Fretting with pinky - what if I can't?

[AQUANOVA]

Can you move your pinky in concert with your ring finger?
As if they were a single finger?
if so, then that's a perfect use case for "124" / Upright / Simandl /Carole Kaye style fingering



The under communicated "secret" to long stretches is:
you are allowed to move your left hand to reach
Beginners are usually given the impression that the left hand must lock in to one "position', and place the biomechanical burden entirely on the fingers to cover some four fret span /position. This is absolutely not the case, and indeed will make reaching frets -especially lower ones- harder and more uncomfortable than is necessary. if your fingers can't reach, just move you left hand.

What mambo said.
Use your ring finger up against your pinky, or slightly on top of it.
This will give your pinkie strength and better control.
I find myself doing this occasionally, and my pinky is fine.
If you just start playing, your brain and body have a way of adapting and finding the most efficient way.
Trust that.

 

[micahwc]

"Fretting with pinky, what if I can't" .... then don't. Use your other fingers and adapt. Find what works for you. Make music. Have fun.

Edit: "Everybody says pinky is required." I played bass for 20 years without using my pinky to fret notes; it wasn't until I started learning electric guitar that I started using my pinky. Is it optimal? Probably. Is it required? No.

 

[SteveC]

Short scale is a great suggestion. Lots of good ones on the market these days.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Do whatever worked. Plenty of people playing who never had a lesson, and somehow makes it work.

 

[Obese Chess]

I have almost the exact same issue - I cut my left pinkie off about 12 years ago and while it was surgically reattached, it's only about 90% of the way there as far as feeling and motion go compared to my right pinkie. I don't favor it when fretting, but I can use it in a pinch. Keep practicing and building up strength. You'll get there.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Dont worry about it. Use it as a mute. You only play 1 string at a time. i watched a youtube of a guy playing. All his fingers were together, laying across the strings, he melodically moved his hand, played perfect bass. He didn't 'finger' the notes, he just varied the pressure while the other fingers muted the unplayed strings. I was impressed

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I have almost the exact same issue - I cut my left pinkie off about 12 years ago and while it was surgically reattached, it's only about 90% of the way there as far as feeling and motion go compared to my right pinkie. I don't favor it when fretting, but I can use it in a pinch. Keep practicing and building up strength. You'll get there.

This is my problem on my right hand. I lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers some years ago. It make fast triplets almost impossible.

 

[Hues]

Yeah... Regarding short scale bass, I'm playing a Thunderbird
I never make it easy for myself.

There was a limited run of short scale T- Birds awhile back...Might find one used.....

 

[J Wilson]

If you can't, don't.

Human beings are remarkably adaptable.

 

[ClusterFlux]

Everybody says pinky is required.
But is it really?

In your situation? Definitely not.

If your hand is uninjured? Yes.

I'd also check with your doctors and/or physical therapist to determine your best options. Maybe working on your pinky will help, maybe it will get worse, but no one can determine that for you via the Internet.

 

[Obese Chess]

This is my problem on my right hand. I lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers some years ago. It make fast triplets almost impossible.

"Skill issue." - Tony Iommi

 

[pcake]

if you don't use your pinky - and i don't - you can develop fingering for the frets that will work just fine. not using your pinky is a non-issue for most of us.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Just make due without it. Make the adjustments and rock on

 

[seescottrock]

Hi everybody.
Back story is that my pinky on my fretting hand has broken nerves after an accident when I was little. For many years I had zero feeling in the tip of my pinky but nowadays I would rate that I have maybe 90% of feeling (it's a dull feeling) but that isn't the issue.
The issue is that with this I have very little abilities to do fine motor skills with my pinky. It's like an on/off switch - either extended or curled like a cinannon roll. I can absolutely control it inbetween but it requires a bit of effort - effort that I don't have time for while playing.

I've been playing guitar for 3 years and have been using my pinky a bit without any improvement in the fine motor skills thus making me believe that it's not going to get better.
On guitar I can get away with it, there's no longer stretches thus I can make use of my ring finger for all of the quick stuff and slower stuff like forming a chord or similar the pinky actually works (it cannot do hammer-ons for example, I use the ring finger for this).
But on bass there's longer stretches where everybody says the pinky is required.
I can make due, but it's tiresome and sloppy. I can make hand adjustments and use the ring finger faster and more precise than what I can use my pinky. But usually that sets me in a bad position for the next note...

So question is:
Everybody says pinky is required.
But is it really?
There's people without hands playing guitar/bass so my issue is microscopic in comparison.

I also have very limited pinky dexterity after an injury as a kid. What you are dealing with can be overcome. It might be slow going at first but with micro shifting and some re-training, you'll be right as rain.

 

[LoTone]

I have been playing for over 30 years. I started using my pinky about 10 years ago.

Therefore, Django Reinhardt and myself are living proof that you can fret a guitar-style instrument without using your pinky!

It will be less efficient. Your hand will around the fretboard a bit more but it can be done.

Don't worry about it; just play.

 

[bucephylus]

Hi everybody.
Back story is that my pinky on my fretting hand has broken nerves after an accident when I was little. For many years I had zero feeling in the tip of my pinky but nowadays I would rate that I have maybe 90% of feeling (it's a dull feeling) but that isn't the issue.
The issue is that with this I have very little abilities to do fine motor skills with my pinky. It's like an on/off switch - either extended or curled like a cinannon roll. I can absolutely control it inbetween but it requires a bit of effort - effort that I don't have time for while playing.

I've been playing guitar for 3 years and have been using my pinky a bit without any improvement in the fine motor skills thus making me believe that it's not going to get better.
On guitar I can get away with it, there's no longer stretches thus I can make use of my ring finger for all of the quick stuff and slower stuff like forming a chord or similar the pinky actually works (it cannot do hammer-ons for example, I use the ring finger for this).
But on bass there's longer stretches where everybody says the pinky is required.
I can make due, but it's tiresome and sloppy. I can make hand adjustments and use the ring finger faster and more precise than what I can use my pinky. But usually that sets me in a bad position for the next note...

So question is:
Everybody says pinky is required.
But is it really?
There's people without hands playing guitar/bass so my issue is microscopic in comparison.

Others have mentioned Simandl fingering as one approach for use of only 3 fingers. That fingering was developed for upright bass, which has a scale length inappropriate for fingering with all four fingers in the lower register.

Using the ring finger in place of the "pinky" for 1-2-3 fingering is entirely logical. The approach with a (Major) scale (as example) is to generally finger two notes minimum for each position, with shifts in between. For a GM scale, play the G and A with 1 - 3 on the E string, then shift to play B and C with 2 - 3 on the E string; then shift back and up on to the A string to play D and E with 1 - 3 on the A string; finally shifting up on the A string to play F# and G with 2 - 3 on the A string. Same in reverse.

The technique is generally useful for more typical bass lines; but, does require some prep ahead of time to work out the shifts. After a while the shifts become somewhat second nature. The key is two notes per shift.

GL

 

[Pelagic]

Hey! I could see using the same scales and such, just shifting might be different. I broke my fretting hand index finger and had to adjust for a few months just used three fingers. It will work, you just have to figure out how! Even now after my finger healed, I still find myself using some odd ways of working with "standard" patterns. Good luck!

 

[Geddaric]

You`ll just have to improvise. Some things you won`t be able to do. Some things, tricks, may come to light. Work with what you got and you`ll be fine!
Look at Tony Iommi.

 

[DanBass]

I jammed the pinky on my fretting hand playing basketball when I was a kid. It was ugly. (Yikes, the that is not supposed to go that way ugly) ..

But those were the days when you wrapped your shirt around it, pulled, and got back into the game. Of course, the recklessness of youth in full display, has come back to bite me. There was obviously a bigger issue that probably should have gotten tended to... tendons, joint, mangled. I can do party tricks with it. It's quite a show.

Hindsight 20/20.

I can't stretch to a fret without it locking and restricting the range of motion more than it was restricted already.

That said, I have been playing for 40+ years and I have learned to play with it (or without it). I stretch my other three fretting fingers, slide a lot. It's not really a hinderance at all. Does it suck? Some days, but more often than not I don't even think about it. I just play.

And you'll adapt as well. The other fingers will pick up the slack for their demented brother.

 

[chris_b]

You don't NEED a pinky.

Just move your hand more to compensate.