Members Six Degrees Posted October 15, 2005 Members Share Posted October 15, 2005 Hey everyone- Just a real quick question. I've discovered that my pinky finger comes WAY off the fretboard when I'm not using it to fret a note. All of my other fingers stay close to the fretboard when they're not fretting notes. I've tried to keep my pinky closer to the strings by repeating patterns over and over again and continually correcting my technique, but haven't had too much success. Any ideas on how I might be able to break this bad habit? Thanks! -SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Auggie Doggie Posted October 15, 2005 Members Share Posted October 15, 2005 1. Use it more often.2. Don't push the strings down any harder than necessary.3. Use it more often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poparad Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 I would also recommend to juse always be mindful of what your pinky is doing. When you notice it is too far off the fretboard, correct it. It will take a long time to break it, but keep fixing it and eventually you will replace the bad habit with a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soc_monki Posted October 15, 2005 Members Share Posted October 15, 2005 practice, practice, practice...it takes time. its taken me quite a few months to get my pinky to quit being stray...and even now it does sometimes depending on what i play. but what auggie says is true...listen to that man, hes helped me in so many ways its not even funny! use your pinky more, so it has less of a chance to move away from the fretboard! thats one thing ive been doing a lot of, and it really does help...its when i DONT use my pinky that it likes to move away from the strings...LOL so USE THAT PINKY! keep it busy and it will stay where you want it...just when you practice, always be mindful of where it is and keep it as close as you can to the strings. if it moves away, move it back...little by little you will see an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ads Posted October 16, 2005 Members Share Posted October 16, 2005 Yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Li Shenron Posted October 18, 2005 Members Share Posted October 18, 2005 Originally posted by Six Degrees I've discovered that my pinky finger comes WAY off the fretboard when I'm not using it to fret a note. All of my other fingers stay close to the fretboard when they're not fretting notes. I've tried to keep my pinky closer to the strings by repeating patterns over and over again and continually correcting my technique, but haven't had too much success. Any ideas on how I might be able to break this bad habit? One first thing you can do is to try understand why it moves away. Do you think that you are actually moving it away after playing a note with it? That's not very correct (albeit pretty natural), because all you need to do after the note is release it, which means that you "stop pressing" just by relaxing the muscle, not by using the other muscle to move the finger away.It's very hard to get rid of this, and everyone does it a little bit. The only way to undo the bad habit is to prectice your songs or passages very slowly (and I mean, _incredibly_ slowly - if you are shy to do that, play with headphones ) so that you can focus on that movement alone of moving it away, and try not to do it.[There could also be a hand position problem, maybe try to move your thumb more towards the centre of the neck or towards the edge, or more to one side, and see how the pinky is affected.]Finally, do you have big or small hands, and long or short fingers? IMO short fingers are more easily subject to this problem, so if you have big fingers instead then there really must be some wrong release movement here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Li Shenron Posted October 18, 2005 Members Share Posted October 18, 2005 (extra note) Try to keep your hand relaxed over the fretboard, for example on the 1st string with fingers at positions 5678. Don't press, just touch the string with all fingers. Relax... Stay in position and press fret 5 with your index. Does the pinky move? Keep pressing and relax the other 3 fingers until they aren't tense. Release the index pressure without detaching it from the string. Does the pinky move in this case? Without moving from position, try the same press/depress with your middle finger on the 6th fret, the ring finger on the 7th fret, and the pinky on the 8th fret. You should try this exercise every now and then, trying to teach your other finger not to tense much or move away when it's another finger's turn only to move, and not _their_ turn! When you play you do these movements all the time, and of course when ending a note you have to detach the finger from the string. In this exercise you keep it touching, but that's just to show you how much your other fingers move when they shouldn't, even with such a minimal movement from the playing finger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Six Degrees Posted October 18, 2005 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2005 Guys Thanks for the suggestions. I think it's actually a muscle type thing; I'll just play stuff slow and/or try to compensate with lotsa practice. Part of me wants to forget about it, but I'd like to clean this part of my technique up so that I can start ripping with my pinky. Thanks! -SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mfergel Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 I have the same problem and I noticed that it's mostly linked to what the finger next to the pinky is doing. If I move that finger, the pinky moves with it, so if I'm not using it, the pinky is always a good 1/4 or more further from the fretboard than that finger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Li Shenron Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by mfergel I have the same problem and I noticed that it's mostly linked to what the finger next to the pinky is doing. If I move that finger, the pinky moves with it, so if I'm not using it, the pinky is always a good 1/4 or more further from the fretboard than that finger. IIRC, that's very natural, because the ring finger and the pinky finger share a tendon or something similar, while the other fingers have each its own. Can someone knowledged in anatomy confirm this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virgman Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 That's not an annoying technique.That's "style". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mfergel Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 You know, I was watching Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster" last night and Kirk Hammet was by no means 'keeping it close to the fretboard'. I know I've seen some Malmstein videos and I swear, that guys has the most efficient hand movements I've ever seen. I guess it's a matter of working around your limitations sometimes and figuring out what works best for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poparad Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by mfergel You know, I was watching Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster" last night and Kirk Hammet was by no means 'keeping it close to the fretboard'. I know I've seen some Malmstein videos and I swear, that guys has the most efficient hand movements I've ever seen. I guess it's a matter of working around your limitations sometimes and figuring out what works best for you? Keep in mind though that because a person is good at one thing doesn't mean that they are great at everything else. We're just not seeing their weakness. When watching someone that is generally regarded as a 'good' or 'great' player, we don't see what they can't play. It could very well be that if you asked Hammett to play certain licks, his fretting technique may be a hinderance. The thing that makes many players 'great' is their ability to hide their weaknesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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