I KNEW THAT VOICE AUTOMATICALLY!!! YOU ARE MY TEACHER ON YOUSICIAN. I've had it for 2 years. Everything u said was me! And I thank u so much for adding some of the tips that others HAS FORGOT. Like the finger flailing & the angles of the thumb & hand position. Its the smallest of things that can make the difference in good technique & sucky technique. Thanks again!!! Ur a great teacher.
@@admharrr1038 No, I don't mind at all. I am actually doing good. I'm level 7 now. Tbh, life got in the way so there were times, months even that I had to set the guitar down. Once I had surgery on my arm & another time I was having family issues. I will give you a tip tho...its one that I wished someone would've gave me. Due to having to pay, I was trying to rush thru it hoping that I wouldn't have to pay another year. Well, I did. I am now going back to the beginning becuz feel as if I am not where I need to me. But DO NOT RUSH if you have Yousician. Well, don't rush period. Ok. Don't make the same mistake I did. I hope that helps. Let me know your progress if u don't care. Good luck to ya. :) And take care!
@@admharrr1038 You are very welcome. I just wanted to try to save someone else the trouble that I have went through with trying to rush through attaining the knowledge. Its SUPER important to really be good at a certain technique before u just move onto to the next song on the app. Yousician is amazing in the way that they can actually hear if you mess up. Versus the other online apps that can't do that. The best ones I think have an active one on one teacher everytime. I just couldn't afford those. They are expensive. But I wish ya the best on your journey!
This has been the most helpful advice for getting my pinky to work. Years of pinky exercises don't do you any good if your hand is in the wrong position because you'll end up using the wrong muscles to move the pinky and it only creates tension against the other fingers which fatigues you, slows you down, and causes injury long term.
The angle of attack of my pinky finger is different than other fingers. Is that normal ? I can see that all your finger attack the string in a similar angle. Mine pinky just takes a different angle. What to do ?
Every time I watch one of these videos I come away thinking other people must have completely different hands. It's almost impossible to even get my thumb in line with my middle finger to begin with, much less keep it there.
takes a lot of practice because you've never used your hands in these ways before and have no control until you build up the finger strength and dexterity, which takes time.
I've heard some "teachers" say, "You can develop as much control in your pinky as in your other fingers," but I've been training my pinky about 3X more than other fingers for many years and my pinky is still not anywhere near the control of my other fingers. If anyone has any insights into that, let me know. Actually, my pinky is pretty good, but only for about 1/20th of the duration of other fingers. So, say, a trill between 3rd and 4th finger, maybe can go 10 to 15 seconds at speed, whereas my other fingers, say 1 and 2, or 1 and 3, can do it forever. The 4th finger just seems to exhaust way quicker for some reason. Maybe it's just me.
Everyone's fingers anatomy is different. I'm definitely at a disadvantage if compared to other people, a bunch of people that plays good could have a faulty pinky that they've solved. But sometimes you kind of just have to live with it and find a way around it when/if you can. Some teachers have perfect pinky for playing guitars, therefore, they might not know what it feels like to have an actual problem in your pinky's anatomy, but I know how that feels because my right pinky has normal joint while me left one has a locking joint. My left pinky middle joint always locks in a straight position when it's trying to fret a far string, I have to bring my knuckle way closer to that string. That is how my pinky has hampered my playing, a lot worse than yours I'd say. If there are prodigies or gifted people, there are also non prodigies and non-gifted people, I guess.
Piano or guitar it's all about making all the fingers developed equal strength and control. But the problem is they r different by anatomy. We should make sure they behave the same
Those teachers are imagining a perfect scenario with optimal biology in a very young student. In other words, they're saying something unrealistic for most students.
Try playing bass for a bit. Bigger frets give you the incentive for wanting more reach, and heavier strings help to build pinky strength up quicker. Start with using your pinky to feet the notes that are two frets up from your index finger, using your ring finger as a brace if you need to, until you don't anymore. Then be amazed at how useful that little guy becomes.
Great instruction! I have no problem working the index to pinky run across the neck. The issue is at 6:10. Once I begin using all 4 fingers across the fingerboard, by pinky tends to curl underneath my ring finger instead of reaching to the fret across from it. What to do? It is killing me.
I m self taught nepali guy...20 yrs now Hailing from a small state North East of India- Sikkim. learning music was a privilege that was absolutely rare during the 90's owning an Indian crafted acoustic guitar again pretty rare .. had to borrow from another village at times guitars that had just 5 strings on them.. an electric guitar was the dearest of fantasies.. But yeah against all odds I did discover a lot about music through guitar, learning all the while by ears n whatever pirated rock bands we cud get our hands on.. N m pretty happy n proud of my accomplishments,.. just for one thing though- no one taught me how to pick or position my hands and fingers now it seems I have this pinky problem m gud at what I do but yes the pinky kinda just flies off every now n then.. N I totally agree with u the positioning of the thumb matters a lot like it's a lot easier for Legato , triplets and quadruplets when the thumb is flat and the fingers are slant, it gets a lot of friction and power but then the pinky stretches a lot so in order to minimize this the positioning of the thumb should be straight and only the fingertips should touch the fret and a good gap should be maintained by the rest of the fingers from the fret.. Thank You for ur lesson.. M still learning that's all I do😅 P.S -sorry if I messed up the comment section with my short his-story n thank u for having a read KEEP PRACTISING MUSIC IS LIFE WE ARE ALL BLESSED TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING MAGICAL 🤘🏻🤘🏻🍻 🍻
Practice does not "make perfect", "Perfect practice makes Perfect". The best is to learn "classical" guitar technique as a starting point to developing good playing habits.
My fingers are a lot shorter than yours. Very small hands. So option 3 is difficult for me, as my fingers really have to stretch to play 4 frets simultaneously. B minor is my Achilles heel, getting that pinky across.
holy shit thank you so much for pointing out that thumb dilemma ive had so much trouble with accuarcy and it really helped. feel so stupid for not noticing it myself 😅 its always the small things, cheers!
At the 0:23 mark, your little finger is going STRAIGHT across the finger board to the low E as is the ring finger. My little finger will not do this. With my ring finger just as yours is, my little finger wants to curl INWARD towards my ring finger. Any ideas before I consult a hand surgeon or a physical therapist?
Is it normal to feel pain at the middle joint/knuckle of my pinky on my fretting hand? It feels almost like I jammed the top portion of my pinky into my middle knuckle, not sure if it’s because I’m pressing too hard or if it’s normal for players who have a weak pinky/ring finger to feel sore after practicing?
Nice video! could you explain the same but this time in higher frets, I'm not 100% sure how should I set my hand, I've tried a lot of positions, none of them useful to reach strings with my pinky
Remember, this will not work for everyone! I play with my thumb on the back of the neck with my wrist all bent up. My thumb won't stretch to where my middle finger is. Some of the best guitar players out there use "bad" technique! Just use whatever is comfortable to you
Can fingers be too shorts to play guitar? Im playing since a couple of years and ive always struggled with basics songs and locked chord, after about 3-4 years playing i got confortable with them, but now im getting in advanced songs and i feel like my pinky is too short for easy advanced songs (like time in a bottle where you have basic fingers down the strings for chord and a pattern with the pinky up the heavy strings, my pinky driving me insane)
Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce is a big pinky stretch for anyone, it's tricky! It's possible that your pinky is too short for that song, but for most people it's a matter of finding the right technique, especially using a low thumb position when you need to play that low pinky note (at least half way down the back of the neck). Also the size of your guitar neck will make a big difference - maybe try a guitar with a smaller neck if you have one? Either way, the good news is that very few songs have that big a pinky-stretch, and your fingers definitely won't be too short to play guitar overall. :-)
I need to curl my fingers so much to not touch other strings.. How are u playing with ur finger without touching other sttings esp without tips but pulp of finger
When playing lead like this, there's no need to avoid touching other strings. It's actually good - it helps prevent the other strings from ringing out accidentally. The only time you'd want to curl your fingers to avoid touching other strings is when you want those strings to ring out, e.g. when playing cowboy chords. Hope that helps! :-)
@@jamesneilsonguitar that helps bigtime.. Can u comment about playing with finger tips or pulp. Now my finger tips are keratinised but before that it was like self torture to hit the tensed acoustic guitar strings. So now i play with tips, but i want to know ur comment.
I've seen a lot of guitarist, and I mean good guitarists ignoring completely the pinky, using the other 3 finger and due to that the hand its really moved in angle. I even started to think I was the problem and came to a begginers lesson to check out lol
I dont know why but when I let go of the pinky to play another note with other fingers it just goes up way to high off the fretboard. that's what I want to stop it from doing. I dont know why it wont listen and stay were I want it to. your lucky yours stays realy close to the wood. I dont know maybe it just doesn't want to play lol and I have been playing for years.
Great point! When your hand is nice and relaxed, it's normal for the pinky to naturally sit further away from the strings than the other fingers, especially when it's not being used. If you carefully watch great players, almost everyone does this. But, if your pinky is actively flying away from the strings because of excess tension, that's usually a problem. You can usually tell the difference by checking whether your pinky is relaxed with a curve, or sticking out straight. So, my advice would be to focus on minimising tension and keeping a relaxed hand position rather than minimising distance from the strings itself. Hope that helps.
I can't see any improvement. No matter what I do my pinky collapse every time I press hard. It gets difficult for me to play chords like C7, B7, and even the F chord. When I play scales or any thing that uses my pinky, the pinky finger just collapse and touches other strings also. I try to fix it everytime but it keeps on collapsing everytime. All other 3 fingers are fine but this little pinky causes problems everytime. Plz help people. Suggest your ways to fix this.
Hi, great question! Collapsing the last joint like that is a slightly different issue, so I'd suggest trying two things... 1. Try not to press too hard. Experiment with pressing lighter and lighter until the note starts buzzing - you'll often find that you're pressing a lot harder than you need to, which is causing the pinky to collapse. 2. Try to 'activate' the muscles that control that last joint, as they may not be engaging when you play (which makes the last joint collapse). One good way is to pretend you're about to do something that naturally activates those muscles, e.g. imagine squeezing a ball with your fingertips, or pretending you're about to pull a string down towards the floor with your pinky fingertip. When you understand the feeling of those muscles activating, you should be able to activate them enough when playing to avoid the pinky collapsing. But, remember it's not actually about building "strength" per se: you've already got *way* more strength in your pinky than you need for guitar playing, it's just about finding the technique that works for you.
Out of curiosity, i tend to have minimal gaps between my palm and the guitar neck moving towards the thicker strings, but towards the thicker strings, i noticed that you tend to bend your wrist to maintain that gap but from several videos ive seen that the bending of the wrist is bad and could lead to injuries. Im currently learning guitar and trying to improve my pinky, but it becomes a problem on the 6th string cause it cant reach so it tends to mute the 5th string, do you have any tips without applying too much bending on the wrist whilst maintaining the gap?
Hi, great question! :-) Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds to me like you're trying to avoid muting the 5th string when you play the 6th string, so you're needing to bend your wrist a lot to make that happen? The good news is that it's completely fine to mute the 5th string with you're playing single notes like this - not sure if you can see it in the video, but I do that too. If you play with the pinky happily muting the 5th string, it should be much easier on your wrist. BTW you'd only want to avoid muting the 5th string if you're playing a chord that requires that string too, which is very uncommon when using the pinky on the 6th string (and would require a big wrist bend so people avoid it). When playing single notes, muting adjacent strings is good, as it helps reduce unwanted noise.
James Neilson Yes that is exactly my question, it usually happens when im trying to pick each notes at a time, it becomes a problem when learning scales, scales that ive seen require the pinky to go on the 6th string, the muting happens in the transition between the pinky on 6th string then picking the 5th string with the 1st finger while my pinky is still on the sixth string, or is it better to just let go of the 6th string when picking the 5th, is that the normal way to do it? , sorry if my description is quite confusing 😅 Oh and its really hard to maintain the gap without the bending of the wrist on the thicker strings, from my understanding its to ensure mobility of the fingers, is there any other way to do it?
I've had students with a very short or injured pinky - if that's the case for you, then you can always find ways to get the other fingers to help out (check out Django Reinhardt). Sometimes people feel that their pinky can't reach higher, but it's actually thumb/hand/wrist position more than the pinky itself. A good way to tell the difference between physical limitation vs hand position is to measure the distance between the E-strings - if your pinky is longer than that (from knuckle to tip), you'll be able to physically reach all the strings by experimenting with your hand position. Hope that helps! 🙂
I see what you mean, but it's not actually dirty... :-) The fretboard is worn from playing it a lot over many years, which is normal on guitars with a maple fretboard and very thin vintage-style finish like mine.
Fretboards are normally finished with different oils or lacquers (not paint). The thick strong lacquers look very clean and last for a long time but can feel sticky, and light oils tend to get worn out, but feel very smooth and natural. Vintage-style guitars like mine tend to use very light finishes, so this is how they look when they've been played a lot - the finish starts to wear off, and they become increasingly comfortable to play, like some worn-in jeans. There are lots of famous examples, e.g. Eric Clapton, SRV, John Frusciante, Malmsteen, etc. Some people like the look! ;-)
Even though this is years old, it’s still the best video for anyone starting and or trying to resolve angled pinky fingers.
I KNEW THAT VOICE AUTOMATICALLY!!! YOU ARE MY TEACHER ON YOUSICIAN. I've had it for 2 years. Everything u said was me! And I thank u so much for adding some of the tips that others HAS FORGOT. Like the finger flailing & the angles of the thumb & hand position. Its the smallest of things that can make the difference in good technique & sucky technique. Thanks again!!! Ur a great teacher.
hey um may i know how well you are playing after 2 years of yousician?Im a beginner btw :)
@@admharrr1038 No, I don't mind at all. I am actually doing good. I'm level 7 now. Tbh, life got in the way so there were times, months even that I had to set the guitar down. Once I had surgery on my arm & another time I was having family issues. I will give you a tip tho...its one that I wished someone would've gave me. Due to having to pay, I was trying to rush thru it hoping that I wouldn't have to pay another year. Well, I did. I am now going back to the beginning becuz feel as if I am not where I need to me. But DO NOT RUSH if you have Yousician. Well, don't rush period. Ok. Don't make the same mistake I did. I hope that helps. Let me know your progress if u don't care. Good luck to ya. :) And take care!
@@mrs.hollerbredkennels-jana7891 Thank you for the tip😇I hope you can get through all your life obstacles and be safe😇
@@admharrr1038 You are very welcome. I just wanted to try to save someone else the trouble that I have went through with trying to rush through attaining the knowledge. Its SUPER important to really be good at a certain technique before u just move onto to the next song on the app. Yousician is amazing in the way that they can actually hear if you mess up. Versus the other online apps that can't do that. The best ones I think have an active one on one teacher everytime. I just couldn't afford those. They are expensive. But I wish ya the best on your journey!
@@admharrr1038 And thank u too btw.
This has been the most helpful advice for getting my pinky to work. Years of pinky exercises don't do you any good if your hand is in the wrong position because you'll end up using the wrong muscles to move the pinky and it only creates tension against the other fingers which fatigues you, slows you down, and causes injury long term.
i almost broke my fucking hand slamming it on the table from getting frustrated.
Me too, i fking hate it
I feel that!
I think my fingers are crooked
i cant stop laughing, relate
Both mine bend inwards 🥲
@@chriistianrodriguez8311 mine too, what is the solution to this, can that be changed?
+James Neilson When I play solos, my pinky sticks with my ring finger. How do I fix this?
This is very helpful. I now realize I’ve never moved my thumb enough When trying to change chords as a beginning senior. Thank you.
Thanks, glad it's helpful! 👍
You are my savior I was struggling with this. The way u explained fixed my problem. Subscribing you please keep teaching
I realize that you are the teacher guy in yousician app. I like you voice so much.
no wonder why that voice sounds familiar
My pinky is a jerk :(
@@RoyyGn I can play Crazy Train just barely
You earned a sub.. seriously I dont understand how you dont have like thousands of views on this
The angle of attack of my pinky finger is different than other fingers. Is that normal ? I can see that all your finger attack the string in a similar angle. Mine pinky just takes a different angle. What to do ?
Got any answe
Every time I watch one of these videos I come away thinking other people must have completely different hands. It's almost impossible to even get my thumb in line with my middle finger to begin with, much less keep it there.
takes a lot of practice because you've never used your hands in these ways before and have no control until you build up the finger strength and dexterity, which takes time.
I never managed it. 25+ years of playing and my hand won't do that.
I've heard some "teachers" say, "You can develop as much control in your pinky as in your other fingers," but I've been training my pinky about 3X more than other fingers for many years and my pinky is still not anywhere near the control of my other fingers. If anyone has any insights into that, let me know. Actually, my pinky is pretty good, but only for about 1/20th of the duration of other fingers. So, say, a trill between 3rd and 4th finger, maybe can go 10 to 15 seconds at speed, whereas my other fingers, say 1 and 2, or 1 and 3, can do it forever. The 4th finger just seems to exhaust way quicker for some reason. Maybe it's just me.
Everyone's fingers anatomy is different. I'm definitely at a disadvantage if compared to other people, a bunch of people that plays good could have a faulty pinky that they've solved. But sometimes you kind of just have to live with it and find a way around it when/if you can. Some teachers have perfect pinky for playing guitars, therefore, they might not know what it feels like to have an actual problem in your pinky's anatomy, but I know how that feels because my right pinky has normal joint while me left one has a locking joint.
My left pinky middle joint always locks in a straight position when it's trying to fret a far string, I have to bring my knuckle way closer to that string. That is how my pinky has hampered my playing, a lot worse than yours I'd say.
If there are prodigies or gifted people, there are also non prodigies and non-gifted people, I guess.
@PPM Have a look at Perfecto de Castro 's channel, his pinky exercise.
Piano or guitar it's all about making all the fingers developed equal strength and control. But the problem is they r different by anatomy. We should make sure they behave the same
Those teachers are imagining a perfect scenario with optimal biology in a very young student.
In other words, they're saying something unrealistic for most students.
Try playing bass for a bit. Bigger frets give you the incentive for wanting more reach, and heavier strings help to build pinky strength up quicker. Start with using your pinky to feet the notes that are two frets up from your index finger, using your ring finger as a brace if you need to, until you don't anymore.
Then be amazed at how useful that little guy becomes.
Great instruction! I have no problem working the index to pinky run across the neck. The issue is at 6:10.
Once I begin using all 4 fingers across the fingerboard, by pinky tends to curl underneath my ring finger instead of reaching to the fret across from it. What to do? It is killing me.
I have that problem. It's permanent for me. I can't undo 50 years of biology.
@@mattgilbert7347im still young and i have this problem is there a way to fix it?
This was exactly what I was looking for. It will still take some practice, but at least I have my technique right!
My pinky is either messed up or broken it doesn’t bend smoothly it snaps into place one sudden jump from straight to bent
Mine seems to do that too, like my joint snaps and I get sore pain in my middle knuckle of my pinky
This helped me a ton, Thank you 🙏.
Thanks very much, glad it helped! 🙂
I m self taught nepali guy...20 yrs now
Hailing from a small state North East of India- Sikkim.
learning music was a privilege that was absolutely rare during the 90's owning an Indian crafted acoustic guitar again pretty rare .. had to borrow from another village at times guitars that had just 5 strings on them.. an electric guitar was the dearest of fantasies.. But yeah against all odds I did discover a lot about music through guitar, learning all the while by ears n whatever pirated rock bands we cud get our hands on.. N m pretty happy n proud of my accomplishments,.. just for one thing though- no one taught me how to pick or position my hands and fingers now it seems I have this pinky problem m gud at what I do but yes the pinky kinda just flies off every now n then.. N I totally agree with u the positioning of the thumb matters a lot like it's a lot easier for Legato , triplets and quadruplets when the thumb is flat and the fingers are slant, it gets a lot of friction and power but then the pinky stretches a lot so in order to minimize this the positioning of the thumb should be straight and only the fingertips should touch the fret and a good gap should be maintained by the rest of the fingers from the fret.. Thank You for ur lesson.. M still learning that's all I do😅
P.S -sorry if I messed up the comment section with my short his-story n thank u for having a read
KEEP PRACTISING MUSIC IS LIFE WE ARE ALL BLESSED TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING MAGICAL
🤘🏻🤘🏻🍻 🍻
Practice does not "make perfect", "Perfect practice makes Perfect". The best is to learn "classical" guitar technique as a starting point to developing good playing habits.
Thank you sir. And classical guitar sounds sweet
My fingers are a lot shorter than yours. Very small hands. So option 3 is difficult for me, as my fingers really have to stretch to play 4 frets simultaneously. B minor is my Achilles heel, getting that pinky across.
I love this fretboard
holy shit thank you so much for pointing out that thumb dilemma ive had so much trouble with accuarcy and it really helped. feel so stupid for not noticing it myself 😅 its always the small things, cheers!
Thanks for this! I have pinky problems!
It's the SpongeBob exercise 😂
this was extremely helpful!
At the 0:23 mark, your little finger is going STRAIGHT across the finger board to the low E as is the ring finger. My little finger will not do this. With my ring finger just as yours is, my little finger wants to curl INWARD towards my ring finger. Any ideas before I consult a hand surgeon or a physical therapist?
did you consult a surgeon or physical therapist?
Is it normal to feel pain at the middle joint/knuckle of my pinky on my fretting hand? It feels almost like I jammed the top portion of my pinky into my middle knuckle, not sure if it’s because I’m pressing too hard or if it’s normal for players who have a weak pinky/ring finger to feel sore after practicing?
My pinky has a mind of its own.
Nice video! could you explain the same but this time in higher frets, I'm not 100% sure how should I set my hand, I've tried a lot of positions, none of them useful to reach strings with my pinky
Fair dinkum! That unmistakable voice, it's Mr YOUSICIAN! I finally found you :)
Remember, this will not work for everyone! I play with my thumb on the back of the neck with my wrist all bent up. My thumb won't stretch to where my middle finger is. Some of the best guitar players out there use "bad" technique! Just use whatever is comfortable to you
Can fingers be too shorts to play guitar?
Im playing since a couple of years and ive always struggled with basics songs and locked chord, after about 3-4 years playing i got confortable with them, but now im getting in advanced songs and i feel like my pinky is too short for easy advanced songs (like time in a bottle where you have basic fingers down the strings for chord and a pattern with the pinky up the heavy strings, my pinky driving me insane)
Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce is a big pinky stretch for anyone, it's tricky! It's possible that your pinky is too short for that song, but for most people it's a matter of finding the right technique, especially using a low thumb position when you need to play that low pinky note (at least half way down the back of the neck). Also the size of your guitar neck will make a big difference - maybe try a guitar with a smaller neck if you have one? Either way, the good news is that very few songs have that big a pinky-stretch, and your fingers definitely won't be too short to play guitar overall. :-)
Thanks alot!
When he started doing the exercise all I could think about was “spongebob squarepants spongebob squarepants” 😂
It is natural when you bending notes the pinky is underneath?
I need to curl my fingers so much to not touch other strings..
How are u playing with ur finger without touching other sttings esp without tips but pulp of finger
When playing lead like this, there's no need to avoid touching other strings. It's actually good - it helps prevent the other strings from ringing out accidentally. The only time you'd want to curl your fingers to avoid touching other strings is when you want those strings to ring out, e.g. when playing cowboy chords. Hope that helps! :-)
@@jamesneilsonguitar that helps bigtime.. Can u comment about playing with finger tips or pulp.
Now my finger tips are keratinised but before that it was like self torture to hit the tensed acoustic guitar strings.
So now i play with tips, but i want to know ur comment.
My pinky locks up...what to do??
Looks like your not playing at the tips of your fingers are you touching the strings on to the side of the strings. Dose it matter
Getting that middle finger to relax is tough work
I need help doing hammerons and slides with pinky
And kids... this was how grandpa learnt to master the pinky
I just fixed my pinky, thanks a ton.
Im starting to think mu pinky is disabled bc its physically impossible for me to move it 2 frets away to my ring finger its very frustrating
I've seen a lot of guitarist, and I mean good guitarists ignoring completely the pinky, using the other 3 finger and due to that the hand its really moved in angle. I even started to think I was the problem and came to a begginers lesson to check out lol
I dont know why but when I let go of the pinky to play another note with other fingers it just goes up way to high off the fretboard. that's what I want to stop it from doing. I dont know why it wont listen and stay were I want it to. your lucky yours stays realy close to the wood. I dont know maybe it just doesn't want to play lol and I have been playing for years.
Great point! When your hand is nice and relaxed, it's normal for the pinky to naturally sit further away from the strings than the other fingers, especially when it's not being used. If you carefully watch great players, almost everyone does this. But, if your pinky is actively flying away from the strings because of excess tension, that's usually a problem. You can usually tell the difference by checking whether your pinky is relaxed with a curve, or sticking out straight. So, my advice would be to focus on minimising tension and keeping a relaxed hand position rather than minimising distance from the strings itself. Hope that helps.
Wait is this james from Yousician!?
I can't see any improvement. No matter what I do my pinky collapse every time I press hard. It gets difficult for me to play chords like C7, B7, and even the F chord. When I play scales or any thing that uses my pinky, the pinky finger just collapse and touches other strings also. I try to fix it everytime but it keeps on collapsing everytime. All other 3 fingers are fine but this little pinky causes problems everytime. Plz help people. Suggest your ways to fix this.
Hi, great question! Collapsing the last joint like that is a slightly different issue, so I'd suggest trying two things...
1. Try not to press too hard. Experiment with pressing lighter and lighter until the note starts buzzing - you'll often find that you're pressing a lot harder than you need to, which is causing the pinky to collapse.
2. Try to 'activate' the muscles that control that last joint, as they may not be engaging when you play (which makes the last joint collapse). One good way is to pretend you're about to do something that naturally activates those muscles, e.g. imagine squeezing a ball with your fingertips, or pretending you're about to pull a string down towards the floor with your pinky fingertip. When you understand the feeling of those muscles activating, you should be able to activate them enough when playing to avoid the pinky collapsing. But, remember it's not actually about building "strength" per se: you've already got *way* more strength in your pinky than you need for guitar playing, it's just about finding the technique that works for you.
5:18 Spongebob Squarepants Spongebob Squarepants
my pinky is so short I cannot do what you show us in the video!!
Every time I move my ring finger down my pinky goes with it.
Lol that was a little of the Australian National Anthem, at the end of the video.
Noice, mate!
all hail god! thank you my first guru! you are a life saver. thank you thank you thank you
I have mild clinodactyly, im doomed
Out of curiosity, i tend to have minimal gaps between my palm and the guitar neck moving towards the thicker strings, but towards the thicker strings, i noticed that you tend to bend your wrist to maintain that gap but from several videos ive seen that the bending of the wrist is bad and could lead to injuries.
Im currently learning guitar and trying to improve my pinky, but it becomes a problem on the 6th string cause it cant reach so it tends to mute the 5th string, do you have any tips without applying too much bending on the wrist whilst maintaining the gap?
Hi, great question! :-) Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds to me like you're trying to avoid muting the 5th string when you play the 6th string, so you're needing to bend your wrist a lot to make that happen? The good news is that it's completely fine to mute the 5th string with you're playing single notes like this - not sure if you can see it in the video, but I do that too. If you play with the pinky happily muting the 5th string, it should be much easier on your wrist.
BTW you'd only want to avoid muting the 5th string if you're playing a chord that requires that string too, which is very uncommon when using the pinky on the 6th string (and would require a big wrist bend so people avoid it). When playing single notes, muting adjacent strings is good, as it helps reduce unwanted noise.
James Neilson Yes that is exactly my question, it usually happens when im trying to pick each notes at a time, it becomes a problem when learning scales, scales that ive seen require the pinky to go on the 6th string, the muting happens in the transition between the pinky on 6th string then picking the 5th string with the 1st finger while my pinky is still on the sixth string, or is it better to just let go of the 6th string when picking the 5th, is that the normal way to do it? , sorry if my description is quite confusing 😅
Oh and its really hard to maintain the gap without the bending of the wrist on the thicker strings, from my understanding its to ensure mobility of the fingers, is there any other way to do it?
Holy mother of reliced
my pinky finger barely reaches the G string, fix that!
I've had students with a very short or injured pinky - if that's the case for you, then you can always find ways to get the other fingers to help out (check out Django Reinhardt).
Sometimes people feel that their pinky can't reach higher, but it's actually thumb/hand/wrist position more than the pinky itself.
A good way to tell the difference between physical limitation vs hand position is to measure the distance between the E-strings - if your pinky is longer than that (from knuckle to tip), you'll be able to physically reach all the strings by experimenting with your hand position.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Good Informative video Thanx !
I love the fact your strings are so close the fret board
get it setup
thank you so much!
nice explanation it helps
très bonne leçon de guitare !
I'm here for the pinky, but realised i never move my thumb. I give up.
Good instruction. Thanks.
thanks mate
Wow you solved my problem
Thanks, great to hear it helped! 🙂
5 years on and mine has gotten worse. Arthritis doesn't help.
Oh well. 3 out of 4 ain't bad.
SONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
4:27 SpongeBob SquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants
You sound like the guy that helps you In Yousician 🤨🤨
My pinkie just locks
Same, my left pinky locks with the slightest of force if it's in a straighter position. My right pinky however, can't lock at all.
thanks man, fixed the clicking in my pinky
My pinky is crooked I WANT TO BREAK IT!!!!
0:03 Is that a JoJo reference?
just keep your thumb behind the neck, that s all, all this bla bla bla🙃
God didn't give much thought while making fingers..guitarists are kinda rebellion..😅😅
thats not how to fix your pinky
Too much talk, instead
plz clean ur guitar
I see what you mean, but it's not actually dirty... :-) The fretboard is worn from playing it a lot over many years, which is normal on guitars with a maple fretboard and very thin vintage-style finish like mine.
James Neilson ooh i got it
any way nice lesson bro
James Neilson Can we paint the fretboard ?
Fretboards are normally finished with different oils or lacquers (not paint). The thick strong lacquers look very clean and last for a long time but can feel sticky, and light oils tend to get worn out, but feel very smooth and natural. Vintage-style guitars like mine tend to use very light finishes, so this is how they look when they've been played a lot - the finish starts to wear off, and they become increasingly comfortable to play, like some worn-in jeans. There are lots of famous examples, e.g. Eric Clapton, SRV, John Frusciante, Malmsteen, etc. Some people like the look! ;-)
Prob HEAVY relic job....
excellent information. thanks.