seriously,how often do you guys use your pinkie?
Hardly ever used it at first but it's my most calloused finger now.
I recently got one of those Varigrip hand excercisers that you often see in music stores. I always thought they were ridiculous until I tried one.
I work out regularly , I've been playing bass for over 40 years and I have pretty strong hands. These Varigrip things allow you to work each finger individually. Any other hand excerciser I've ever seen works your entire hand as one group of muscles. When you work your pinky individually, you will be amazed at how weak and uncoordinated it is :o
Almost every stringed instrument player tends to use their ring finger to support the pinky most of the time . Strenghtening your pinky will provide you with greater dexterity and you will use it more.
Playing scales for hours on end is a good thing for strength and dexterity but it is nothing compared to isolating that little finger and working it out on it's own :).
Take your little girly man pinky and pump it up ;D
Rick
I can't really say how often but it is in the mix some where, especially for those long reaches. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/IMG_7370.jpg)
Actually, my index and pinkie are the two fingers on my fretting hand that I use the most. Where alot of players use their ring finger to make a two fret stretch (like 3rd to 5th fret), I tend to cram my whole mitt into that space. I use the more "conventional" method when I'm up above the 12th fret. I can't explain why I do it this way, but it seems to better facilitate left (fretting) hand muting, so that may be part of it.
I've got small mits so I use it all the time. Especially doing octaves.
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/Front%20Page/l_31b4f0c883e5425ab1c85d1bfba045bd1.jpg)
I'll do chording or runs, even on the fretless, so the pinkie gets it's use, and I practice using all the fingers on the other hand for playing too... the Hohner is a double octave neck, so I was quite guilty of a lot of work past the 12th, too... just not so much with this lot...
I do use it quite a bit because I can't stretch my fingers as far as a lot of guys even though my hands are average size. OTOH it's not something I really notice or make a conscious effort to use.
i knew a girl who would make yer pinkie stinky :mrgreen:
... an' a Texan birdie (ask a German about "VOGEL") went for her lickety-splitly... ;)
Kenny! You always make me laugh!!:D
I use two fingers on my right hand: Index and middle finger and I can play fingerstyle faster than some pick guys. Yeah, come on with the jokes about why girls love me ;D
But left I only use index, middle and ring finger, sometimes the last to as one;) So I do a lot of sliding. No power in my pinky.
I used a powerball for a while, but just for fun.
Powerball...? is that some kind of rampant-rabbit...?
Being Ambidextrous has it's advantages, especially for certain "activities" ;)
On my fretting hand I do regularly use my pinkie, on my picking hand my pinkie's outside edge is very calloused from rubbing across the top of my wonderful chromey 3 point bridge.
Quote from: birdie on September 12, 2009, 10:08:17 AM
i knew a girl who would make yer pinkie stinky :mrgreen:
That reminds me of a girl nicknamed Twinkie, "friend" of a former coworker. She had a certain talent...
Quote from: Kenny Five-O on September 12, 2009, 03:00:12 PM
... an' a Texan birdie (ask a German about "VOGEL") went for her lickety-splitly... ;)
zzinng!! i like that remark!! 8)
all seriousness aside, i took a few lessons w/ gary willis. if you are familiar w/ him you will notice he has invented his own way of playing whereby he assigns a finger-or thumb- to each string (he plays a 5).
i have had that in the back of my mind ever since, although my main direction is still much more jamerson, rocco prestia, 2 finger style. i can get pretty damn quick w/ em too. like fast up-down picking without the click..
Quote from: Dave W on September 12, 2009, 04:33:28 PM
That reminds me of a girl nicknamed Twinkie, "friend" of a former coworker. She had a certain talent...
pray tell me more....
Quote from: birdie on September 12, 2009, 05:43:37 PM
zzinng!! i like that remark!! 8)
all seriousness aside, i took a few lessons w/ gary willis. if you are familiar w/ him you will notice he has invented his own way of playing whereby he assigns a finger-or thumb- to each string (he plays a 5).
i have had that in the back of my mind ever since, although my main direction is still much more jamerson, rocco prestia, 2 finger style. i can get pretty damn quick w/ em too. like fast up-down picking without the click..
I know a woman who was in a punk/pop girl band for a year or two, she always played with one finger per string. But she was a classically trained harpist (and a good one) so it was easy for her.
Quote from: birdie on September 12, 2009, 05:47:10 PM
pray tell me more....
Twinkie got her nickname because she could poke a small hole in the end of a Twinkie and suck all the filling out without damaging it. Lots of fun at parties. You don't run across a talent like that very often. ;D
Don't tell yer girlfriend how to suck twinkies...? an interesting paraphrase... ;)
We don't get Twinkies over here... period... :o
Quote from: Dave W on September 12, 2009, 09:35:26 PM
Twinkie got her nickname because she could poke a small hole in the end of a Twinkie and suck all the filling out without damaging it. Lots of fun at parties. You don't run across a talent like that very often. ;D
At least not at our age you don't.
I learned to play with my fretting-hand thumb wrapped over the top of the neck, so it was a major adjustment for me to start using my pinkie. I have huge palms and short fingers -- it runs in the family -- so anything that extends my reach is a good thing.
i also have small,dare i say "girlie"? :-* hands...gary also showed me some cool stretch exercises to extend and incorporate that pinkie.
couldn't play w/out it if i tried, now.
My pinkie has as hard a callous as my index finger. My ring finger hardly gets any use. Not sure why that's the case, because if I pick up my acoustic guitar the ring finger gets used much more than the pinkie.
the reason i started this thread is that in the last 2 years i find myself using my pinkie a lot.i didn't use it much in the past.not really sure why. i've noticed that my style has changed a lot.but subconsiously.weird.
I use the pinkie finger all the time - but I use four-digit fingering, so it follows.
Seriously, why would I NOT use the fourth finger? It extends the reach and there's plenty of strength in the pinkie finger to play any note on an electric bass with a setup worthy of the name.
Quote from: SKATE RAT on September 14, 2009, 12:41:01 AM
the reason i started this thread is that in the last 2 years i find myself using my pinkie a lot.i didn't use it much in the past.not really sure why. i've noticed that my style has changed a lot.but subconsiously.weird.
i would suggest that your technique is evolving in a good way! :)
in the past i used my pinkie only when i had to.now i use it eveytime i go 4 frets away.another way my playing has evolved is that i moved totally away from the bridge.i pick btwn the neck and pup.the strings on my main bass are almost 3 years old. and i play the shit outta that thing.i mean like thrash punk, heavy shit and i was in a band as a guitar player for 10 months we practiced once a week for 3 hours and did 12 gigs,i only broke 1 string the whole time.and they were already a few months old when i started playing with that band.now that i think about it it's probably because of playing guitar that i'm using my pinkie more from playing chords.
My technique is very much "4 fingers, 4 frets" so yeah ..... pinky's in use regularly.
About 90% of my playing time now is on the upright, so the pinkie gets a lot of use. Some of that 1-2-4 technique I carry over to electric.
Quote from: SKATE RAT on September 12, 2009, 12:30:05 AM
seriously,how often do you guys use your pinkie?
You're kidding, right? ??? :mrgreen:
I use it a lot.
Quote from: Pilgrim on September 14, 2009, 10:30:45 AM
I use the pinkie finger all the time - but I use four-digit fingering, so it follows.
Seriously, why would I NOT use the fourth finger? It extends the reach and there's plenty of strength in the pinkie finger to play any note on an electric bass with a setup worthy of the name.
I'm the same as Al, Finger per fret trained so I use my pinky all the time. I switch between that and a 3 fret box blues style constantly without thinking about it these days. (more due to laziness than class). ;)
I have arthritis in the main joint in said same pinky and struggle a bit some nights. Damn what a drag it is getting old 8)
"Damn what a drag it is getting old"
please, don't remind me-today i am (gulp) 54 years old!!??!!
Happy "birday" to you! :toast:
Happy birthday old man!! ;)
Quote from: birdie on September 15, 2009, 11:11:59 PM
"Damn what a drag it is getting old"
please, don't remind me-today i am (gulp) 54 years old!!??!!
Hah. I'm 59. You yonkers don't know yer place. (Hawk, spit, cough...)
Quote from: birdie on September 15, 2009, 11:11:59 PM
"Damn what a drag it is getting old"
please, don't remind me-today i am (gulp) 54 years old!!??!!
Not far behind you.....I turned 51, 12 days ago................... Sucks!
Crabby old farts! :mrgreen: Next thing you know, you'll be saying "The problem with young people today is..." :P
Quote from: Dave W on September 12, 2009, 09:31:22 PM
I know a woman who was in a punk/pop girl band for a year or two, she always played with one finger per string. But she was a classically trained harpist (and a good one) so it was easy for her.
Jack Bruce and Sting do that too, it's a very traditional/ancient way of playing a stringed instrument.
I use my pinkie more than my middle finger when fretting. As regards other activities I tend to switch between the two with no complaints so far.
Quote from: uwe on September 17, 2009, 08:19:43 AM
I use my pinkie more than my middle finger when fretting. As regards other activities I tend to switch between the two with no complaints so far.
That sounds interesting.
You live and learn.
Still feeling a young 50... ;D
(Damn... where did I leave the Zimmer...?)
Many happies, Birdie... ;)
HAppy Birthday Birdie !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not far behind you at 50.
wow! Thank you all for the good wishes (been away from the board a couple of days)
"every day is a gift" has been this weeks favorite cliche.....
cliches are true though! that's why they are cliches!
Alot, on both hands