How can improve my little finger/pinkie speed and accuracy?

[Tuff Gong]

Whenever I try and fret a chord requiring my little finger I run into trouble. B7 and C7 in particular give me real problems. I have tried repeatedly changing to and from these chords and while they do get slightly easier I am nowhere near being fluid. My first three fingers will find the correct string and fret but the pinky rarely does.

It is really bugging me as I can find a C instantly but as soon as I need to hit the third string/third fret I am in trouble again as my little finger seems to have a mind of it's own and travels at about half the speed of the rest of my left hand! If any one can give me any exercises or tips I'd really appreciate it as my practicing isn't delivering at the moment. Thanks.

[Howard Klepper]

Play at less than half the speed you have been trying to play at. Slow down until you are at a speed at which the pinky arrives at its position on time, and then increase speed very slowly (not in a day or two. Probably over a period of weeks.), never letting the other fingers get ahead of the pinky. You cannot have speed before you have accuracy, and you can have accuracy if you go slow enough.

[rick-slo]

For example: Make the B7. Then lift you fingers straight up a half inch to an inch keeping your finger position (note where the fingers are and how there are in contact with each other). Place the fingers back on the fretboard (simultaneously, not one finger at a time) and make the chord. Move on and off the chord for greater and greater distances (maybe move the hand up the key board and back). Then change the position of the fingers and reform the shape on the way back to the fretted chord. Do this with other chords. You should develop the kinesthetic sense to form chord shapes in the air on the way to fretting the chords.

[Chordpounder]

The high school (where I teach the State Test in Chemistry...we don't really teach Chemistry any more, but that's another thread) has an active guitar program. The guitar teacher drills a mantra into their heads, and I hear the kids say it all the time.

"If you want to play real fast, play real slow."

My metronome stays way down, and it improves my accuracy.

Richard in Neenach, California

[taylorking810]

Try practicing scale patterns very slowly, such as Chromatic scale or whatever you chose, anything that utilizes the pinky finger, once you get used to using all your fingers it will become much easier too form all chord shapes.

[Bikewer]

An exercise I found in Guitar Player magazine some years back involved making multi-fret jumps.
Say...Play a note on the high "E" at the first fret with your index, then "jump" to the seventh and play that with your pinky.
Play any interval you like, up and down the strings.

Increases accuracy as well as little-finger strength.

As the guys above say, start slow; accuracy first, then speed.

[RagTag]

I participate in another hobby where the expression is "
slow is smooth, and smooth is fast". Have to agree.

[Fingerstylist]

I've been playing for 2 years and my pinky is still pretty much useless. I'm interested in some tips also.

[jasperguitar]

I read this posting the other day ..

The "go slow to go fast" post is right on. I'm like most,
I want to get there. But.. by slowing down, playing the
chords properly, it has sped me up considerably.

The pinky.. play scales with a pinky note..

G, A, .. first position. Play combo's within those scales.

My pinky is improving by scale playing. I still miss sometimes,
but I'm working at it.

[FranK_S]

Another good exercise to train and strengthen the pinkie is to do hammer on's with it. Just do simple patterns from the 6th string to the first string, but only progress by hammering onto the notes.

Example: Fret 3-4-5-6 using index, middle, ring, then pinkie.

After you reach the first string, reverse the progression so you'll be doing pull off'sor flick off's now. It's harder going in reverse but it will make you concentrate on hitting the notes precisely.

You'll see right away that your pinkie has a hard time finding the string but if you go slow and gradually speed up, you'll strengthen the pinkie muscle which will in turn give it more control.

Better yet, watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7OT...rom=PL&index=1

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Fingerstylist

I've been playing for 2 years and my pinky is still pretty much useless. I'm interested in some tips also.

Hi FSt…
Howard already gave proper advice for increasing speed once the pinky is in play.

To get it there, learn some chords, like D -> Dsus; E -> Esus; A -> Asus which utilize the pinky, and first learn to play the altered chord with the pinky (the sus) then learn to hammer on to the sus.

Also learn your inside X9 chord shape. B9 for instance would be:
X
2 - pinky note
2
1
2
X

This chord can be slid all over the neck…


In addition to learning to incorporate the pinky into running lead line or scales, the regular use of it in chords will help.

[oldhippiegal]

to answer the more general question:

John Lennon's "You Have to Hide Your Love Away" helped my pinkie strength cuz you gotta keep that thing planted most of the time. It ends up being an isometric exercise, therefore. By the end of the song the first dozen times through, the thing aches. this ache is good news.

I do a lot of turns/mordents/trills with the pinkie, even when I have the guitar in lap and am chatting with a person, just do these bits over and over in the background. Sort of what lj said. Think about that opening measure to "tears in heaven". That sort of hammeron/pulloff onto the 2 or 4 (or sus note, if you prefer) from open major chords A or D, using the pinkie to do that is a sort of fixation of mine. How quickly can I do it? Like in A, I'm fretting 2 with ring finger, hammering on to 3 with pinkie, pulling off, then pulling the ring off (why the heck not) and hammering it back on. (There's some long italian name for that exact figure, and I'm spacing it right now.) Doing this often for accuracy, sameness of tone (a trick!) and then speed has made my pinkie my best finger, actually. And I love the sound of those little figures, lick-ettes if you will. Also, using the pinkie to do that bend in "Windy and Warm" when you're doing the song in open position rather than capoing up--there's a pinkie exercise for ya, too. It's hard to bend that sucker so close to the nut.

I like exercises that begin and end in actual songs, obviously. And it seems to me strength and accuracy go hand in hand.

[Fingerstylist]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi FSt…
Howard already gave proper advice for increasing speed once the pinky is in play.

To get it there, learn some chords, like D -> Dsus; E -> Esus; A -> Asus which utilize the pinky, and first learn to play the altered chord with the pinky (the sus) then learn to hammer on to the sus.

Also learn your inside X9 chord shape. B9 for instance would be:
X
2 - pinky note
2
1
2
X

This chord can be slid all over the neck…


In addition to learning to incorporate the pinky into running lead line or scales, the regular use of it in chords will help.

Appreciate it lj, I'll give this a whirl.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Play at less than half the speed you have been trying to play at. Slow down until you are at a speed at which the pinky arrives at its position on time, and then increase speed very slowly (not in a day or two. Probably over a period of weeks.), never letting the other fingers get ahead of the pinky. You cannot have speed before you have accuracy, and you can have accuracy if you go slow enough.

Yup... and go WAY slower than you think that "slow" is, LOL! Seriously, do this with a metronome really slow... I don't think you even have to "speed up gradually" like Howard said... somehow, after painfully slow practise, when you hear a piece at tempo, you'll just go there!

John

[jseth]

oh yeah... along with going slow? Do it as PERFECTLY as you possibly can...

Have fun!