I know there's a lot of you..

[Surprise Panda!]

people who hate on people who don't use their pinkie, but it's hard for me. I play slower and my pinkie hurts after a while. I know that after a while it won't hurt, but it's hard. Any advice?

,

Panda

[Marcury]

Advice, Why would i give you advice, you already I know I hate you.

Go slowly, for one thing. and if you don't already try using your pinky first for things like fifths and octave off the root. This will get you used to using it. Then practice chromatics over a four fret span one finger per fret across all strings. it is probably best to start doing this at the 5th fret so you don't have to stretch too much and as your pinky becomes stronger move down till you can do it starting at the first fret. Then move on to scales and arpeggios.

Guess i don't hate you that much.

[JimmyM]

How does your pinky hurt? Soreness on the tip or pain in joints? Big difference, you know. Soreness on the tip is to be expected for a few days until you callus, but if it's pain in the joints, there's a problem with your technique, and I would guess it's because your fingers aren't parallel with the frets. If they are, it's something else you're doing wrong. I have the smallest hands of any male I've ever met and I have no problem making one finger per fret. A good teacher who knows proper technique could help immensely to fix your technique and make playing pain-free.

[DaneB]

I've never had a problem using my pinkie. I would say I use it as much as my middle finger. And I use my ring finger second most, which sucks at the moment because I cut the nail too short and it's all in-grown. Very painful

I think I built my 'pinkie resistance' or whatever from playing guitar as a kid for a few years. I couldn't imagine not being able to use my pinky. For instance, in a major scale, how do you go from 3 to 5? That's a very comfortable index-pinky jump. Maybe just practise doing that or something?

As for the building up calluses thing, I play flats, so my fingertips aren't all hard, kinda soft yet tough... I can play pretty much all day, and the only fingers that get sore are my plucking ones. Maybe try using less fretting and plucking pressure and more volume?