Pinky isn't landing in time

Playing Technique
#1

You guys take a look at this video here and tell me what you all think. Notice that when the pinky reaches the highest note in the scale fragment its consistently out of sync with my picking and you can’t hear that note clear like the others. The whole thing also generally sounds bad and lacks clear sync in my opinion and I believe that it’s due to the fretting hand.

And yes, I’m aware that my 4th string is missing. I need to put a new one on after I just snapped it. :sweat_smile:

This issue invariably comes up along my playing journey and makes it really hard to fling into scale runs like I wish to. My fretting hand just doesn’t feel right. It always feels inhibited somehow and I can’t break free from that feeling, almost like a hard anatomical limitation on its speed.

Legato is also very difficult for me and I pick a lot for that reason. Could this all be due to a lack of rhythmic flow? Is the problem mainly in mental processes rather than in the hands? Other things? I’m open to all suggestions.

Any tips or advice?

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#2

Do you remember if your technique always felt like this or was there a point in time where you felt you had more control or flow?

Theres definitely a lot of extension going on in your 4th and 3rd fingers when you move up the strings. Are you using your arm/wrist to help reposition your hand as you move around the fretboard, or are you trying to reach everything from a static grip? I learned from @Tom_Gilroy to use the arm and hand to “aim” the fingers and thats definitely helped me with some left hand issues.

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#3

My fretting hand technique has always been like this. I was looking back at old videos recently to verify and I saw that I actually had even more extension and flailing around of the pinky finger back then. I remember that at a point my pinky was even less reliable and was literally like a stick just slapping onto the string. I’ve learned to coordinate it a bit more, but it’s not by much. I’ve been playing for almost 5 years, for context.

And yes, I do track with my left hand and arm when I move around the fretboard and my thumb is dynamic when I need to shift it.

I’ve made attempts to control the pinky more in the past. Never any luck. I’m like Chris Poland, minus the skill :sob:

#4

I’d be curious to see what @Tom_Gilroy can say on my problem

#5

I’m no expert but when I broke my hand and fingers multiple times… I learned about the correlation between the ring and pinky fingers. As mentioned by someone above, you’re extending that ring finger more than you need to and affecting your pinky by proxy. Maybe some of those drills where you keep all your fingers on the fretboard and move chromatically up and down the neck only lifting the finger needed for the next note can help with this.

#6

I saw him typing earlier, so I expect you’ll get a reply sooner or later. haha

I’ll just mention that there are a good number of players who don’t use fingers 3 and 4 in succession - Tony MacAlpine and Yngwie Malmsteen being two. They’d opt for 1 2 3 on the top string.

#7

I will write up a longer comment for you tomorrow (it’s getting late here), but here’s the short version.

You have habituated a fretting posture which demands constant contraction of flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and extensor digitorum communis (EDC). This is evident through the degree of flexion at the DIP joint and the degree of extension at the MCP at the middle finger. The positioning you’re adopting is forcing constant engagement of the hypothenar muscles. This all creates a very rigid hand, and requires a dramatic overcompensation of extensor digiti minimi (EDM), which extends the pinky (and your ring finger, your interdependence is clearly evident). The natural flexion of the 4th finger is not aligned to task.

It doesn’t feel right because it isn’t right. It isn’t right because it doesn’t feel right.

This isn’t at all mysterious. You’re literally contorting your hand and holding it firmly.

You can’t “break free” from this feeling. You are the source of the diffculty you are experiencing. You are creating the tension that is holding you in place. You can’t force your way out of this; you cannot fight yourself and win.

You need to learn to let go, You want to learn what your resting hand feels like, and how it may be applied to the guitar so that your natural grip mechanics are aligned to the task of fretting.

This is more likely a symptom than the root cause. If you have a weak sense of time, it could be encouraging further tension, but there’s simply no way that your posture can be assumed without problematic tension.

I don’t see anything “wrong” with your hands, other than that you’re using them “wrong”.

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#8

Could we see a version of the lick you are playing that’s mostly legato? I’d be curious to see how the LH does when it’s all by itself!

#9
#10

I’ve started reading your Eric Johnson article (which is very well written, by the way) and I’m realizing all of the mistakes that I’ve been compounding in my practice. A maladaptive habit of mine in my practice is generating a lot of oppositional force in my fretting mechanics that just exponentiates the faster I try to play and the further along I get a piece. I never realized how much tension I was tacking on unconsciously. Like you said, trying to force my way through the mechanical hang-ups is exactly what I’ve been doing and I can feel it throughout my body, which results in dull back stiffness and the veins popping out of my left forearm. There was a period of about a month or two a while back where every morning my left hand would literally be stiff and I’d have to “wake it up” to get full dexterity back. That should’ve been a red flag in itself.

Thanks, I’m interested in what else you’ll have to say.

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#11

Let your hand hang loose by your side. When you lift it up to the fretboard, nothing much should change. The wrist should be pretty straight and fingers have soft, even arc.