My brainless left ring finger!

Guitars+gems · #1 02-01-2018, 02:57 PM

My ring finger seems to have no brain of its own. I am trying to learn Time in a Bottle. It's in the key of Dm. I just realized that I always play Dm with my pinky on the D, which is easy and has always been fine, but that just doesn't work for the second bit, which is the Dm with a C# played by the pinky. The ring finger is glued to the middle finger and it doesn't want to work independently. It's hard enough just to make the Dm, let alone keep it in place to so that the 4th finger can make the big C# stretch! Sheesh!

I realize there is probably nothing for it but repetition, but it's frustrating and destroying my will to play this song. A good illustration of why maladaptive chord formations are a bad idea.

Is there an exercise I could do to make that ring finger less stupid?

SteveBurt · #2 02-02-2018, 05:56 AM

It's the pinky on my left hand which has a mind of its own, and a tendency to curl under . Many stretches I simply can't make, even if I place the pinky with my right hand; it simply slides off at once.

1neeto · #3 02-02-2018, 09:56 AM

That’s a hard chord, but the ring finger is a lazy bum by design. [emoji23]

cmd612 · #4 02-02-2018, 10:22 AM

I like this exercise for finger independence and stretching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGCJv13lYA8

Gitfiddlemann · #5 02-03-2018, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmd612

I like this exercise for finger independence and stretching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGCJv13lYA8

That's an excellent one. I know it from Pumping Nylon and use it.
If you concentrate on finger placement and movement (only when they're called upon) and connecting the notes (legato), your finger independence will improve.
But this is one of those drills that really needs to be done correctly to reap the benefits. Slowwww....at first. Eliminate extraneous finger motion. And don't make the jump to strings 1 and 4 or 1 and 5 until 1 and 3 are smooth and connected all the way through.
Works with nylon or steel, with fingers or picks. Just a good all around left hand drill.

Sagebrush Tom · #6 02-03-2018, 08:01 AM

I have never thought to play a DM chord with my pinkie. I use GuitarCast as source for lessons and they have a section on, How to fingerpick songs on guitar and they have this exercise with the same first 4 or 5 chords as Time in a bottle which i have been working on for the last month and the stretch, dm to dm/c# has be getting much easier now. Don't give up on the song, keep working on it. You will run into this in the future, so might as well master it now. Remember the stretch to the c# you are only hitting this note and i remove my pinkie before moving on to the dm/c. And i think i will starting working on this song. Thanks!
Tom

Mr. Jelly · #7 02-03-2018, 10:12 AM

Over the years I have learned to play chords with different fingers depending on the chord or figure that comes before or after it. After breaking my fretting hand and having my ring finger shift to a different position on my hand I have been relearning allot of muscle memory.

TBman · #8 02-04-2018, 08:29 AM

I have that issue with my ring finger and pinky. Practice helps tame it. Do the chromatic scale up and down on each string just for the first 4 notes just to get them working on their own.

Guitars+gems · #9 02-04-2018, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmd612

I like this exercise for finger independence and stretching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGCJv13lYA8

Wow, this is not easy! Because he keeps his fingers so close to the fretboard I couldn't easily see which notes he was holding down, so I had to listen for the notes and watch the video at half speed. And then after I did it a few times I could see the pattern. But for some reason, my brain didn't immediately grasp it.

At any rate, trying to keep my hand still, as Andre F mentioned, and let the fingers do the walking is a challenge, but I can see how much it will help. So I'm going to do this everyday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBman

I have that issue with my ring finger and pinky. Practice helps tame it. Do the chromatic scale up and down on each string just for the first 4 notes just to get them working on their own.

Yeah, I have done that a lot and you would think that laying down the first 3 fingers on Dm would be as easy to do as it is when you're playing the chromatic scale. I mean, it's just that the 3rd finger is one string behind the 2nd finger when it comes down on the 3rd fret for the D. Part of the issue may be having to unlearn the old habit of 4th finger on the D.