3" (ring finger) on the second fret of the third string
• place "1" (index finger) on the first fret of the fourth string