Use of pinky in blues figure

[Pastafarian]

Couldn't find anything specifically about this, so I'll fire away...

Have played bass for only a few months, but I'm already stuck in the habit of not using my pinky/little finger on my fretting hand. I've tried to start using it when playing slow chromatic lines, but am really struggling to use it in a situation where it looks essential - the basic blues figure. The line I'm specifically trying to play properly is Crazy Little Thing Called Love:

G|-------------------------
D|---------------------9---
A|---------9----12-12---12
E|---10--------------------

It's the last 4 notes that give me trouble - I find I don't have enough time to pluck the A string twice (fretting with my 4th/ring finger), play the D string (fretting with 2nd/index) and then move my left hand back up the neck to fret on the A string with my 4th finger. Or, should I say, I'm not quick enough to play each note cleanly - it sounds pretty bad, so I've taken to simplifying the line slightly, which I'd rather not do. I tried using my pinky for fretting on the 12th on the A string, but have to reach too far round the neck, and lack the power to fret properly. More or less exactly the same problem comes up in quick blues lines, such as Johnny B Goode.

Question is: would folk round here use their pinky in this situation, or the 4th finger? In other words, should I try to build up strength in my pinky, or work on being quicker with my left hand?

Many thanks in advance!

[rjny36]

The Flying Spaghetti Monster suggests that it's best to use all of your fretting hand's fingers... it's more efficient... of course, the FSM has mastered the art of playing with just His noodly appendage.

[edbutler3]

This definitely sounds like an appropriate situation for the "one finger per fret" technique. Since you say you have only been playing for a few months, I'd like to encourage you to get started creating good habits rather than bad habits. When I started out I was lucky to have an uncle who was a very experienced player. He got me started doing exercises to strengthen my pinky, saying something like, "It may not seem like you need it now, but if you develop a habit of avoiding that finger, you'll regret it later when you need to play more challenging parts."

Keep in mind, if it feels like you don't have enough strength in your pinky yet, it is OK (good even) to let the ring finger (or all of them) press down on the string behind the pinky to "assist". You can think of it like a mitten.

Also -- and this is very important -- where is your left thumb when you are trying to play this part? If it is peeking over the top of the neck, you are making things way too hard on yourself. Practice keeping your thumb in "classical" position behind the neck. This gives you a lot more power, plus it allows your fingers to stretch farther. Yes, I know you sometimes see pictures of excellent players with their left thumb over the neck, but they are probably playing a very simple line at that point and being a little lazy. If they needed to play something more technical, the thumb would shift back into the proper position.

[Pastafarian]

Cheers both!

I'm going to struggle to match the power of His noodly appendage with any of my fingers, let alone the pinky... anyway, let's drop that one there.

That's useful advice re. training the pinky, supporting it with other fingers and watching my thumb position. I just picked up the bass to hold it as I usually do, and found my thumb not quite peeking out, but definitely not behind the neck either. Best way to describe it is that it was pointing upwards - my guess is that it should be pointing away to my left. Either way, I'll look up thumb positions - really never paid attention to it. My bad.

One of the reasons I posted this is because I saw a thread where several people said they never used their pinkies - which really surprised me. Would be interested to hear from anyone who plays figures like this with just three fingers, but it definitely seems sensible to practise using the pinky - have seen a few exercises for this, think I'll give them a go.

[Pastafarian]

Strike what I just said - I just practised some 12 bar blues variations over 'Rock Around The Clock' and found my left thumb was practically interfering with the bottom string. Cheers for mentioning that Ed - will work on the thumb thing straightaway.

[Jim Breece]

Lots of good rock'n'roll has been played without the pinky, but it's much easier with it- fewer hand movements up and down the neck, less need to look at your fretting hand, and three finger players often seem to get stuck in the "blues box" fulltime. I added it in after playing for a few years and had some weird gigs where my brain couldn't coordinate w/my hand while I was changing over. I think you'll be doing yourself a big favor to get on it now.

[Fergie Fulton]

Your thumbs in both hands can take up many positions to accomodate playing. From pointing to the head stock to the up-right position of the classic C it depends on the situation.
If you see picturws of players in many positions in still motion remenber that is a position captured in motion. Your thumb, especially the fretting one wants to be a pivot for the fingers to put them in the right position to fret.
Hence as you've found it can get in the way. You should be able to fret without the thumb on the neck as a rule of thumb (little in joke bass humour there) as that will teach you the importance of pressure and tension in the freting hand and arm.
It make no difference if your thumb comes over the top, goes to the headstock, keeps the classic C, etc. so long you have freedoom of movment.

As for training your little finger the correct fingering of scales/modes will sort that out.

check out some of the blogs

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...ndId=233492636

[Anonymatt]

If you want to get your pinky involved in those kinds of blues, try the octave-up on the leading root note.

So:

--------------------9-----8----
11---------------8----11----11
---8--11--10--9---------------
-------------------------------

all quarter notes with the last four notes being swung 8th notes.

I don't know, starting with you pinky is easier mental turf that reaching out there?

Just imagine you were going to design a robot to play bass... OMG, look in the mirror, there it is!

Yeah, "classical" thumb position.

Move your hand up and down the neck by moving your upper arm (try to keep your elbow away from your body).

Curled fingers. Don't let those piggies fly up when they're done playing a note. Who says they'll ever come back in time for the next one?

Hell, you ought to be able to carry a gallon of milk and a liter of soda all the way home with your left pinky.

Oh, another thing I do is tritone exercises on the E and A string with my ring and pinky. Try doing that, and then play it up a third on the A and D with middle and ring. Then go up another third on the D and G with your index and middle finger.

The pinky is more than 25% of your left hand technique. Not only is he a quarter of your fingers over there, but he's typically the first one on the scene when you switch to a higher position. Optimally, you have that dude doing a hell of a lot of work!

[edbutler3]

Originally Posted by Anonymatt

...Curled fingers. Don't let those piggies fly up when they're done playing a note. Who says they'll ever come back in time for the next one?

Good advice. Economy of motion is important. All four fingers should stay close to the strings even when they aren't fretting a note. (By close I mean less than an inch from the string.) A common beginner mistake is to let the pinky stick way out when it's not being used -- then when you *do* need to use it, you can't get it in position in time. It can be helpful to play in front of a mirror a bit and watch yourself for those kind of inefficiencies.

[oldrocker]

Crazy Little Thing is a cool song very fun to play.

Until you get it up to speed you may want to simplify the line a bit. This works very well:


G|-------------------------
D|---------------------9---
A|---------9----12--------
E|---10--------------------

Or you may to slide up and play it like this:

G|-------------------------
D|---------------7----9---
A|----5----9-------------
E|-------------------------

[Pastafarian]

Thanks everyone - really useful advice. Just tried the blues figure and tritone exercises - feel a bit strange played properly (w/ pinky), which I suppose is a good sign - I'll get used to them.