Been playing for about 4 months now, and concerning my fret hand, everytime I try and run through some chromatic scales, my third (ring) finger mushes against the string instead of pressing down with the tip of the finger. Its hard to explain but basically imagine playing with the tip of the finger with 3 fingers and your ring finger pushing down with the meaty part instead.

I'm basically looking for something, perhaps an exercise that will allow me to fix this because I just don't have the same amount of strength when "mushing" instead of pressing with the tip.

Thanks,
J

I got one, but you have to be very familiar with the major scale to execute it properly. Are you? Great.

I tend to think of the notes in the scale by DEGREES - that is, instead of CDEFGABC, I think 12345678, since once I've chosen a key I'd rather listen to how the notes revolve around the root than identify them by absolute pitch.

Here's your exercise, using a Major scale shape that starts on your middle finger, uses the ring finger for the 7th note, and uses no open strings - it's the most common shape, so I bet you know it.

Repeat these notes: 1 8 3 7 2 6 4 5 over and over again. You'll see what happens. :)

Hmm, ok I've tried this, thought I had it at first, but am now realising that this doesn't really make that much sense, my ring fringer is only used once is the sequence. Sigh! Confuzzled?!?

More edit: Am I supposed to be using the finger pattern I would normally use on the scale or should I be changing the fingers?

Use the fingering pattern you'd normally use for the scale. Try holding the 7 note down while you reach for the 2 note. See what happens.

Here's another exercise, if you'd rather use your ring finger more:

1 7 1 7 2 7 2 7 3 7 3 7 4 7 5 7

Personally I don't really believe that it is better or more efficient to play with the tips of your fingers.

For a start playing on the tips of the fingers creates more of a tendency to over extend the wrist, which can lead to tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Secondly it forces you to position your fingers in a less adaptive way where you can stretch less than if you were playing with the pads of your fingers. It also makes "barring" notes much harder to do which will definitely be a factor if you want to get into some of the more advanced techniques and chord playing.

As far as building strength, keep practising your scales and so on and you will gain strength over time. Practice patience and persistence is the key to building up strength.

For a start playing on the tips of the fingers creates more of a tendency to over extend the wrist, which can lead to tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Secondly it forces you to position your fingers in a less adaptive way where you can stretch less than if you were playing with the pads of your fingers.

Worth noting that some people do run into this problem. I don't advocate bending the wrist more than 45 degrees from straight, ever. Yet some students don't seem to be able to help it. Here's how I solve that:

THE PENCIL STRETCH

1) Find an unsharpened pencil (or one just recently sharpened for the first time). This is important because it’s got to be as long as possible.

2) Hold the pencil in your left hand fingertips; in other words, place your thumbtip on one side of the pencil, and your four fingertips on the opposite side.

3) Spread your fingers out along the length of the pencil, or as far as you can get them to spread out.

4) Make sure your thumb is bent backward, hitchhiker style. When you have it right, it should feel a little like your fingers are on a bass string and your thumb is in position behind it on the bass neck.

NOW….. BREAK THE PENCIL. (No, not like that… the way you’re holding it!)

Yeah, it’s going to be hard to do, and it may take you a looooooong time to do it, but if you do this for 30-60 seconds just before you begin practice every day, you’ll improve your strength enough to make you much more confident on the instrument. And you just might eventually break that pencil!

Personally I don't really believe that it is better or more efficient to play with the tips of your fingers.

For a start playing on the tips of the fingers creates more of a tendency to over extend the wrist, which can lead to tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Secondly it forces you to position your fingers in a less adaptive way where you can stretch less than if you were playing with the pads of your fingers. It also makes "barring" notes much harder to do which will definitely be a factor if you want to get into some of the more advanced techniques and chord playing.
You should use the meaty padded part of the tip, not the tippy-tip. Difficult riffs can sound a little (or a lot) on the sloppy side if you use the flat finger. Plus it slows you down to use three tips and one flat. I had a big problem with it same as the OP. The only thing that worked for me was playing scales and exercises and concentrating hard on keeping my ring finger curved like the others. It still requires concentration for me not to lapse into it.

The way I figure it, that first joint is designed to bend backwards just a little bit, but it's not designed to withstand PRESSURE like that for prolonged periods of time. Plus, if you let that first knuckle "buckle" you have to exert twice as much pressure to hold it down, and from a different part of your hand. Seems like wasted energy to me and a good way to get arthritis later on down the road.

You should use the meaty padded part of the tip, not the tippy-tip. Difficult riffs can sound a little (or a lot) on the sloppy side if you use the flat finger. Plus it slows you down to use three tips and one flat. I had a big problem with it same as the OP. The only thing that worked for me was playing scales and exercises and concentrating hard on keeping my ring finger curved like the others. It still requires concentration for me not to lapse into it.

Right, I get what you are saying now. I agree with that. It's still handy to be able to "barr" strings for certain things though.