Members Santuzzo Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 I guess I'm not the only one who finds it most of the times easier to use the ring finger of the fretting hand instead of the pinky in soloing (where possible, of course). This goes especially for faster lines. But I tend to think like "well, I gotta force myself to use the little finger as much as possible to make it as strong and fast as the other fingers....".But I'm doubting any practice could ever get the pinky to the same level as the middle or ring-finger.So, the conclusion would be to use the ring finger instead of the pinky where possible to make things easier to play and only use the pinky where no other finger is possible/or would make sense. I'm trying to figure out this solo and I been watching this Govan clip and I noticed he hardly uses his pink. It really seems he's trying to use his ring finger instead of the pink as much as possible: [YOUTUBE]bUZK9dasP8s[/YOUTUBE] What do you guys think?Would it make sense to forget about the "use the pinky as much as possible to train it more"-mentality and use the ring-finger more often instead to make ir easier? Lars
Members Virgman Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 Maybe this is something you should not worry about. If it's convenient to use your pinky use it, otherwise perhaps not be concerned about it.
Members Santuzzo Posted December 23, 2007 Author Members Posted December 23, 2007 Maybe this is something you should not worry about.If it's convenient to use your pinky use it, otherwise perhaps not be concerned about it. OK, but what is your experience in your own playing?Do you find it easier, too soemtimes to use the ringfinger instead of the pinky? In general I guess using the pinky is fine, but I noticed especially with faster lines, that to me it's easier using the ring finger instead. And when I noticed that many other players do the same, I thought, maybe it is indeed a common thing and I should just change my fingerings to whatever is easiest without worrying that I'd be neglecting the pinky's "training".....
Mark Wein Posted December 23, 2007 Posted December 23, 2007 I tend to go back and forth...sometimes the pinky just works better...
Members 1001gear Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 Like most slingers, his hands are big enough that his ring finger can make all the standard, cliche reaches. The advantage to this ability is the first three fingers are all close in length and strength. Favoring them whenever possible results in less wrist contortion and fatigue and smoother musical results as well.
Members captain average Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 i try to focus on the sound, and just let the mechanics happen as they happen. of course, sometimes i get caught up on moving my fingers around, as opposed to the result of the moving around, which results in boring music.
Members Virgman Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 OK, but what is your experience in your own playing?Do you find it easier, too soemtimes to use the ringfinger instead of the pinky? In general I guess using the pinky is fine, but I noticed especially with faster lines, that to me it's easier using the ring finger instead. And when I noticed that many other players do the same, I thought, maybe it is indeed a common thing and I should just change my fingerings to whatever is easiest without worrying that I'd be neglecting the pinky's "training"..... I use it often but this is just natural for me. However I broke my pinky about 30 years ago so it is a bit crooked in the wrong direction.
Members CBHandle Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 Watch Junior Brown on Austin City Limits. After seeing that, I practiced with just my pinky for months, now It's strong enough for Hamering-on and Pulling off. I'm a Blues Guy, so I never needed it, but now I can't live without it. Robert Cray will give you Pinky Envy, too.
Members bustaplz Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 Watch Junior Brown on Austin City Limits. After seeing that, I practiced with just my pinky for months, now It's strong enough for Hamering-on and Pulling off. I'm a Blues Guy, so I never needed it, but now I can't live without it. Robert Cray will give you Pinky Envy, too.
Members Myrdhinn Posted December 23, 2007 Members Posted December 23, 2007 Many of the old school rockers from the 60/70s didn't use the pinky when soloing... look at vids of Clapton with Cream, he just used 3 fingers. I too am in the "retarded pinkie brigade" so I will play like having tea with the Queen and be proud.
Members dacat Posted December 27, 2007 Members Posted December 27, 2007 I am in same situation. I always played 3 fingers, but recently took up guitar again after 20 year break. Now I do lines in practice that require pinky, and it offers up new things that I can do when I jam. It is worth it to train it, cause it offers more possibilties for you. However, Django got by on 2 fingers with the other 2 injured ones used for chords a bit. You can play fine with 3. Wes Montgomery appeared to use only 3 as well.
Members wades_keys Posted December 27, 2007 Members Posted December 27, 2007 I would say it depends on the technique you have already developed and whether you are willing and able to undo it to favor or not favor the pinky. I always learned to assign one finger per fret in a four fret span, so using the pinky is critical to me.
Members guitarviz Posted December 27, 2007 Members Posted December 27, 2007 That one finger-per-fret rule is like most other rules, made to be broken, at least as far as rock and blues go. As others have mentioned, check out videos of SRV, Hendrix, Clapton etc.
Members Jeremy3 Posted December 28, 2007 Members Posted December 28, 2007 In classical guitar the pinky is 100% necessary, but in rock and blues, which is never too challenging from the aspect of technique, it isn't required often.
Members p4vl Posted December 28, 2007 Members Posted December 28, 2007 I've always made a conscious effort to use my pinky. Unfortunately, when I'm not playing complicated music (which is all of the time), I tend to 'trip over it'. My pinky is relatively short, that might be why I still have a problem with it.
Members Santuzzo Posted December 28, 2007 Author Members Posted December 28, 2007 In classical guitar the pinky is 100% necessary, but in rock and blues, which is never too challenging from the aspect of technique, it isn't required often. Haha...you must be kidding, right?! Especially if you watched the video I posted in the 1st post of this thread.You might wanna update your "idea" of what rock can be these days.To send you on the right path, do me and above all yourself a favour and look up "Rusty Cooley", "John Petrucci" and "Steve Vai" (just for a few examples) in YouTube and watch some of the videos.After that, you will probably voluntarily come back and edit your post above.Please, no classical snobbism:cop:
Members guitarviz Posted December 28, 2007 Members Posted December 28, 2007 Slash talks about bending in 2/08 issue of Gtr World in his column Cat In The Hat: "Even though I naturally tend to use my pinky for certain fingering patterns and wide-stretch licks, it never really comes into play when I'm bending strings. I do use my index, middle and ring fingers for bends, and find that each one gives me a different form of expression...the difference in feel when bending with my ring or middle finger is so noticeable to me that I'll often deliberately switch fingers."
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