Pinky control

[Jayster]

.

[MartinBarre]

Try beating off using only your thumb and pinky, do this for about a month! then start rubbing your balls with your pinky while beating off...should really help with control!

That sounds like the most awesome guitar playing/teaching technique I've ever heard. I must try it.
A lot.

[Newc]

I used to do the 3-finger/no-pinky playing. My pinky would follow my ring finger around, or it'd curl up into a ball.

So I started using it to do chords (2 notes like Iommi does) and practiced a TON of hammer-ons with my pinky.

Also, manually stretch your pinky using your other hand.


Also put your hand flat on a table and practice lifting each finger one at a time without moving the one next to it. Since the pinky and ring share a tendon, it's a little harder to do at first, but it's do-able.

Also practice using your pinky for doing other things not related to guitar to get it used to being active - lift things with it, use it like you would your index finger, etc.

[Soap]

I try to stay away from threads that deal with technique and the dynamics of the fret and pick hand. I lean more to "whatever works for ya" approach.

What works for one may not equally work for the next.
Learn the technique the way that it works best for you.
To me, it doesn't matter what fingers or what pick, how you hold the pick, or how you warm up and etc.

My approach is, I have four fingers that I can use so I might as well learn how to use them, whether any of the four fingers get used more than the others isn't an issue to me. If the song, scale, riff, run calls for the pinky to be used, I use it. I don't put much thought or stock into it I just do it when it (whatever "it" may be) needs to be done, no matter what it looks like to others.

I've never bought into that stuff (if I have my fingers closer to the fretboard I might play faster). I have seen people that didn't have a pinky and played great and I've seen people with a pinky and couldn't play worth a $hit. I seen on youtube and was amazed, a player with the fattest hands I ever seen and initially though there's no way in the world will he be able to play well. Wow, I was definietly wrong. He played the #ell out of the thing and played arpeggio's like Umvay. Go figure.

So the whole technique thing to me at time is senseless especially when it becomes more of a distraction or hinderance to one's playing.
There's is more then one way to play a variety of things on the guitar.
Find the one that works best for you.

[john.w.lawson]

Also practice using your pinky for doing other things not related to guitar to get it used to being active - lift things with it, use it like you would your index finger, etc.

HMMM, I think I said that already

[T@rgetDrone]

I'm kinda in the same boat as Bill Z. Nerve damage. Lots of it. My pinky is like a third leg that grew out of my rib cage or something. I can use it some by force of will. But mostly it is just there. It rides along w/the ring finger just close enough to get in my fuggin way. So I incorporated that into my "technique" (talk about a stretch of terminology). When playing Barre chords my ring finger and pinky are in reverse positions - pinky high, ring finger lower. It's bass ackwards but it sorta works for me. It is next to useless for any stretchy stuff.

With all of that to deal with I still work on it. Or work around it. I still use a tennis ball inbetween my fingers to stretch them out. Sit and watch some TV or listen to music for a while. I can't finger as many at once as I could back in the day but the excercise is still beneficial for me.

Whoever (or is it whomever) said 2 in the pink and one in the stink got my attention. I prefer the reverse though. Works even better if you can bury an arm in each.

[Leo Chang]

I do chromatic scales. They help with pinky usage as well as overall control and coordination. Also, there was a neat whole tone scale exercise in a recent Guitar World Jeff Loomis book thingy. It requires a ton of pinky use and massive stretches so it helps a lot with pinky control (You can't have it up high or else you can't reach the note).

For chromatic scales, keep all of your fingers close together and level with each other and it should help.

**Please note: This works for me but it may not for other people. Just try it out I guess.**

+ 1


I used to hate chromatic exercises before I discovered that they are AWESOME for this exact application.

Try this: 1-2-3-4 on the low E, then 5-4-3-2, then 3-4-5-6 etc all the way up the neck, then down to the nut again. All in perfect time and play to metronome of course.

The exact kind of stuff I used to hate to practice... but once I realized how beneficial it is, I love to practice this kind of stuff now.

Helps with left hand finger separation + relaxation + left hand finger strength + left hand position shifts + two hand synchronization + speed + alternate picking. So especially if you hate drills, might as well practice one that gives you the "most bang for the buck"

Also, be sure to gradually increase the tempo on the metronome. I found that when I play below a certain BPM, I can get away with a lot of extra movements and still play cleanly and in time, so my brain + fingers have no "incentive" to be as efficient as they can possibly be. At BPM levels that are well within your comfort zone, there simply is no way to tell if you REALLY are playing with maximum efficiency / relaxation or not.

But once I go above that threshold BPM, my fingers MUST be extremely efficient in order to play cleanly and in time, and therefore they will. Same goes for right hand picking. A natural side effect of this is that all your fretting hand fingers will stay VERY close to the strings even when they are not being used.

So by all means, start with an excruciatingly slow tempo at first, but the idea is to gradually increase the tempo until your fingers have no choice but to stay relaxed while playing fast (whatever "fast" means to you)

Personally I think it's more of a mental barrier than a physical one. But your fingers need to experience the physical shock of being required to play that fast + simultaneous command from the brain to relax AND speed up... in order to get rid of that barrier.

Once you do, whenever you play above that BPM, your fingers will automatically go into "ultra-efficiency mode" And of course it helps with playing at slower tempos as well. Once you get past that barrier, you can play longer and stay relaxed and efficient at all tempos. (which means your pinky WILL stay close to the strings)

It's weird, but that's how it works for me.


- Leo.

[Leo Chang]

An alternative to what I described above. Completely opposite approach, but works just as well.

Play something you know really well... so you don't have to think about playing it at all.

Play it, and focus on "how light can I get my fretting hand fingers to be before they are so loose the strings start buzzing?"

Once it gets to that point, add back the minimum amount of pressure needed for the note to ring clear... that's how relaxed your left hand should always be.

If you have done this, and your pinky is still not staying close to the strings, then it's the tendon that's being too stiff and holding you back. So stretch it with the methods others have already mentioned.

- Leo.