pinkie?

[SKATE RAT]

seriously,how often do you guys use your pinkie?

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Hardly ever used it at first but it's my most calloused finger now.

[rahock]

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
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
Rick

[godofthunder]

 I can't really say how often but it is in the mix some where, especially for those long reaches.

[lowend1]

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.

[Hornisse]

I've got small mits so I use it all the time.  Especially doing octaves.

[Highlander]

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...

[Dave W]

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.

[birdie]

i knew a girl who would make yer pinkie stinky

[Highlander]

... an' a Texan birdie (ask a German about "VOGEL") went for her lickety-splitly... 

[Chris P.]

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

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.

[Highlander]

Powerball...? is that some kind of rampant-rabbit...?

[TBird1958]

 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.  

[Dave W]

i knew a girl who would make yer pinkie stinky

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

[birdie]

... an' a Texan birdie (ask a German about "VOGEL") went for her lickety-splitly...  

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..