any tips on getting my pinky going

[thetrooper9]

Ive been working on some chromatic passages and im have trouble with my pinky. if im descending my pinky will jerk down and hit the string above it after i pull off my ring finger.

 

I also have trouble with chords that are fingered with the pinky on the lowest note. Ill have to place my other fingers before my pinky can move into place.

 

has anyone found an effective way to fix these problems?

 

do i need to do those 1234 exercises?

 

ive also heard playing piano works.

[Kuroyume]

Don't we all. It is something that takes lots of practice and time to acclimate towards.

 

Just keep practicing pinky exercises. Do 1234 exercises especially. These are:

 

1-4 up and down the frets and neck.

1-3, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-3-4, 1-2-4, 1-2-3-4 and backwards.

 

Do these with the pick and simply hammering on/pulling off without picking (!).

[GreenAsJade]

Yeah, 1234 etc.

 

There are important variants;

 

1234

 

then

 

1243

 

then 1324 1342 1423 1432

 

these last ones are much harder - 1234 and 4321 are the easiest.

 

Also, do more than just going across the strings, that's too easy as well. Instead of just going across the strings do this:

 

 

-----------------5------------------------10--------

---------------5---6-------------------10---9------

-------------5-------7--------------10--------8----

-----------5-----------8---------10------------7---

------5678---------------9----10----------------6---

-5678----------------------10---------------------5-

 

 

(in the tab above ^^^ I am showing where to start, for each one you do the pattern, like 5678, obviously, not just 5 )

 

Do this for each of the pattern variants 5678, 5687, 5768 etc

 

Set a metronome going, and never go faster than the speed at

which you can do that whole sequence *without a mistake*.

 

*Never ever practice doing it wrongly*: that just teaches your

fingers to do it wrong. Instead, do it slower, correctly.

 

^^^ this is really important ^^^

 

As soon as you make a mistake, on that very note, STOP. Slow down start again.

 

You will find that this get you steadily faster.

 

You could also do starting on a different finger than your index

finger, like 6578 6587 6758 6857 6875 etc. I only have

enough patience for the index finger starting ones though :S

 

GaJ

 

PS - it's useful to go up and down the fretboard in the pattern above,

because it trains your fingers to deal with the differing gaps between the frets.

frets 5-10 is a good range.

[thetrooper9]

ok ill get to practicing. i just wanted to make sure these exercises were useful first

[wader2k]

i know what you mean about the pinky on the low note thing....my pinky is a full inch shorter than my other fingers and i have to swivel my wrist around to get the pinky up there.....it's managable until i get to a fast phase and then it falls apart.

[wooki97]

here's a suggestion. nothing to do with fingers. Try changing your strap length to make the guitar closer to you. or sit down and try put on leg higher. like the classical guitarist and play the scale. maybe your pinky could move easier? good luck

[Devlin]

I learned "Is there anybody out there" by Pink Floyd. If you get the chord shapes correct then it helps practlike the beginning is Am, then moves across, which causes you eventually to use your pinky - at least the method I use.)

There's also some good hammer ons using your pinky finger. I'd suggest looking it up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_There_Anybody_Out_There%3F

[wrathfuldeity]

classical position helps with short fingers...it gets the fingers above the fret board and if standing with a short strap you don't have to worry about buckle rash

[GreenAsJade]

Everyone should learn "Is There Anyone Out There", anyhow. Just because.

[mosiddiqi]

 

Don't we all. It is something that takes lots of practice and time to acclimate towards. Just keep practicing pinky exercises. Do 1234 exercises especially. These are: 1-4 up and down the frets and neck. 1-3, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-3-4, 1-2-4, 1-2-3-4 and backwards. Do these with the pick and simply hammering on/pulling off without picking (!).

 

 

+1...I improved on this a lot by doing the hammering/pulling thing repeatedly

[Devlin]

Everyone should learn "Is There Anyone Out There", anyhow. Just because.

 

 

Definately agree. Good song, and not too complex but enough to give some nice practices.