Ok so, just to start out, this is basically from a medical/psychological perspective, not a musical one.

As many of you know I play electric guitar. I have been trying to develop my technique with guidance from my teacher, but I'm having problems physically executing the exercise.

Essentially this is the error in my finger's movement that I am trying to correct:

The problem: When I lift my pinky up, it flies up and goes a good inch away from the fretboard, almost instantly due to excessive playing and muscle gain, but this is bad because it means that my finger has to travel a longer distance, and ideally the best technique is that with the least muscle use.

Solution is to practice moving my pinky (playing simple ascending licks, also you'd be using 2 other fingers (at least)) the tiniest bit.

The OTHER problem: I really, REALLY, cannot move my pinky tiny increments. Like it's to the point where if I begin to lift my pink up using the SMALLEST amount of mental force (is that what you'd call it?), it begins to move up at a steady rate, and then it just jerks and locks into place upward.

Halp? How do I reconfigure my brain/muscles to not do this =(

Once again, this isn't "art", don't move it.

From what I understand, besides simply practicing movements, is adjusting your technique to use more third finger than pinkey, and only use it for one fret above the third. If that is the only thing that can work, I pity you, as it reallllyyyy limits technique, especially with some chord shapes like the major seventh off the A string using a root of 4.

I think I know what you mean. There's a point where the muscles/tendons in the pinky are contracted, but the bone of the pinky is resting on the wrong side of the ligament, so as soon as you create enough force to slide the bone up it snaps back to the contracted size, instead of slowly moving along the whole path. Try stretching your pinky out, thats all I can think of. Make up pinky training exercizes.

I fail to understand what you're saying... There are chords that require all four fingers but are before the fourth fret... I'm practicing essentially shred guitar, that is, maximizing my ability and getting rid of any limitation. What I'm practicing isn't about chords so much as melody or single-voice lines.

Does it do it regardless of what you are doing with your hand, or strictly with the guitar? Try stretching it or extending it without the guitar.

Try relaxing your fretting hand between guitar practice. Sometimes the best way to relax is to switch the form of activity.

Practice simple scales slowly, focusing on relaxing your fingers and the arm as a whole.

This might be a very unusual case or it might be just a derivation of the standard: the pinky is the least developed finger and it needs more practice than the others.

This takes years to practice, especially for guitarists if they have been playing for a while to begin with and not necessarily using the correct techniques in placing fingers on the fretboard. I've been playing for 12 years and still my fucking pinky won't remain as close to the strings as other fingers.

A really good exercise a friend taught me was this: keep your thumb in the middle of the neck, and align your first to fourth fingers on the frets - just above the strings, not touching, but as close to the string as you can allowing you to play a clean open note. You might find that your pinky (or other fingers with less developed control muscles) shake or cannot remain still, in severe cases (under developed tendon control) you won't be able to play the open note since the pinky shakes so much that it touches the reverberating string.

What you do is simply hold your hand in this position for 30 seconds, then press each fret down singularly, one at a time briefly, and releasing the finger to its 'rest position' slightly above the string. Press the string to the fret harder than normal and do it as slowly as possible when releasing to ensure you maintain the 'rest position'.

A more intensive exercise is simply to play 3/4/3/4/3/4 on any string as quickly as you can ensuring you lift the pinky (fret 4) as little as possible, and keep the ring finger (fret 3) held in place.

Like I said, it takes years of doing this simple exercise to 'train' your fingers properly, don't expect results immediately.

Another thing to do is find chord shapes that use the pinky and transition between them slowly at first, building up strength and 'memory' reflex in the pinky so that it knows it has to move quicker (like the other figures do).

When you type at your keyboard do you touchtype? Make a conscious effort to use the pinky - pressing a, z q - maybe even w and s at times).

Edit: I play classical (nylon stringed) guitar but I'm sure this can be applied to electric and acoustic also.

Oh wow shit I was hoping I'd get some good stuff but this is above and beyond my expectations of SEN!

I also play classical guitar (my teacher sees it as invaluable to an aspiring guitarist, most likely because it's what he started with)

My keyboard technique is fucked up majorly. Like I seriously do not do anything right. Right hand I chicken peck with using like one finger, left hand I use near perfect technique. I still can type with a cap of like 110 words per minute (extremes).

I am not a beginner at guitar, so exercises involving finger strength are less useful for me. I am already damn fast. I just wanna not be limited and I want to play the way one should.

Thanks a ton man ;D

No problem, duderino.

also learn this:



and definitely learn this:


Tabs are generally available all over the interwebs, but sheet music is a must. Love rocking out the Bouree á la Tenacious D style "pewww boo ba boo bubhbubhubuh beep beep beeep beep bepepepepepepepepewww" or sommat like that


Also, I love how that video is allowed to be on, not only You-tube, but Vevo.