Plucking Finger/Pinky

[greekbassist]

This weekend I was at this cool local music store here in AZ!

The guy who owns the store is an AWESOME bassist!! I showed him my bass and he took it and ripped out stuff like Jaco!

He then gave it to me to play and as I proceeded he said. You have the same disease I had. I said what disease?

He said the "pinky disease". My right pinky finger kind of sticks out when I pluck my bass with my index, middle finger.

He said try to stick my pinky in and don't let it hang.

I am just curious does it really matter of my right pinky hangs out while I am plucking?

It never seemed to hinder my playing. I tried folding it inside my palms and I really couldn't feel any difference other then it felt a little awarkard not having it stick out.

Can anyone shed some light? Do I need to practice without my pinky stick out?

Thanks Greekbasist!

[Davidoc]

I used to do it too. The best advice I can give you is to relax your hand as much as possible. Tension will cause that pinky to stick up. It should ideally be slightly curved, adn probably touching or hovering over the strings.

[greekbassist]

Thanks for the advise! I don't feel tension when I am playing...Does having the pinky curl make you pluck faster?

Greekbassist!

[middlebit]

I find that the 'pointing pinky' is a sign of unnessesary muscular tension in your hand...and you don't want that! The pinky itself isn't a bad thing, but it indicates that you are not using your strength optimally.

[greekbassist]

Thanks for your response middlebit!

Last night when I was practicing I made sure that my pinky was more curled in.

There is a big difference. I actually had more plucking strength...I never really knew until some one pointed it out to me...

Greekbassist!

[ehque]

pinky's the ring finger? sorry, not common usage here.

anyway. i mute my strings with my thumb and my ring and last finger. is that bad?