pinkie?

[birdie]

That reminds me of a girl nicknamed Twinkie, "friend" of a former coworker. She had a certain talent...

pray tell me more....

[Dave W]

zzinng!! i like that remark!!
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.

[Dave W]

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.   

[Highlander]

Don't tell yer girlfriend how to suck twinkies...? an interesting paraphrase... 

We don't get Twinkies over here... period... 

[kungfusheriff]

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.   

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.

[birdie]

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.

[Aussie Mark]

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.

[SKATE RAT]

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.

[Pilgrim]

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.

[birdie]

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!

[SKATE RAT]

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.

[luve2fli]

My technique is very much "4 fingers, 4 frets" so yeah ..... pinky's in use regularly.

[ilan]

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.

[gearHed289]

seriously,how often do you guys use your pinkie?

You're kidding, right?   

I use it a lot.

[Freuds_Cat]

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