Help! Playing barrees with your pinky

Hi!
I have a problem.
In New Metal it's very common for example Mudvayne do this a lot, that you have to play really fast hammer on-pulls off powerchord-combos where you also have to be able to play a barree with the pinky.
Like this:

----------
----------
----------
-0h3h6p0-
-0h3h6p0-
-0h3h6p0-

But I cannot do this. I have tried it but it doesn't work. I simply am not able to push down the 3 thickest strings with the fingertip of my pinky. I think that if you have too short or too delicate fingers you simply cannot do this. What do you think? I really don't know how to improve or train this.

But people like the Mudvayne guy easily do such stuff and their fingers are relaxed and not even stiff. I can only play a barree with the pinky if I totally harden my pinky. :(
Like this:




But this way you cannot play this fast stuff. And also not this hammer on/pull off stuff. :(

If the action is low enough and your neck is fast enough it doesn't take that much pressure to play a power chord with your pinky. It takes practice but it can probably done on a not so perfect guitar. The tab you got up I would probably still hammer the 6's with my ring finger. It's just what I'm comfortable with so.....

It can be done...it just takes a bit of practice and some time to build up your pinky strength.
I'm with ninja tho... on that riff, it's easier to just use your ring finger.
Actually if you're doing all hammering and pull-offs, it's a whole lot easier and faster to tap it. Use your ring finger of the left hand on the 3rd fret, and tap on the 6th fret with your first finger, right hand.

I've never thought of doing it that way but I'm going to see what I can do with that method.

Hi!
But somehow I also cannot stretch so far. There are people which can fret from the 12. til the 24.th fret placing their indexfinger in the 12th and their pinky in the 24th fret! :eek: :eek:

I cannot do this. I also don't have huge hands.
Can you even make improvements when it comes to the range? I couldn't stretch my fingers any further even if I used force, then how shall stretching exercises help? I mean there is a point where you're simply limited by your anatomy and cannot strut your fingers any further. :confused:

My hands aren't that big either. Stretching exercise will help you! The only reason it seems impossible is because your ligaments and stuff aren't limber enough yet.

but i have been playing for a few years. but only just for fun. but i have tried hammer ons and such things but didnt become better and also stretchwise nothing happened. :(

How often do you practice and for how long?
The guys that can play the stuff you're talking about are probably practicing several hours a day, every day. If they're signed to a label they'll be spending all day, every day in the studio. Then they'll go out on tour and play the same songs every night for the next year. They'll also be using the best equipment and effects available on the market.

Hi!
It depends. I don't play every day. I also don't play so much, maybe 1 hour every few days. I guess this is not enough but I also need a sense of achievement. If I can get that then I'll also go on. But I cannot really imagine that I can somehow extend my range. If I could see that it indeed works then I would be motivated big time! :)
But how do I get more range? Simply by trying to fret as far as possible? :confused:

To a certain point yeah... you can extend your range somewhat by just stretching a lot. I wouldn't expect miracles though. If you have shorter fingers, you may have to find an alternate way to play it.

Try this exercise on each string:


|--12---16---19--|
1 2 4

Once you get comfortable doing that, move everything down by one fret.
If you can't do it at all, move it up by one fret.
Keep in mind, we're talking weeks or months of practice before you start to really see results.

Hi!
Look what I found on the net, this sounds like even with exercise you cannot really gain much range. :(

Are there physical therapy type of exercises we can do to increase the spread of our short fingers ?

My advice is to avoid stretching exercises like the plague. From experience, you have a certain stretch that your hand is comfortable reaching and you can maybe expand this slightly through exercise ( I emphasis slightly), but I know for a fact that you are more likely to damage your hand. Stretching exercises affect the tendons in the arm and can lead to tendonitis, which I've heard of happening quite frequently and in fact have been very close to having it myself from trying stretching exercises. I was lucky I stopped immediately when I started experiencing, and I've heard of people who couldn't play at all after they had it, so its not worth it, please trust me on this one. You just have to accept the stretch your born with.

Poor misguided soul. Sounds like he gave up. Don't you do the same. Of, course there is a limit. How far you push that limit is up to you.

yeah, I'll put in my 2 cents again...
... I honestly don't know what to say about tendonitis and the effect that certain things have on some people. I honestly think that heredity plays a part in that sort of thing but hey, I ain't no doctor.
Just talking from personal experience, I've pushed my fingers, arms and muscles to the limits for years and never had any negative effects. The stretching exercise above for instance was impossible for me to do when I first tried it. After a couple of months I found it playable but still tough.
After a few years it was no problem
I practiced it until it hurt, but was always careful to give myself time to recover between sessions.

There are definitely some things that you can improve on by doing lots of practice. Stretching further is one of them. I mean, just compare your ability in your first year of playing to that of your 15th year. The thing to remember though is that it took 15 years to get there.
Same thing with stretching. There's no quick and easy fix to anything so as long as you stay aware of any unusual pain and take things gradually, you'll be able to add a little distance to your stretch. (a little)

If you're having trouble reaching certain notes or doing certain things, the first thing I'd do is try tapping it. 9 times out of 10 you can find a way to do it more easily than playing it normally.
The exercise above for instance is on my lesson page but I've got the identical run done with tapping and there's no contest... tapping wins every time on accuracy, cleanliness, ease of play and speed.

Can you also lose flexibility again when you don't play for a few weeks or how fast does this happen?

And are there more stretching exercises or stretching exercise videos on the net? Videos would be really cool. This way you know exactly what to do. I also like watching videos of people playing guitar. :cool:

Yeah, if you go a week or so without playing, it'll be tough to stretch at first. You'll find it doesn't take that long to get back into shape though.
It's like most stuff on the guitar. Once you learn something, just because you stop playing for awhile doesn't mean you lose the ability to play. You just get a bit rusty and have to warm up.

Not sure about other videos on the net. I'm sure they're all over the place... it's just a matter of what you'll get and for how much.
Check out the stuff here. Every instructor has a couple of free lessons on their pages.

Okay.

How long do you play every day?

Hard to say. I do this stuff full-time, so sometimes I'm at it all day. Other times I'll go for days or even weeks without touching the guitar cause I'm working on recording other instruments or doing web stuff.
I've got the guitar sitting here next to me all day though, so anytime I get bored waiting for files to copy or stuck on hold or whatever, I'll pick it up and noodle on a couple of things.

Originally Posted by: schmangeHard to say. I do this stuff full-time, so sometimes I'm at it all day. Other times I'll go for days or even weeks without touching the guitar cause I'm working on recording other instruments or doing web stuff.
I've got the guitar sitting here next to me all day though, so anytime I get bored waiting for files to copy or stuck on hold or whatever, I'll pick it up and noodle on a couple of things.

Cool, this sounds like fun. :)