Learning Neil Young’s Old Man has meant revisiting the weak finger G, because it just feels so much more efficient for that particular song.
But that led to a surprise. If I get my pinky down first, and then place my ring finger, I can do it without much tension…albeit slowly.
However, if I place my ring finger first - wow - my pinky totally locks up, like it’s paralyzed!
I’m assuming that I’ve got some habitual tension - in my ring finger or some other part of my hand or arm - that is so habitual that it’s beneath my conscious awareness.
Have been very slowly practicing by touching (not pressing) the ring finger first, and then touching the pinky to the thinner strings in succession, and am starting to see some results. Noticed that my unused index and middle fingers want to fly up from the fretboard, which I think is related…but still troubleshooting.
Your suggestion to curl the fingers first, and then spread them seems to be helping as well.
@direvus Happy to hear that you have found a way to conquer weak finger G grip. I have some advantage in that i learned the 4 3 and 2 finger version of the chord originally many years ago, but I still sometimes have problems, since my 3 and 4 fingers tend to bend and move together. I always place my 4 finger (pinkie) down first, then push down my extended 3 finger which causes my pinkie to curl. If I use the 2 (or middle) finger for the 3 finger G chord, then I have to focus on bending just the end of my 3 (or ring) finger to raise it off of the 5th string.
I did have to retrain my fingers to play the G in Grade 1 with the 1,2 and 3 fingers as Justin indicate for the original G chord.
I’ve got a technique problem that I’ve been working on for several weeks now.
When I change from a C (or mini F chord) to a weak finger G, my pinky sometimes locks up, and it takes a few seconds of conscious effort to make it relax.
This only seems to happen when I put my ring finger down first, not when I lead with my pinky.
In the video, you can see this happen several times starting at 1:00, and a big lock up at 2:10 (these times are bookmarked in the description if you view it on YouTube).
It used to happen almost every time I did a change to weak G, but some slow practice identified a lot of tension where my pinky joins my palm that I was completely oblivious to. This new awareness seems to have helped, but it still happens sometimes and I don’t know why.
Tom, I have one suggestion for you - when you play a C chord your pinky goes almost glued up to your ring finger. Try to relax it and slightly drop it, so when you change to G your pinky has smaller distance to high e string and it requires your muscles work more efficiently.
By also keeping finger so low in the future you will be able to play some embellishments more easily, when you glue it to ring finger you are loosing a lot of fun options and makes it harder to change to small G. Pic for you to make more sense of it:
Thanks Adrian…I think you might be on to something here. I was watching one of Justin’s videos, and noticed he “crooked” his little finger…it looked like he was trying to get it below the e string. I thought it was extra effort, so I didn’t emulate, but maybe that sent me down the wrong path.
Any suggestions on how to create this new habit? I’m thinking maybe perfect fast changes exercise?
Also, I think I’m going to “lead with my pinky” during slow practice, before moving my other fingers into position for the chord, because that has worked in the past for other fingers that were problem children. Then work on doing “in the air” changes.
I practice it by playing songs, best to pick slow ones with not too many chord changes. Discovered this when trying to learn thumb muting with the D chord acutally.
Pretty much what I do is play low bpm songs with C → G changes and while holding down the C chord, prep my pinky to go hover near the first string. Over time it will feel less and less forced and it will become a subconcious thing.
Not sure if this is the most effective way to learn it but it works for me.
I understand and feel the struggle. Your pinky is doing way better than mine. This video below is dated July, I’m working on this everyday and I’m improving, very slowly, if I don’t give it full attention pinky collapses down, at the best it just freezes
Thanks for the topic , as we’re having good advices by @adi_mrok and @Aaronwith2dots, thanks for helping
@Tbushell this is the best advice, and your suggestion ref one minute changes that is the best way. Try to get yourself familiar with C with relaxed pinky try it just alone a few times and then at some point in the future when you practice the changes it will become more natural as for now you are used to keeping it close to ring finger.
If that reassures you that’s how I have been taught originally to play C and I managed to learn it the other way good luck!
Silvia, I’m helping my girlfriend learn to play, and she does the same thing sometimes - with both her ring and pinky. Maybe move your elbow forward a bit - toward the fretboard - and bend your wrist a bit more, so your fingers can arch more and come straight down on the strings?
On the bright side, it doesn’t seem to hurt your playing, and you have an impressive ability to hyper extend your distal joints! That’s going to come in super handy when you play A shape major barre chords!
Thank you I will try, I can do quite right now when I do my changes slowly, but getting it automated and doing it right when I play…I’m not there yet. Also I find it useful to put down pinky before ring finger, I don’t know if it’s correct but it helps and anyway
I think we’ll get to air changes here as well. Practice Playing Patience
Adrian, you nailed it…that was indeed the problem.
I spent many weeks doing this…holding a C chord and cycling through other strings with my pinky.
That was recorded today. When I started, I could barely play any of those strings with my pinky.
The original pinky paralysis/lockup problem seems to be totally gone - has not happened for weeks now.
Here’s C to weak G now. Might not be so obvious in the video, but I am crooking my little finger (i.e. holding it with all the distal joints bent) now, and it really helps.
Watching the video, I’m still seeing things I want to work on, but it’s much improved.
Hey Tom that is a well made progress well done! And thanks to the way you play your G chord you have so much more possibilities too in the future to play around with your first finger. Glad to hear I was able to help
This is great to read and see Tom! I’m also improving with my pinky, but sometimes it’s very unpredictable what it’s going to do and I lose control of it. It tends to stay glued up to ring finger and I still have to give it attention to make it stay down. I practiced for months and months, then I gave up, thinking that good habits take a while to establish…it just should relax down…
Silvia, have you tried to consciously “crook” your pinky, like I do now? That really seemed to be the key insight for me. But it took weeks and weeks to become a habit.
Yes, I keep it crooked…also it still collapses down sometimes, but not so often to tell the truth. I just stopped practicing because I was getting obsessed with it, I thought “If I relax down, maybe it will too”.
about playing G like that! So much less moving from C to G!
)
good luck!
