Good excersizes to increase ring and pinky dexterity?

[ZoSoIV]

Anyone have some good ones they like to use?

[pstyle]

practice more?

[ZoSoIV]

Well thanks for that quality response...

[bopeuph]

One is the chromatic scale. You use all four fingers for that. Just go up 1-2-3-4 on the E string, shift back one fret, repeat the pattern on the next string, all the way up to the G string. Then go backwards.

Next, do it with other patterns: 1-4-2-3 or something like that, up then down. That should help.

As always, do it with a metronome.

Nick

[HaVIC5]

Here is a real bitch of an excercise I've been doing lately. I've had to take it easy, though, because my pinky and ring finger really are aching by the end of it.

Barre the seventh fret G string and D string with your pinky and play those two notes together. Then barre the sixth fret G string and D string with your pinky finger and play those two notes. Take your pinky and barre the seventh fret D and A string and play those notes, and then with your ring finger do the same on the sixth fret, continuing that pattern all the way down. Once you've completed that, do the pattern over one fret higher. Note, don't overdo yourself, because this really puts some strain on your pinky.

[yamaha]

Originally Posted by bopeuph

One is the chromatic scale. You use all four fingers for that. Just go up 1-2-3-4 on the E string, shift back one fret, repeat the pattern on the next string, all the way up to the G string. Then go backwards.

Next, do it with other patterns: 1-4-2-3 or something like that, up then down. That should help.

As always, do it with a metronome.

Nick

Also, do what I call spider exercices.

-------------1-2-3-4------
-----------2---------3----
---------3-------------2--
-1-2-3-4----------------1- etc....


or
----------------------------4-3-2-1------------------------------------
-------------------1-2-3-4----------1-2-3-4---------------------------
----------4-3-2-1----------------------------4-3-2-1------------------
-1-2-3-4----------------------------------------------1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

And vary them. Once you get pretty good, try
1-2-3-5
1-2-4-5
1-3-4-5

[51m0n]

Well I reckon this is the best 4 finger 4 fret 4 ever exercise that I've come up with that really emphasises your pinky and ring finger:-

-1-2---3-----4-----------------------------------4-----3---2-
-----1---2-----3-----4-------------------4-----3-----2---1---
-----------1-----2-----3---4-------4---3-----2-----1---------
-------------------1-----2---3-4-3---2-----1-----------------

Start really slowly and get the pattern in your head. If you can get to playing this really clean at 110 bpm in 16ths then you have pretty much cracked it!

Also try staring around the 9th fret where the stretch is pretty irrelevant, then go down lower as time progresses.

If you match this up with accenting a different 16th note in each bar you get this polus the Alain Caron exercise. So good for right and left hand.

Good luck!

[MrLenny]

Play 10ths. Root and the tenth note. Minor , major.
Also, Joaquim Des Pres has a method book, J.S. Bach cello
etudes for electric bass.
Some of the fingerings in there are very different than
rock/pop etc, and are a real challenge.
Try a DB method book. Every note has a given finger to use.
Best thing I ever did for my playing.

[EmperorDoom]

-------------------------5-6----7-------8--------
--------------5-------6------5----6-------7------
------5----6-------7-----------------5------6----
-5-6----7-------8-----------------------------5--

play this using 1 finger for each fret.. it's a great exercise it should sound like you're counting 1,1-2,1-2-3,1-2-3-4,1-2,1-2-3,1-2-3-4

[T-MOST]

Just use them. How anyone can effectively play using only 2 out of four fingers is beyond me.