View Full Version : Help for useless pinky?
Steve_R
Jul-31-2004, 6:13pm
My pinky is just about useless. I have that thing where
if I move my pinky, the third finger goes with it. Any
good exercise to develop strength and control with
the pinky?? Thanks.
thistle3585
Jul-31-2004, 6:36pm
See the "split string" discussion a couple threads down.
mandodebbie
Aug-01-2004, 6:47pm
I have a teeny-tiny pinky. I wrap elastic bands around my fingers then stretch them while I watch tv. It's like a workout for hands. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
peterbc
Aug-01-2004, 10:58pm
I've heard a few suggestions that seem to work, one is a simple exercise, alternating the 7th fret of a string (pick your favorite!) with a walkdown on the rest: so 7, 6, 7, 5, 7, 4... etc. Then back up. Then back down. It's real slow at first, like anything else don't go faster than you can.
The other is to play everything down a finger (ie, play as if you don't have your pointer finger). Also hard, but also helpful.
Keep workin your picky up and down that thing and youll eventualy get it!
Bowzette
Aug-02-2004, 7:31am
buy a short scale-17 fret-tenor banjo. you have to use the pinky for the 5th fret insead of the ring finger. they are cheap on ebay.
grandmainger
Aug-02-2004, 7:42am
My pinky is just about useless. I have that thing where if I move my pinky, the third finger goes with it. Any good exercise to develop strength and control with the pinky??
My pinky is kind of weak too, but it is getting stronger through the following exercise I invented.
I learn and play a simple tune, that uses mainly index-middle-ring fingers. When I know it very well, I play it repeatedly, alternating playing it once with the ring finger when needed, once using the pinky instead of the ring finger (ie on frets 5 & 6).
Now, it is VERY important if you do this to alternate the 'ring-version' & 'pinky-version', otherwise you will get confused later about which finger to use on those frets.
The reason whay I do this is that there are very many tunes that make extensive use of frets 1-5... so you get to use the pinky much more on those!
HTH
Germain
mandocrucian
Aug-02-2004, 8:44am
The place where the pinky is going to be used, at your current level, is most likely to play the 7th fret B note on the E string, or perhaps the 6th fret Bb.
With some technical exercises, you'll probably find it easier going to use E major (with the 4th fret G#) rather than Em/G which has that 3rd-7th fret stretch. My pinky (RH) is weak (playing lefthanded), and that G to B stretch is still pretty awkward, though I fare a lot better with the 4th-7th.
Be sure to try to use the tip of the pinky when fretting, and not the pad of the finger.
A few one-string exercises. If you can get them smoothly on the E string, then you can move them over to the other strings; but get it on the E-string first.
<span style='font-family:courier'>-|:-0-2--4-5--7-5-|-7-5--7-5--4-2-:|
3|----------------|----------------|
4|----------------|----------------|
-|----------------|----------------|
(or, you could play it in 5/4 meter, which is how I happened to originally do the exercise above, for some unknown reason; didn't realize I was riffing in 5 until writing it down.)
5/4|:-0-2--4-5--7-5--7-5--4-2--:|
Here's some in straight 2/4 or 4/4 - 8 notes to the measure:
||---0-4-7-4--0-4-7-4--|-0-5-7-5--0-5-7-5-|-0-4-7-4--0-4-7-4--|-0-2-7-2--0-2-7-2--:|
||---------------------|------------------|-------------------|-------------------
||---------------------|------------------|-------------------|-------------------
||---------------------|------------------|-------------------|--------------------
||--0-7-6-7--0-7-5-7--|-0-7-4-7--0-7-2-7--:|
||--------------------|--------------------
||--------------------|--------------------
||--------------------|--------------------
Now, same things, but using the 3rd fret G note. Substantially harder, imo.
-|:-0-2--3-5--7-5-|-7-5--7-5--3-2-:|
3|----------------|----------------|
4|----------------|----------------|
-|----------------|----------------|
||---0-3-7-3--0-3-7-3--|-0-5-7-5--0-5-7-5-|-0-3-7-3--0-3-7-3--|-0-2-7-2--0-2-7-2--:|
||---------------------|------------------|-------------------|------------------
||---------------------|------------------|-------------------|------------------
||---------------------|------------------|-------------------|-----------------</span>
PS: Don't overdo it and end up hurting your pinky. A little bit at a time more frequently is better than a long pinky practice session which overworks it.
Niles Hokkanen
Oct. 3-6, 2004: Beginner Mandolin Boot Camp (http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/northern/);
Nov. 7-10, 2004: Adv Beginner & Low Intermediate Mando Boot Camp
4-H Center, Front Royal, VA
Fred_Murtz
Aug-02-2004, 9:35am
1. Make sure your fretting with the fingertip - not too far from your fingernail.
2. Make sure your all 4 fingers are slightly angled towards the nut - not the bridge. I've seen lots of hands where fingers 1, 2, & 3 are angled towards the nut and finger 4 is angles towards the bridge - which makes using your pinky much more difficult.
3. Do exercises like the ones mentioned above, or work on scales that utilize the pinky. Play them only as fast as you can play perfectly - even if it is VERY slow.
4. Don't press down too hard on the strings.
mandodebbie
Aug-03-2004, 3:38pm
Make sure your fingernails are trimmed, also. Yes, it helps. Especially if you want to press down with the tip of your baby finger. I'm still strengthening up mine. (See above re: teeny-tiny fingers.)
A fun and easy song to get your pinky exercised is The Fishing Hole (Andy Griffith theme) using the pinky on that seventh fret. It is in the Jazz Swing section in the mandozine (co-mando) files.
dave waite
Aug-07-2004, 7:58pm
Cut it off along with your ring finger & play just like Django did. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Philip Halcomb
Aug-08-2004, 10:20pm
I found that playing the seventh fret with my pinky instead of crossing over to the next open string seems to keep the pinky moving. Here http://users.argonet.co.uk/users....02.html (http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/mando/comando/towdis/002.html) there is a version of Soldier's Joy that David Grisman plays. Instead of hitting the open A string he hits the seventh fret on the D string. That really got my pinky moving and ever since it's been right on.