How Can I Make My "Pinkie" Stronger & More Articulate?

[kyle am I]

hey guys, been a while since I've really payed this site some real attention. I've been doing a lot of clean things lately, like clean without any type of gain, on the split middle coil and neck coil selection of my guitar. I'm really not sparing myself any trouble. Anything that is even remotely not perfect I work on. And since I've really been doing this, I realize just how "illiterate" my pinkie is. Say I'm going up the first major scale, no pattern, just going up. I can go up pretty fast, but on the way down, my fingers get finger tied because of how my fourth finger just won't work with me. I know, speed isn't anything musical, but I am doing some very difficult (for me) picking excersizes at a fast rate that is quite advanced (for my fingers) and intricate, which is a workout to try to do perfectly on a clean setting. Is there any way that you guys know that I can strengthen my fourth finger? Give me specific excersizes to do. I haven't tried for a while to figure an excersizes out, but it really does take a lot of time (and this site has been pretty slow, so I figured it would be good to talk to some of you instead of doing it all myself)

~Kyle

[Samuele]

I would say the techniques that usually strengthen your left hand fingers are bending, legato and maybe certain types of vibrato.

Now, I don't think bending with your little finger is of any use, but I would certainly concentrate on trills. I mean, fluttering between your 1st and 4th fingers, 2nd and 4th, and even 3rd and 4th. Try to keep doing it for at least one full minute, maybe even two if you can. Concentrate on getting good notes, sounding clean and even, but do not put excessive force into it. You don't want to strain your tendons.

I remember Joe Satriani mentioning that in the past some of his students would go as far as wrapping rubber bands between their fingers in order to get them stronger. You can hurt yourself by doing that. Joe pointed out that you don't necessarily need more strength, you need good execution of a technique, which will spare you an unnecessary waste of energy. There are a couple of videos of Joe talking about this on youtube.

Then you could also practice vibrating notes with your pinky. But I found that for me, trills and legato playing get my left hand fingers stronger than anything else. I also remember Steve demonstrating trills with all fingers during his Guinness World Record lesson.

Have you ever checked out this little lesson?

http://www.vai.com/pull-off-playing-incl-hammer-ons/

[kyle am I]

Thanks! I've tried a lot of that, but it never seems to bring me to where I want. Maybe I do force my fingers a little too much. Anyway, I'll try some more of that trill stuff.

[Stephen Brown]

Finger permutations exercises.

[kyle am I]

any Vai- able links?

Finger permutations exercises.

[burnt out]

I think there are certain fetish web sites for that sort of thing.

[tommyd48]

I think there are certain fetish web sites for that sort of thing.

I think there are certain fetish web sites for that sort of thing.

lol,,the answers pretty obvious,,practice with it,,if that dosnt work try sticking it up your arse

[GYiakoumi]

if that dosnt work try sticking it up your arse

I for one cannot recommend this, mainly because I haven't tried it... but I can certainly recommend NOT to try this because, well... common sense says it's bullshit.

[tommyd48]

if that dosnt work try sticking it up your arse

I for one cannot recommend this, mainly because I haven't tried it... but I can certainly recommend NOT to try this because, well... common sense says it's bullshit.

george I would have thought that being a big fan of zappa it would be going right up your poop shoot ,,man I love that funny song,..and I like that saying ,..broken hearts are for assholes,, lol,..