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How to strengthen pinkie finger.

M

mingus

One Stringer
Nov 26, 2019
2
1
Los Angeles
  • #1
    I recently noticed that my pinkie finger is very weak when compared to the rest of my fingers. I know that's probably a given but I felt that after years of playing it should be at least close to the strength of my other fingers. I feel it's limiting some licks I could play and my ease of playing fast. Does anyone have any tips/exercises to build strength in my pinkie finger? Thanks in advance!
     
    Reactions: Dominik Gräber

    idssdi

    Sold-out Crowd Surfer
    Nov 11, 2019
    5,336
    6,754
    Groningen
    11
  • #3
    Use it! That's by far the most important thing. It can be really annoying and frustrating at first but you need to use it to strengthen it.

    First, try to just do a simple exercise for example 5th fret, 6th fret, 7th fret, 8th fret on each string. Use first finger for 5th fret, second finger for 6th feet, third finger for 7th fret and pinky for 8th feet and do this for all string consecutively.

    After you're comfortable picking these, try it with hammer one. So pick the first note on each string an hammer on to the next. You can also change patterns if you'd like.
     
    Reactions: mingus
    T

    TheOneAndOnlyAJ

    Stairway to Heaven Tab Studier
    Jun 6, 2020
    8
    3
  • #4
    I've been the same way and the best tip besides practice with it that I have every heard is to make sure that your thumb is vertically aligned, as holding it up and down will give more control whereas holding it along the fretboard constricts certain movements. Just try it now and you can tell the difference, and you just need to be conscious of it while playing.
     
    Reactions: mingus

    Ezequiel Romanko

    Garage band Groupie
    Nov 11, 2019
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    Argentina
    10
  • #5
    A ton of great tips here! i will add one more tip that hasn't been said and it helped me a lot, watch this lesson https://syngates.com/lessons/alternate-picking-exercises-3-lesson-75.75/ and focus more on the 4123, 4132, 4213, 4231, 4312, 4321 excercises that will help your pinkie a lot! and remember it is not a thing that you will achieve in 2 or 3 days, you have to spent weeks or months to fully strengthen your pinkie! good luck bro!
     
    Reactions: mingus

    Ezequiel Romanko

    Garage band Groupie
    Nov 11, 2019
    491
    444
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    Argentina
    10
  • #6
    i forgot to said that you can also do, as Ids said its after you get really conformtable with it, it's doing it with legato too that its the most efficient way to do it imo
     
    Reactions: mingus

    Chris Johnston

    Music Theory Bragger
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    • Nov 11, 2019
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    North Ayrshire, Scotland
    14
  • #7
    I used to struggle with this loads and always brush up on it. Here's what I figured out that works for me:

    Practice very very slow to a slow click, and use WAY more strength than necessary (Say 200%) to fret your note with the pinky. Do this for a minute at a time and take regular breaks.

    This does 2 things:
    1. It forces you to use more strength than you'll ever need to fret the note.
    2. It sets your muscle memory with that overloaded strength, so that when you play properly and relax your fretting hand (Using the 100% strength you need to clearly fret a note), the right amount of strength will be left over and your pinky wont go weak/light on you.

    Hope this helps!
     
    Reactions: Ed Seith and Matt Wildcat

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