Originally Posted by: tristan98Hello,
I know everyone has different difficulties when starting out guitar, but for me one of the biggest difficulty is for my ring finger not to slide down the neck while playing certain chords.
For example while playing the boys of summer (made easy), in the intro when I play the special Em (where the ring and pinky are on the 3rd fret and the others second fret), my ring finger will always tend to go to where my index currently is (is that example on the second fret), causing my note to buzz.
I've had a lot of issues since strating guitar and overcome most of them, but this one doesn't seem to get better the more I practise and when I need to hold my ring and pinky on the same note for a while (by playing wonderwall or the boys of summer for example), it will always start sounding off after a few bars because of my ring finger being half way to the second fret.
I was wondering if there is a way to work that out so that I can solve this faster.
Thank you very much
Funny little test for you; just bend your fingers one at a time starting from your index then on down to your pinky. Notice how much (or little) the nearest neighbor finger bends. Generally not too much...Except the pinky, it wants to pull that ring finger on down with it. Funny test but it shows you how much the ring and pinky are interconnected.
Pinky issues are one of the most common issues for guitar players. Usually you hear it from people who find the pinky a little frustrating and with a mind of its own. But it is a bit of a rascal for chords too.
The test was to let you know that you're not crazy..it's just hand mechanics.
How do you work on it? Not always the easiest answer but when I have a new chord (I've been playing for a good number of decades so they're fewer and further between but still there), I basically isolate the chord before the offeding/difficult chord and work on that change. Even then, I do it slowly and even when making said chord change, I may not strum it during this exercise, I might actually pluck each string to see how true each rings.
The idea is not to be proficient right away. It's to get your hands used to moving from one thing to another. Think about it; four fretting fingers, a strumming hand and six string (not all of which might need to be struck). You're asking for all of that to go well and quickly during a chord change.
I can't jungle because it appears that too many things are going on at one time. This is not different, you're juggling multiple tasks at the same time. Slow it down, learn the mechanics and speed up as your skill permits.
My thoughts.
