4th finger exercises?

[Cyon]

My 4th finger is pretty weak, and with some of the things I'm trying to play, this weakness is becoming a hindrance...so if any one has some good exercises, I would be most appreciative

[clef360]

I'm assuming you're talking about the pinky on the fretting hand. Well, regardless what finger it is, scales are always good...any scales. Chromatics, major, minor, etc. Playing scales to warm up every time you practice will build your finger and hand strength up quickly and also help you a lot in your playing.

[3 crotch grabs]

consider yourself lucky. i have no ligaments in that finger, and it's pretty much useless.

[Microbass]

try this as part of your warm-ups

Play F on the E-string, then G#, F on the E-string, then C# and move down on to F# and B and play F inbetween each note as you go across the board, then work your way back down (F-B-F-F# etc)

[kwelch28]

Get the Bass Fitness book, it works wonders for speed and strength after only a couple of exercises.

[ole Jason]

Play chromatically "up" the neck like this

fingers 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4...
frets 1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5-3-4-5-6-4-5-6-7...

Pay very close attention to your hand shape. It should always be nice and round. Fingers not being used for fretting should never fly up in the air or move out of the nice round shape.

[Wrong Robot]

PERMUTATIONS!

the post above mine touched on it,

number permutations, apply number values to your fingers and frets and cycle through them, start slowly, work on consistency in tone and clarity, use a metronome, and just plow through them.

1 2 3 4.....2 1 3 4.....3 1 2 4.....4 1 2 3
1 2 4 3.....2 1 4 3.....3 1 4 2.....4 1 3 2
1 3 2 4.....2 3 1 4.....3 2 1 4.....4 2 1 3
1 3 4 2.....2 3 4 1.....3 2 4 1.....4 2 3 1
1 4 3 2.....2 4 1 3.....3 4 1 2.....4 3 1 2
1 4 2 3.....2 4 3 1.....3 4 2 1.....4 3 2 1

those are the permutations for n=4

here is a webpage to calculate them

http://www.myersdaily.org/joseph/jav...ed/pn-1.html?4