Playing Pinky on 1st String

Originally Posted by Mojo21

Be determined to crack it and set aside some time each day to focus on the chord.

I once had some classical lessons with Denis Azabagic and he essentially told me that there is always a way to finger and ultimately play tough passages. This applies to any level of guitar. He taught me to literally talk my fingers into position (and even talk wrist positions etc into accurate shifts etc). It was an epiphany for me because here was a world class player demonstrating what he does to achieve mastery.

One of the shapes I struggled with was the barred C Shape (which was required in a Sor study) but using his approach I got it down securely in a week with about 5 - 10 minutes a day extreme focus.

The pinky will develop strength and accuracy over time — chip away at it.

I have been asked to comment further on the idea of talking your fingers into position.

Essentially, Denis Azabagic told me that it is advantageous to give your fingers (and any other arm/body movement) an ‘out loud’ running commentary when struggling with passages of music that are tricky for you. I find that when I really slow down and deeply look at what’s required to play the passage I often spot efficient fingerings that had I been rushing would not reveal themselves. If you add to this a spoken commentary whilst you are doing it then it seems to really help instruct the brain.

When I had classical lesson with Mr Azabagic he was absolutely resolute in his belief that that any difficult passage can be overcome with slow, focused attention to detail and I’ve certainly become a better player because of this.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Mojo21

I have been asked to comment further on the idea of talking your fingers into position.

Essentially, Denis Azabagic told me that it is advantageous to give your fingers (and any other arm/body movement) an ‘out loud’ running commentary when struggling with passages of music that are tricky for you. I find that when I really slow down and deeply look at what’s required to play the passage I often spot efficient fingerings that had I been rushing would not reveal themselves. If you add to this a spoken commentary whilst you are doing it then it seems to really help instruct the brain.

When I had classical lesson with Mr Azabagic he was absolutely resolute in his belief that that any difficult passage can be overcome with slow, focused attention to detail and I’ve certainly become a better player because of this.

This is just halfway true. Learning something on your own where you are trying to figure out the best way to finger
something (and how long to hold notes and accent them) I helps to play intermittently more up to tempo to discover
what is most likely to work up to tempo and how you want to phrase it musically. That way you won't be practicing
some way of playing at slow tempo that can not work when played more up to tempo.

[Deliberate1]

I am in the same boat as the OP, though I am about 5 months into my guitar life. At my weekly music gathering last week, I noticed that the other players were using the pinky to fret the 1st string, but I wasn't. When I tried it, I found it to be a challenge just to get the spread to get the finger to the string. I did not have the range of motion between the pinky and ring finger. So I have been warming up the digit by bending it all the way closed. And with the remaining fingers straight up and extended back, I press on the pinky to keep it compressed. For whatever reason, this has had the effect of stretching the ligaments on a way that has improved the range of motion, making it significantly easier to do the spread to reach the string. Now I just have to work on eliminating the 2-3 point landing. Adding that one to the list....

Originally Posted by rick-slo

This is just halfway true. Learning something on your own where you are trying to figure out the best way to finger
something (and how long to hold notes and accent them) I helps to play intermittently more up to tempo to discover
what is most likely to work up to tempo and how you want to phrase it musically. That way you won't be practicing
some way of playing at slow tempo that can not work when played more up to tempo.

You could of course be correct but from my experience when I really slow down and work out the real detail of how to play what I am perhaps struggling with I always find that the solution at an incredibly slow tempo works beautifully at full tempo. For me it has been a genuine game changer so many times.