Controlling that darn pinky....

What's Hot
2»

Comments

  • ElectroDanElectroDan Frets: 554
    edited December 2016
    Many top players avoid their Pinky fingers when they can. Marty Friedman and SRV don't/didn't use theirs so much.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BRISTOL86BRISTOL86 Frets: 1920
    edited December 2016
    BRISTOL86 said:
    Just looking at your first picture there seems to be a lot of extreme angles going on. I'm not even sure I could replicate that if I tried. I too had to work at my fretting hand angle and find a happy medium.
    When playing a simple 3 note per string scale, the hand and fingers have to be more parallel to the frets to reach the lower notes. When going up the scale crossing from the D to the G and on up to the top strings a gradual transition occurs so that the hand angle turns slightly, giving the fingers more like a 45 degree angle. When you want to bend a note or add vibrato then, the hand has somewhere to turn.
    With regards to the bending the tip of your finger back as in the last picture, it will be handy as you have said for chords, but I'd always try to have it the other way for anything else.
    Ultimately playing should be as comfortable as possible. Any extreme angles or unnecessary pressure on your joints is going to cause you grief you don't need.
    That's the trouble though - I have no choice about that! My joints extend beyond the normal
    range, which is why I said it's more curse than blessing. 

    Where normal peoples joints stop bending under pressure, mine continue beyond. It certainly creates more problems in terms of getting fingers and joints under control!
    I think you may be overthinking this. I've never heard of this condition but I can replicate the bend in your index finger shown in that last photo quite easily. Maybe you do have complications to playing I'm unaware of but I will say it's very common when beginning to play the guitar to think "but my fingers just won't do that". I thought something similar myself when I first began playing. It is also very common to apply too much pressure when fretting until you become more experienced with the instrument - indeed, most people retain substantial 'bad habits' that limit what they are able to play (we all find our own level of how much 'proper technique' we need to articulate what we need to say on the guitar).

    Keith Richards manages to play the guitar with gnarley old arthritic fingers, Dolly Parton could accompany herself on guitar with long painted fingernails. Django Reinhardt became a virtuoso trailblazer with only two good fingers and two semi paralysed after a fire. I've even seen someone playing slide guitar with their feet!


    Playing the guitar seems difficult at first but so is walking upright when we're very young and very few of us don't manage to learn that. Perserverence is the key.

    One thing to bear in mind is that the setup on your guitar can make the difference between something being easy to play or impossible to play. Has your guitar been set up by a professional? If not, I would strongly recommend investing a few quid towards that. You may be surprised at the difference it makes.
    Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for an an easy cop out/excuse not to put the effort in. I've never been more determined to accomplish something than I am to get to where I want to be with the guitar. It's something I see very much as a marathon/life endeavour and I'm not someone who expects to instantly be amazing!

    But I definitely have weird hands....an unusual amount of joint movement - it's something people have commented on my whole life, including a guitar tutor I saw for a while!

    Yes I have had a proper setup so there's no issues there  

    No excuses other than more practice required!

    As someone who is very lucky to get half an hour per day to invest, it's easy to fall into the trap of not really practicing in a disciplined way - after a long day at work you just want to pick it up and make noises that don't make your ears bleed (ie playing that same old riff you've played 500 times) but I think now it's even more important to use that time a lot more wisely and use it for disciplined practice such as these dexterity things. 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • AlnicoAlnico Frets: 4616
    edited December 2016
    Whenever you're idle, at work, on the bus, wherever, tap out rhythms using the four fingers on your left hand. Use a 6" Ruler to tap against for some familiarity, stretch rubber bands along it if you need to, to mimic strings,..............or use string !

    If you have music on headphones or radio, great tap along to that. If not, listen to a song to death and burn it into your head, then tap that rhythm out as many times as you can remember to every day.

    The problem isn't getting your little finger to be accurate, it's getting it to move at all. It's not used to it.
    Every time your brain says go, the little finger's reaction is something like 

    "What? Me? Are you sure? Oh, well ok,........ let me just put what i was doing down and get my shoes on !"

    The more active the finger is daily, the more likely it is to reach the notes in time when you need it to.
    Accuracy will improve dramatically with finger strength and regular activity.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BRISTOL86BRISTOL86 Frets: 1920
    Alnico said:
    Whenever you're idle, at work, on the bus, wherever, tap out rhythms using the four fingers on your left hand. Use a 6" Ruler to tap against for some familiarity, stretch rubber bands along it if you need to, to mimic strings,..............or use string !

    If you have music on headphones or radio, great tap along to that. If not, listen to a song to death and burn it into your head, then tap that rhythm out as many times as you can remember to every day.

    The problem isn't getting your little finger to be accurate, it's getting it to move at all. It's not used to it.
    Every time your brain says go, the little finger's reaction is something like 

    "What? Me? Are you sure? Oh, well ok,........ let me just put what i was doing down and get my shoes on !"

    The more active the finger is daily, the more likely it is to reach the notes in time when you need it to.
    Accuracy will improve dramatically with finger strength and regular activity.
    Haha funnily enough that's exactly what I've been doing for the past two days while bored lifeless in work! :) 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4158
    The whole hand looks tense and "over gripped", i would try releasing the fretting pressure until it stops fretting cleanly, I think you'll be surprised just how much extra tension you are putting into your hand without realising it 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • BRISTOL86BRISTOL86 Frets: 1920
    edited December 2016
    sweepy said:
    The whole hand looks tense and "over gripped", i would try releasing the fretting pressure until it stops fretting cleanly, I think you'll be surprised just how much extra tension you are putting into your hand without realising it 
    Yeah that's something I'm very aware of and get under control. I've even found myself on occasion gritting my teeth! 

    I think im making progress on developing a lighter touch but it's taking time to get from an concept in the head ("I know I shouldn't be gripping so hard") into the fingers! 
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4158
    It's easy to do, I think it's a memory thing from when we all were learning to hold those pesky chords down ;)
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • GrunfeldGrunfeld Frets: 4027
    BRISTOL86 said:

    One thing that I feel is holding me back a lot is a lack of control over the pinky (well, finger independence in general but specifically the pinky). I'm sure this is normal but just wanted some advice. 

    @BRISTOL86 ; I had the same issue for years and spent a lot of time on it then one day the penny dropped*:  it didn't matter.  A couple of people have mentioned this already but that's my +1.
    Since I stopped trying to get my small finger to behave as I thought it ought to and just played as felt easier for me then everything has just been less stressful and nicer.


    * I was watching a video of Michael Schenker and noticed he barely uses his small finger and I realised he wasn't stressing about it, sounded great, and that you just play the way which feels easy.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.