My pinkies are out of control!

[Ziddy]

On the right hand (strict RMIRMI technique) this isn't so much of an issue, since the pinky isn't needed anyway. On the left hand, though, my pinky will randomly float through the air on its way to fret the notes. I'd figure this problem would go away eventually, but many hours (days, weeks?) of chromatic drills later, it doesn't stop. When I fret with the ring finger, especially in the first few positions, my pinky sticks into the air, making it difficult to immediately play the next fret (it has to unglue itself from the ring finger first). If I play something like this:

[code]G|--7--6--7
D|8--
A|
E|
[\CODE]

with my pinky on the 8th fret and middle/ring on 6 and 7, respectively, my pinky must fly into the air for me to be able to reach the next note. This makes playing major/minor thirds either melodically or harmonically quite difficult when using my pinky for the root note, causing great tension in my hand even with my thumb removed from the back of the neck.

It's almost as if I have to move the pinky to the fret rather than simply moving it up or down like with the other fingers. I've tried the "spider" exercise many times, to no avail. What can rid me of this bizarre problem?

Apparently that "tab" didn't work. Disregard it >_>.

[vindy500]

hit it with a ruler harder and harder till it behaves

[tplyons]

Try using a 1-2-4 on your fretting hand for a while. If you do this consiously, you'll be able to build strenghth, and use your ring finger for support.

[chaosMK]

I had the same exact problem.

It's all about thumb position on the back of the neck. Try and keep your thumb parallel to the neck, right in the back center of it. This should pull all your fingers (pinky in particular) over.

[Andy3825]

Chaos, don't you mean perpendicular?

Anyway, try and involve your pinky a lot more without thiking about it. For example, if you're playing like...

G---8-6----------8----------
D-------8-7-6---------------
A--------------6------------
E---------------------------

and would normally use your index, middle and ring finger for 6th, 7th, and 8th fret respectively, then try moving your hand over and using your middle, ring, and pinky fingers. Stuff like that helped me when I had this problem as well.

[Matthew Bryson]

Try running through some chromatic exercises, maybe like this one:

-----------------------------------------4--5--6--7----------------
----------------------------3--4--5--6----------------5--6--7--8--
---------------2--3--4--5------------------------------------------
--1--2--3--4----------------------------------------- (continue up neck, then back down in a similar fashion)

The key is to be sure that after you fret and play the 1st note, you keep fretting that note while you play the 2nd note, only release the 1st note after you've played the 2nd note and you are going for the 3rd. So basically, you're fretting at two frets at any given time. Don't try to keep holding down three and four frets at a time, it'll never work and it's not necessary, but holding the previous note while you fret the next will help you develop an even tone, with full note duration and should help build strength in your fretting hand and take care of that floating pinky problem. Good luck.

[Ziddy]

Originally Posted by Matthew Bryson

Try running through some chromatic exercises, maybe like this one:

-----------------------------------------4--5--6--7----------------
----------------------------3--4--5--6----------------5--6--7--8--
---------------2--3--4--5------------------------------------------
--1--2--3--4----------------------------------------- (continue up neck, then back down in a similar fashion)

The key is to be sure that after you fret and play the 1st note, you keep fretting that note while you play the 2nd note, only release the 1st note after you've played the 2nd note and you are going for the 3rd. So basically, you're fretting at two frets at any given time. Don't try to keep holding down three and four frets at a time, it'll never work and it's not necessary, but holding the previous note while you fret the next will help you develop an even tone, with full note duration and should help build strength in your fretting hand and take care of that floating pinky problem. Good luck.

Doesn't seem to help much. Also, I have great trouble making any stretches other than with fingers 1/2 or 1/3. 2 and 3 seem to be glued to each other, and trying to do any kind of double stop with my pinky just leads to pain. I know the answer is usually "practice practice practice" but practicing something that hurts is probably a bad thing, right?

I guess I'll just give up and try to find a teacher (hopefully my parents will pay for it). I'm not going to get anywhere with the instrument if I can't really use one of my fingers.