Pinky troubles

[VullNoid]

I'm teaching myself to play the bass, but I'm having trouble with my pinky finger. I don't think this is a trouble most people have--the posts I found mostly just talked about the pinky being weak and such. This is part of the problem, but not the main problem for me.

My problem is that my pinky finger bends in a very strange way, and it's painful. The first joint bends down at a ninety degree angle to hold the string down, then the second joint stays absolutely straight rather than bending like my other fingers do. When I hold a string down too hard or for too long, the pressure causes the second joint to bend inward slightly, and it becomes very painful.



Has anyone had this problem? I'm thinking that maybe strengthening my pink finger will get rid of the pain, but I'm not sure if that will actually help. Anyone with advice or experience?

[Japanoak]

maybe too much pressure?? try playing as light as possible but still maintain good sound quality. if you press too hard your hand will hurt if you press too lightly the string will buzz against the frets. You want to use the least amount of effort.

i can't even make my pinky do that. haha.

[Kraken]

I am no Doctor, but it sounds to me like you just need to build up the muscle strength on that finger.

might be worth getting it properly checked out

[quigg]

Play very slowly with your pinky in whatever position is most comfortable to you, after a few weeks of doing that you should be able to play at higher speeds with no pain. Your pinky will build up strength in the comfortable position and will want to bend in that way from then on.

[VullNoid]

I'm not pressing down too hard. If I'm not pressing down enough for there to be at least slight pain, then it buzzes, and as I use the finger more, it takes more pain to stop the buzzing.

For the building up muscle strength, I'm really just not sure how to do that. It's as if my finger just will not bend like a normal finger when I press down. Well, it does alright a lot of the G string, and sometimes the D, but the more I have to extend my finger to reach, the harder it is to keep it from that weird shape. On the E string it is virtually impossible to make my second joint bend up. I can manage it a moment if I position the finger first, then position my thumb behind the neck, and then very lightly press. I can hold it about ten seconds.

Should I try to do this? The problem is that when I do this, my pinky finger turns the opposite way of my other fingers. SO my fingers will be like this: \\\ / which reduces how far away my pinky can reach, and also holds the string down almost with the outer edge of the finger...

**EDIT** I thought I should mention, in seventh grade I played upright bass. I seem to remember my pinky did it then, too, and I didn't bother about it, but if I played for too long my finger would hurt afterwards. However, I also used my ring finger to hold the string down, which released some of the tension off my pinky. On the guitar, you're supposed to keep a finger per fret, so I don't have that extra support.

[ducknturtle]

this is something that only practice will help eventually.