Is this BS?

Hey guys,

I watched a Youtube video lately that kind of has me scratching my head. Specifically, the part of the video where this guys talks about a common pinky issue related to isolating the dexterity of each of your fingers (fretting hand).

Basically, he demonstrates the issue by saying "Slowly play a chromatic scale, and you'll notice when you use your ring finger to fret the note, most people's pinky finger involuntarily shoots up."

My pinky does indeed do this, but he's saying it's worth the time to get rid of this habit. But I'm thinking it doesn't even matter!

Here's the link, and the part I'm talking about is at 5:30 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG0iRQEMNuE

Again, the rest of the video makes sense, but this part I just don't agree with.

~Rusty

I think it's a bad habit worth stopping and I'm trying to do just that.

The involuntary reflex of a fly-away finger means to me that I have no control over said finger, i.e., it's not doing what I want it to do. That it's difficult to correct means that I have trouble controlling the finger, i.e., telling it what to do. That's not good. Further, when the finger is high up and stiffly pointing up in the air it's not ready for a quick note...it's not near the string and the fret it needs to play. That's not good.

I was at a John Prine concert which had a Canadian duo open for him. The duo was quite good but the guy in the duo had a fly-away finger and it just didn't look professional, harsh as that may be.

I sometimes notice that my index finger also points to the sky depending what chord I'm playing. That's not good either. Yeah...I believe finger independence is a good thing and something to aspire to and I'm trying.

It seems to me the video has a lot of general, common sense commentary. I don't know if I buy the idea that particular exercises are not the way to help rid the problem. Maybe because Justin ( justinguitar.com ) taught me this one...good for flexibility, strength, stretch... and even finger independence. ;) It'll also lock in proper technique (e.g., vertical, arched fingers and hand parallel to the neck) when practiced properly.
http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TE-007-FingerStretch.php This exercise accounts for over an hour of my weekly practice time.

Thanks for sharing that exercise. But I'm still not convinced that the pinky shooting up is a problem, because I can still make it to the next note in time, even when playing at my fastest. In fact, maybe because the pinky is a weaker finger it can fret a note even faster when it starts out higher above the fret... more momentum as it's coming down.

If it was preventing me from playing as fast as I wanted to, then it would definitely be a problem. But as long as you can achieve the sound you want, I'm thinking it doesn't matter.

But again, I could be wrong. Only time will tell. Perhaps when I get even faster I'll realize it is a problem.

Thanks for the input!

Originally Posted by: bbzswa777But I'm still not convinced that the pinky shooting up is a problem, because I can still make it to the next note in time, even when playing at my fastest. In fact, maybe because the pinky is a weaker finger it can fret a note even faster when it starts out higher above the fret... more momentum as it's coming down.

For most individuals, in most cases, it takes a lot of repetitious practice to get your fingers to act independently. The pinky is especially problematic.

The guy in the video makes some great points. At 5:30 he is focused on micromotions. Very small scale motions required to play very fast & efficiently.

You are right! If what you do works for you & you can make music you enjoy, there isn't a problem. But, his point is still a good one. If you do want to continue to improve & continually refine your playing knowledge & skill, then this is a issue to spend some time working on.

I found that building strength & dexterity in my pinky was not only beneficial in speed but also chords & other areas. If you want to give it a try, start with these warm up stretches!

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1525

And then work on your pinky!

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1292

Thanks Chris!

It's funny that you've shared all that, because since last posting on this thread, I've been watching some free lesson from Pebber Brown, who really stresses Classical technique. Which dictates that your fingers should not move away from the strings very far at all, and they should only move when they have to.

So I started playing really slow and forcing my pinky to stay down. Then I started playing this lick I've been playing over and over again when working on my speed, and it already sounds cleaner when I'm playing at my fastest! So I guess I was wrong in a way, it was just hard to accept that I had a bad habit I needed to break!

I noticed that it's easier to keep my pinky down when I focus on keeping it hooked instead of flat. I've been following these instructions:

http://www.pbguitarstudio.com/pdf_files/GUITAR_PDF/Classical_Form.pdf

Do they look like they're on point to you (the 12 rules of technique)?