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Posted by: [email protected] Oct 31 2007, 06:18 AM

hi there,
do you know any good exercise to keep the pinky ( yes i have ONLY problems with my pinky) close to fretboard. when i play fast runs he always jumps up and down, higher than the other fingers -.-
can you help me out?

Posted by: mattacuk Oct 31 2007, 06:26 AM

Hi there!

Any of pavels speedpicking series should really help in this area. You will notice he keeps his fingers very close off the fretboard.

I have found since working out with the Ionian speedpicking lesson my pinky stays very close indeed!

http://www2.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/ionian-scale-speedpicking/index.htm

You will need to put in the hard work, but it will pay off!

Posted by: ActiveX Oct 31 2007, 06:38 AM

This was a very week area for me as well, so I've been spending a lot of time recently with "pinky" exercises.
After a couple of weeks of really focusing on this, I do see some improvement. So just keep on with it, and one day you (and hopefully me, as well), will pick up the guitar and it will just become natural, and we won't have to think about it anymore

Posted by: [email protected] Nov 8 2007, 06:49 AM

its sooo hard i dont get forward...
i dont know why i suddenly have this problem!!
i can play for example the c major scale very fast but when i just play
e.g. on the high e string 4-3-2-1 and then all the strings down my pinky keeps its wide distance!!!!
magic?

Posted by: Soul_Decision Nov 8 2007, 06:53 AM

It comes with practice. For me though, the faster I play my fingers automatically stay close to the fretboard.

Posted by: mattacuk Nov 9 2007, 01:21 AM

Dont worry , this is very common when you start out. The more you practice to a metronome , over time your fingers WILL stay nearer the fretboard i promise you. You just need to be patient on this one!

Posted by: Pavel Nov 9 2007, 01:29 AM

Do you mind recording a video of that lesson for us?


[email protected]: i suggest legato lessons and AP lessons. These 2 topics should really help!

Posted by: mattacuk Nov 9 2007, 01:31 AM

I sure will as soon as im happy with it !!

Posted by: fkalich Nov 9 2007, 02:05 AM

Look at Roo, creative metal soloing. Clearly lifting the pinkie is not fatal.

Posted by: fkalich Nov 9 2007, 02:22 AM

looks like a good exercise. and of course your pinkie will stay close, you have no choice.

but I think he may not be talking about that, he may be talking about the flying pinkie when you are not using it. which I feel has only slightly more than a rat's ass of importance. a lot of great guitarists do that. llogically I don't see the big deal. If you are not using it, who cares? If you are, I think we can all assume that our bodies are smart enough that we will lower it into position with no delay, when we are going to need it.

Mine probably flies less now than it used to. But I don't worry about it.

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Nov 9 2007, 02:29 AM

Hmmm ... +1

Posted by: Owen Nov 9 2007, 02:33 AM

I agree with fkalich on the pinky flying up a bit, mine does and I dont feel it makes much difference, sometimes you can associate that as the problem though - I did for a while, I used to think I couldnt control it because it was too far away but I eventually found that I just needed to extend my use of it to gain control of what I was doing with it.

Some vids of Muris you can actually see his pinky flailing wildly.

Definitely not a problem in itself.

Posted by: Giacinto Nov 14 2007, 03:04 AM

whoo hi dudes, did some good practice recently and i can happily tell you that it worked!!
got some faster and i put those practices in my warm ups.
cheers and thanks for your help!! ( playing scales with metronome is really good for pinky) !!

Posted by: Robin Nov 14 2007, 06:27 AM

This guy have his pinky off the fretboard all the time, still he seems to be doing ok: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SzW8fi8z5C8

Posted by: Giacinto Nov 15 2007, 06:00 AM

y true..
when he was younger he was much better: (al least his performance was)..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sj3ec2cCaJw

Posted by: Mackietao Dec 6 2007, 12:52 AM

He doesn´t use his pinky that much though

My pinky keeps popping up 3~ cm from the fretboard when I move the other fingers so playing
stuff like 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3- using the pinky might sink you perhaps. Personally I´m way faster in my left hand then my right due to an injury so for me that doesn´t really matter. But I´ve thought about it and maby you can shorten that popup lenght without causing any other problems.

ONe thing might be to play chromatic patterns 1-2-3-4 slowly and very purposly trying to hold that pinky under 1cm from the fretboard. At first it feels impossible but just do it slow.

And another strategy might be to hold pinky at the fretboard pressing down a string and play patterns with the other fingers at another string or strings. that way we will force pinky to stay where it is and it feels very unnatural but after stretching out stuff (pardon my english) in your hand and forearm (never play so it hurts to much or that it will continue hurting.. just gentle stretching) After this your pinky might stay closer to the fretboard.. I don´t know, never seriously tried this but I just might.

Posted by: David.C.Bond Dec 6 2007, 01:07 AM

I have an ace exercise for finger control, its really hard to explain though. Hmm. Pretty pointless post really. Maybe I'll make a vid of it!

Posted by: fkalich Dec 6 2007, 08:34 AM

I use my pinkie more than most, including most teachers here. And as time goes on, it gets more strength. However I could care less about the flying pinkie thing. I prefer not even to have it brought to my attention, as then I have to spend about 5 minutes trying to forget about it.

Posted by: Dejan Dec 6 2007, 10:06 AM

Everything can be fixed by practicing, but I would say that it's more important how it sounds than how it looks.. but keep on practicing, firstly slowly to gain control of your pinky (to move EXACTLY the way you want) and then gradually increase speed, maybe it will take some time, but if it is really important to you it is worth the effort

I'm preparing now one exercise for pinky, hope it will be online soon

Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Dec 6 2007, 02:50 PM

WHen you practise keep you rpinky down, close to the fretboard and that all there is to it man. Don`t worry if you play allready everything with your pinky up. Just practise from NOW ON everything with you rpinky down and gradually in a year or to, that technique will overpower the existing one. It is not a big problem, you can overcome it - you just need patience like everything else about playing a guitar.

PS lot of greats rarely used the pinky and they played some cool stuff And, did anyone mention Django Reindhart?

Posted by: Dejan Dec 6 2007, 04:14 PM

Django Reinhardt played with only two left hand fingers (index and middle) while the other two were almost completely paralyzed (he managed to use them for some chords only). Also Tommy Iomi from Black Sabbath lost two fingers in a traffic accident but managed to come back

These are examples that you can make miracles with a strong will

Posted by: Giacinto Dec 25 2007, 09:20 PM

ah thx for your answers guys!
your little finger work-out lesson is really cool!

Posted by: shammy Dec 26 2007, 12:12 AM

As mentioned above, if it sounds good then so be it. I have been playing awhile and I have gained tremendous strides from using GMC, had to break alot of old habits myself. But one thing I can say is if you get caught up with every little detail and technique that doesn't hinder your playing you will be wasting alot of time you could be writing song's or practicing things that are definately helping you. Everyone has a different style and too pick and choose some technique's is really cool, but nobody can be like every other guitarist out there. I know i'm straying off path but my moral is practice hard, take inventory on your playing style and just play. We all know what we need to do to get where we want, so don't sweat the small stuff.