a question regaurding the pinky

[Leedogg]

So lately I've been actively trying to use my pinky alot more while playing. I'd say that right now it's about a year behind my other three playing fingers. If you all had to put a percentage on the workload of the pinky, as it relates to how many notes it has to hit during a given piece of music, what would you say it is? I really hope to shred someday, so I know I'll have to get it playing better. Do you know of any special exercises that specifically target the pinky?

[Displacer]

theres quite a few pinky exercises that I used to do before. My pinky used to suck! I found that the exercise that gave it the most control was playing scales up and down (the Aeolian scale was always a good one). That gave it positional control. Another exercise that I thought gave it consistancy was to go up te fretboard and the strings...this is actually an exercise for pre-guitar playing, so that you avoid carpal-tunnel, but it works both ways. hit the 1st fret with your index, 2nd with middle, 3rd with ring, 4th with pink on the E string. Then do it on the A, D, G, B, E...then go backwards E, B, G, D, A, E (low). then keep going up the fretboard by one fret until your pinky is on the 15th fret.
giving it strength was tricky for me, I tried hand exercisers but they never really worked...so I found another way.
as weird as this sounds, place two rubberbands around your four fingers (so that their anchoured near the main joint on the index and pinky) and stretch them outward...hold that position for 10 seconds, and then relax. repeat 10 times. If you've got REALLY weak hands do it with one, sometimes i feel like my pinky is gonna break, so be careful with it, those rubberbands pull! (use the thin ones too, not the thick bastards!)

for more control try doing some high solos with your pinky, start on the high E string pulling off something like this - 19p17p15 and going up to 20p17p15 occasionally, so repeat it megadeth speeds :P pull off the 20 and 19th frets with your pinky, 17 ring, 15 index.

im sure more people will have more opinions here, usually some critisizing me :P lol but yeah, this stuff helped me so i hope it helps you

Dispy

[PonyOne]

FInd a riff that has a part where you'd naturally go to use your pinky and do that a whole ton.... I use "Submission" by Failure (tab: http://www.failure.org/tabs/sub.html, you may want to see if you can find an mp3 too). It's not a blazing hot, Vai-esque riff, but it sounds good and you could definitely use your pinky in it.

The last bar of the chorus:

e------------------------------------------
B--------------------------------4--------
G-----------------------------------3----
D-------------6-7-6--------2-----------
A------5--7----------7--3-------------- <-------slide from 7 to 3, obviously
E--0-------------------------------------

When I play, i usually go (in order of the notes): open (0), index (5), ring (7), middle (6), ring (7), middle (6), ring (7), ring (3), index (2), pinky (4), middle (3)

Also, the chord shapes they use in the verses are well-souted to using your pinky for the root.

Hope this helps some, sorry for the bizzare format...

[PonyOne]

And actually I used something similar to one of Displacer's examples, too... I would try playing this as fast as possible:

e-----------18--------------18--------------18-------------------------
B--15-17-----17-15-15-----17-15-17-----17-15-19- 17------
G-----------------------------------------------------------19--17-----
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------

using my pinky for the 18 and 19, and i'd bend 2nd to the last note. sounds cool w/distortion.

[Edited by PonyOne on 05-31-2003 at 09:26 PM]

[Leedogg]

Thanks alot for the advice guys, I'll get right on it (my pinky feels a little fatigued right now from not being used to being used :))

Displacer: Do you remember how long it took your pinky to "catch up" once you started training it?

I've been playing just over 2 years now, and I've massively neglected using my pinky. The only thing I've incorporated it in so far to the point where it feels natural is in pentatonic runs. I don't know the Aeolian scale (just a minor??), but I'll check it out tomorrow.

Thanks again for the tips guys, if anybody has any other ideas please feel free to respond, I'd appreciate lots of advice, because I need to correct this situation.

[Digit]

try tapping. alot of the basic stuff is pinky related & you end up doing 10 times the repetitions and 10 times the speed

[hairbndrckr]

If you REALLY want a good pinky workout, learn "Modern Day Cowboy" from Tesla. Also works well to stretch out your hand.

[Displacer]

it took a while for my pinky to 'catch up' with the rest of the fingers, but from the time I neglected it I made up with playing almost everything with it. In a normal song, I used to neglect the ring finger for a while to concentrate on pinky strength.

its like anything, give it enough time and work outs and it'll catch up in no time :)