thank you, i think i understand it more now. thanks for the welcome and so far im having a lot of fun with guitar
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Would this be a particularly hard exercise to play on a dreadnought? I find I can only play the ring/little finger while holding my dreadnought in a classical style but it is fine while holding an electric.
Welcome Daniel. The difference in effort required is likely to be due to the difference in string gauges between the electric and dread, rather than the body size of each.
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What would be considered solid in this exercise and time for it to be moved out of the practice?
I seem to hvae a decent hold on my pinky and ring fingers moving, actually all of them at a slow steady pace, I have tried a little speed, more for later on when I know I need my fingers to move faster, but as an exercise, I do feel like I am at a point where in the next week or 2 this will be something I donât need to do?
Hey Bret,
If youâre feeling really comfortable with it there is no need to keep it in the schedule in my opinion. I do think there is an upkeep with some things though, and the pinky is one of them. So if you feel it ever getting a little sloppy due to lack of use, just pop it back into the schedule.
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hi all! i noticed when i do the pinky exercise the hardest seem to be between the ring and pinky. The middle and index to pinky seem easier. whats more i noticed when i do the ring to pinky transition my pinky i really canât keep it perpendicular to the fretboard. it has a tendency to âleanâ towards the body of the guitar if that makes sense. Iâve tried different ways to make it not do it but i canât control it LOL. Is this normal physical thing or does anyone have any tips to correct it if its not. Thanks in advance.
This is normal for many people. You should strive to get your pinky to stand up straighter, but donât obsess about it.
Iâve been learning for over 5 years now, and my pinky still lays down more thanIâd like it to.
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Hello everyone!
I have a similar problem to Aroo46.
When the 3rd and 4th fingers are playing together, everything is fine and the fingers are straight.
However, when the 2nd and 4th fingers are playing together, they separate, and I canât seem to fix it.
When the 1st and 4th fingers are playing together, they separate even more.
The fingers donât look like what Justin showed.
I read the previous comments and maybe the problem is stretching?
Although I donât seem to have any problems with it, or am I wrong?
Can you tell me what I need to do?
Hi!
Will anyone give me an answer?
Hi @Bor_MS
Your angles feel very awkward to me.
- You are hunched over the neck trying to get your fingers parallel to the frets. There is really no need to be parallel to the frets (except for finger 1 doing a barre). I come in at a bit of an angle starting on the head side and make sure I can place fingers on strings behind frets. For reference, look at where your fingers start at the first knuckle. There is no way spread those to match the fret, so not good expectation that fingers should all be parallel to the fret.
- You hold the head pretty low. This creates a severe supination on your hand and makes it so you wonât be able to reach as far as if the head were higher. For an extreme example, see how much better it is when you put the head near your shoulder in classical position. Try lifting the head a bit. Look at people playing in a band and see the angle of the guitar.
- You probably wonât find a need to have all four fingers down at the same time when playing. This is a stretching exercise, so treat it like an exercise. It will take weeks to have your body adapt to the stretch. It took me 6-8 weeks of short stretching sessions 2-3 times daily to reach from String 6 fret 5 to string 5 fret 10. It is still a good stretch, but I can play the song I was doing that work for.
- Recently, I have been adjusting the angle I push the neck away so it is at an angle to my shoulders. It helps a bit with wrist rotation. I need to reach forward a bit more with the fretting arm, but I can more comfortably place fingers. You can see if that helps in your case as well.
- Work to feel comfortable sitting up straight. You donât want to be hunched over. Try standing with a strap to hold the guitar.
- A good part of doing this is to improve independent finger control. This is also part of the exercise. Work slowly and try to maintain mental control of all four fingers, thumb, and hand position. Eventually, this will become far more automatic.
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Hi @Bor_MS, @sequences has given excellent advice that I cannot add to. I can say that my fingers donât look like Justinâs either, but I do exercises and it gets better over time. Donât forget that Justin started playing young (more flexible hands!) and has been playing for a very long time.
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