Re: Is shifting up one fret ok?
I agree with "whatever gets the job done" ... but I also believe in doing whatever I can to strengthen all my fingers, especially the #$&%#()(# pinky. Lately I've been spending a lot of time working through Ted Eschliman's FFCP scale exercises. Those require a lot of pinky work, and some difficult stretches. After spending a month on them, they still feel like mandolin calisthenics (which is basically what they are). They are still difficult, especially when I pay close attention to playing them cleanly and with good tone. What I've discovered, though, is that while the exercises are still difficult, virtually everything else I play is all of a sudden easier, and I can somehow play a lot of things faster than I ever could before. Sometimes I still do "whatever gets the job done", but I'm also still working hard to get to a point where my pinky can also be efficient in getting the job done.
All my life I wanted to be somebody, now I realize I should have been more specific.
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