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Left hand finger independence


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Posted

I bought Statinas "Speed Mechanics" book. I have a problem with pull-offs with my pinky and 3rd finger. I've always had a problem with this. For some reason, my pinky and 3rd finger are "linked". I have a very hard time with pull offs when all 4 fingers are on the fretboard, and I pull off with my pinky (very weak) and then try to control my 3rd finger. Sometimes it won't pull off cleanly unless I really pull my pinky back. Now, keeping in mind that "distance = time", how can I overcome this to keep ALL of my fingers just over the fretboard without such drastic "spastic" movements? Do I need to just keep working on it? I can pull off the minor petatonic with ease, because descending is just my first and fourth fingers for the first 4 notes, but when all 4 fingers are on the same string, its proving most difficult. Same thing with pulling off the descending major scale. Pulling off with consecutive fingers is just not coming naturally. Any advice?

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Posted

learning the piano rubbs this difficulty_ transposed on the fretboard you can perform some great prowesses;)
in an other side, scratching down the string with your fretting hand without pucking it renders the pull offs easier to do initially_

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Posted

Your problem is sympathetic muscle tension. You need to play slowly enough to have complete control of your fingers.

Put your hand in playing position around the 6th fret on the string of your choice, with your fingertips just barely above the strings and right above where they need to fret. Hold this position for thirty seconds and make sure you are relaxed. If you tense up at all, especially in the shoulders, practice being relaxed.

Then very slowly raise your index finger up, then down to just barely touching the string, taking about 5 seconds for the motion. Make sure none of your other fingers tenses up, much less moves along with it. Do this with each of your other fingers. If you notice tension or movement, stop and hold the position just before the problem occurs and then move your finger really, really slowly. Then slowly push the string down the the fret and slowly back up so that your finger is just barely touching the string. Then lift your finger just barely off of the string. Repeat this for each finger.

Once you can do this moving really slowly, you can gradually work up the speed with a metronome.

The basic idea is that your fingers are not moving by themselves, your brain is telling the muscles in your fingers how to move. You have to go slow enough that your brain is in complete control of all of your fingers.

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Posted

The pinky just takes practice. I didn't use mine for years and years, and now that I want to use it, I do chromatic exercises and trills every day with it. In less than a month, my pinky proficiency has gone from none to pretty decent.

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