I’m hoping for some feedback on 1) how you might acheive this, 2) do others suffer this problem 3) is my finger just not designed the correct way
The Position
Ring finger G string 11th, middle finger B string 10th. Then during the pattern alternating on of with the Pinkie B string 12th and Index E string 9th. This is the Harvest Moon Intro/Riff.
The Problem
In the photo you can see that my Pinkie wants to ‘lean’ over and I can’t get it straight and parallel to the ring finger🤨 no matter where my thumb goes. My pinkie will sit parallel but only when its running alongside my ring finger all the way.
In the second photo it’s parallel but against the ring finger and I need it to be further over to the fret🫣
Anyway appreciate any comments, feedback & general discussion (thats why we’re part of a forum )
EDIT: And before everyone points out that this is not the fingering that Justin uses, yes, I realise that but let’s focus on that pinkie thing and not the way it’s played please Because the pinkie thing comes up in other playing too this is just a good example.
Craig, my pinky does that exact thing. I dislocated it severely years ago and thought it healed improperly. This is frustrating because it’s also difficult to keep my pinky in place on the e and B strings – it slides toward my hand, away from the fret. I’ll be following responses on this…so glad you asked!
This is absolutely normal pinky behaviour and simply a result of human anatomy. Keep your open hand in front of you and spread your fingers. Now close your hand. You’ll see that your fingers will gradually come together, ending in a fist. Your hand is made to tightly grab things, that’s why you see this.
As with spacing your middle and ring finge, finger stretching and finger independence exercises can help, but it will take time.
I like this instead of the first picture. Just try to push pinky finger against the metal strip and when you try that angle your fingers make with fretboard will increase.
Also play around with how much of palm or thumb is behind the fretboard.
I have the very same problem, Craig. I couldn’t describe it better than @judi. Especially the sliding aspect is annoying. And it causes lots of tension in my hand to work against the natural position
Hi Craig ,
I had the same problem and my ring finger still wants to take that same position towards the middel if I don’t think about it carefully enough even after a long long road … that stubborn little finger had a tendency to go under the ring finger and the ring finger naturally wants to hide under the middle finger… …maybe one of the hardest things I keep working on…but it works for the music I play now
Yes sometimes the pinkie has a mind all of it’s own, thanks at least I know most people have just experienced the same. I do finger stretching and will keep at it because I think it’s helping my finger control and placement.
We all have this.
In some stretched positions it’s a real problem.
What helps, IMO, is, first of all, control of such positions. Like, don’t let it slide, find a way of playing with a clean sound. Try different guitar positions, left hand position, even the order of putting the fingers on the frets (for example, start with the pinky and stretch all the others back).
Second of all, having a strong pinky helps. And the best exercise for this is hammer-ons and pull-offs, in my experience. 60 seconds of hammer-ons/pull-offs with a pinky. I couldn’t do it at first, it’s hard.
This is anatomy, but the “problem” is a direct function of the finger length. I observed different people making C shape barre chord where pinkie needs to fret A string and be curled enough not to mute the strings below. Short pinkie will almost always end far away from the fret, actually quite close to the other fret (closer to nut). People with longer pinkie will be able to nicely position the pinke very close to the fret. It is annoying, but so long we can find a way to play what is required, all is ok.
Question for @CD02 : does the note play cleanly, even if your pinky is not parallel? I ask, because my hand looks a lot like yours in the 1st photo and I have no trouble making the note ring out cleanly.
Same when I play a basic open E7 chord, with my pinky on fret 3 of the B string. The pinky doesn’t quite reach up to the fret wire, i.e. the optimal position, but the note rings out clean, so all is good.
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Because the pinkie thing comes up in other playing too this is just a good example. 
, thanks for stopping in and the feedback 
