Fixing left hand tension / pinky control

Playing Technique
#1

Heya guys,

I’ve been inspired by @Joep36 to “rewrite” Eric Johnson licks so they fit my DSX style. It’s been super cool to play EJ stuff with a comfortable right hand.

Now I’ve run into something with my left hand. I started playing at 18 (16 years ago), but never really worked on proper technique. A violin player recently pointed out I have a lot of tension in my left hand, and my pinky tends to flail.

Lately I’ve been working on finger exercises to get more control. It’s actually fun, especially noticing how hard it is to keep the pinky in place.

My question is about patience and approach. At higher speeds (150 bpm for patterns, ~120–130 for lines) I fall back into bad habits. The exercises only feel “correct” at slower tempos.

So what’s the better move here:

  • Keep doing focused exercises and let my soloing just improve over time?
  • Or actively relearn licks with proper technique, starting slow?

For example, I’m working on the solo of EJ’s Austin —should I treat that as a slow rebuild and only speed it up once it’s clean?

Here I have a lick from Austin, and my pinky/hand is a bit out of control:

Here I play EJ’s Zap sixes, first fast (flailing pinky) and then slow (Forcing to keep my pinky close to the string)

Curious how you guys approached this.

Cheers,

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#2

Hi Ruben,

You do have some unnecessary tension in your fretting hand, but the “flailing” pinky isn’t the problem at all. I would specifically discourage any exercises where the intention is to keep the fingers “close” to the strings, or to keep the pinky “in place.”

The first handling is superior technique. Anybody who says otherwise is misinformed.

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#3

In first video, it sounds good, so I would not worry about “flailing.” See fretting hand section of Synchronicity for more info on why you should not necessarily care about size of fretting hand movement and good practices for mechanics.

For EJ sixes, fast sounds good. @tommo as mentioned he will learn a part, and once learned, he will go fast to see what is working and what is not. For areas that need work, he will slow down and examine closely.

At this point it is not repetitions but problem solving-what isn’t working? why? what solutions are there? how can you play to your strengths? Learn new solution, try going fast, repeat as necessary.

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#5

Thank you :slight_smile:

3 questions (edit)

  1. How /where do you see unneccesary tension and how to fix this then? In exercises or what?

  2. The zap sixes one: when speeding it up to 150bpm+, my pinky is floating above the G-string. When it’s time to hit the low E string, it has a huge distance to cover and literally crashes into the string. It makes a superloud string noise, almost like a “slapping” noise, like playing slapping bass. You don’t think that’s an issue?

  3. Why would you specifically discoursge staying close to the strings?

#6

Thanks :slight_smile: I haven’t checked out the video on synchronicty yet but will have a look.

Well, I still have the idea when looking at my left hand, it looks quite frantic compared to professionals. I felt like my fingers were getting too far from the strings.

So I wanna work on that somehow, if it will benefit me to play stuff at 150bpm

#7

Your pinky is regularly held in abduction/opposition. This indicates that your hypothenar muscles are under constant tension. You also appear to have some degree of constant extension at the MCP joints, indicating that your extensor digitorum communis is active.

Fretting a note ballistically isn’t a problem unless the note bends sharp. It’s literally the mechanic of a hammer-on. The “slap” you’re hearing is probably the string ringing between the fret and the nut, which doesn’t matter at all on an electric guitar.

Power and range of motion are good things. The fact that you’re able to generate significant power over larger distances at higher tempos is a good thing.

Notice how in the first handling of the sixes, your entire hand and forearm moves cyclically in time with the pattern. This is necessary for faster playing and synchronisation, and it’s totally absent in the other (inferior) handling.

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#8

I can see the pink being under tension, but what’s the giveaway for this?

Also: what are ways to work on these tension issues then?

Thanks for your reply :slight_smile:

#9

The hypothenar muscles abduct and oppose the 4th finger. Your 4th finger is abducted (visible from the angle between your 3rd and 4th fingers) and opposed (visible from the direction the 4th finger is pointing). The position of your hand is sufficient to determine that these muscles are necessarily engaged, but the activation of your hypothenar muscles is also clearly visible.

There is a process that works reliably, but it’s quite subtle, and it works over time. You can’t eliminate years or decades of habitual tension immediately.

The fundamental problem is that there’s nothing you can “do” to relax, because relaxation is not voluntary. Relaxation is controlled by the parasympathetic (involuntary) nervous system, not the sympathetic (voluntary) nervous system. You can’t “try to relax.” For most people, thinking “relax” is totally unhelpful.

Instead of thinking “relax”, instead allow yourself to return to a position of rest. Learn how to find the resting position of your hand, and learn the different ways that your resting hand can be applied to the guitar to align your natural grip mechanics to the tasks of fretting.

Cultivate the habit of frequently allowing yourself to return to your position of rest and finding your fretting postures through haptic awareness (tactile, proprioceptive and kinaesthetic sensitivity).

Over time, your haptic perception becomes attuned and your postures and grip mechanics become habitual and unconscious.

That’s the entire process in a nutshell.

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#10

Thanks for your reply, but I meant what was the giveaway for this? the pinky tension was obvious from the video, so I needed clarification for the constant extension at the MCP joints :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks for the elaboration on the topic of "resting’ :slight_smile: appreciate it!

#11

He can see the tension from the parts of your hands and its position and stuff

#12

I’m looking at the angle at the MCP joints, particularly for the middle finger.

You frequently have angle close to 180° at the MCP joint of the middle finger. This isn’t consistent with a position of rest and indicates that your extensor digitorum communis (EDC) is contracted.

This is a communal muscle which acts of every finger. So, when you have EDC activated and you fret with the middle finger, the tension in EDC causes the other fingers to extend at the MCP joints.

Basically this. I know the muscles involved and I know their functions. It is not hard to see when your know what you’re looking at.

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#13

Wow, thanks for the incredible, in-depth explanation. I wasn’t aware of the tension in my hand at all. I could see the tension in my pinky, but the tension at the MCP joints was completely invisible to me. I’ll try to include rest periods more often during my practice sessions and see how that goes :slight_smile:

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