Short Pinky Syndrome?

[jwhite518]

I'm a beginning-intermediate player. Have always struggled with my pinky. It seems to always point back toward my thumb. I can't get it to lay straight on the fretboard. Also my pinky seems weak. I can't get a good strong press on the string. I want to position my hand with the root on the pinky more often but it doesn't work so well. I think this is limiting my playing.

I recently discovered these really great Leland Sklar youtube videos. I think he started doing them during the coronavirus shelter-in-place. He talks a lot and plays a song, and talks more. Not much about bass playing, more about people and experiences. We all know his playing but now here's a chance to get to know him personally. So I'm checking him out, and his pinkies are way longer than mine! Like, his pinky is almost as long as his ring finger. Mine is a inch shorter. Big AHA moment for me.

So - what can I do to overcome the fact that I'm not Lee Sklar?

 

[TOOL460002]

These are probably relevant:

I have a bad habit of using my pinkie instead of my ring finger.

Hand Size?

If you don't exercise your legs they won't get strong. Repetition is the only advice I got.

 

[Malcolm35]

We work with what we have. I slide and don't give it another thought.

 

[Stevej66]

I'm in the same boat mate. New player, short fingers.

And sadly also more enthusiastic than competent! So not sure I'll be able to do much more than empathise.

My little finger wants to fold underneath the board and leave me playing with just the first 3. So it's a constant struggle to consciously bring it back into play.

But I have got better with it in the 5-6 months I've been at it. And of course the more you do use it, the stronger it gets and more part of the rest of what you're doing.

Could I offer one tip, if you haven't already seen it. It's an exercise posted by a very helpful poster called Stevecs. I'm sure he won't mind me mentioning it. It deals with playing in fourths as groups of 3 notes, and also promotes good fingering. It travels up and down the whole board using a repeating diamond pattern, and I found that using 1 2 and 4 fingers worked really well, especially at the far end where the frets are wider.

It also appears in a recent thread by another helpful advisor, Vindibona, which is still on the front page.

Best wishes

Steve

 

[jwhite518]

I'm in the same boat mate. New player, short fingers.

Could I offer one tip, if you haven't already seen it. It's an exercise posted by a very helpful poster called Stevecs. I'm sure he won't mind me mentioning it. It deals with playing in fourths as groups of 3 notes, and also promotes good fingering. It travels up and down the whole board using a repeating diamond pattern, and I found that using 1 2 and 4 fingers worked really well, especially at the far end where the frets are wider.
Steve

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely start working on this. Here's the link for anyone too lazy to search for it.
What happened after I practiced this for a week... [Long]

 

[Watchootognbout]

"point back toward my thumb"???

 

[CatOnTheBass]

A lot of players work around the "pinky is the shortest finger" ergonomics issue by curling under their 4th finger and using their longer 3rd finger instead. For example check out this great solo by Geddy Lee:

 

[Stevej66]

Ah. Thanks cat, I feel a load better about that now!

I know it's a "do what you need to do to get the job done" thing, but all the same I was concerned about letting bad habits get established early on. Now, if it's good enough for Ged.....

 

[juggahnaught]

I also have short pinky fingers. Each pinky only is as long as the second joint of my ring finger.



However, I never really noticed an issue. Granted, I've been playing for a long time, I used to do dexterity exercises all the time (and still do), and I started on classical guitar (short frets, smaller neck) and moved to bass guitar after a few years.

It takes time and practice. There's no quick way around it. Just use that pinky as much as you can. Do dexterity exercises and one-finger-per-fret exercises on the higher frets, then start to work your way down towards the nut. The position of your bass neck, your wrist, and your hand (specifically, the thumb on the neck) also has a large effect on what you can do with your pinky fingers. I'd recommend searching Talkbass for discussions about thumb on the back of the neck versus thumb-over for all of the opinions there, but if you are playing with your thumb wrapped around the neck, playing in a position closer to classical style with the thumb in the middle of the back of the neck may help your stretch significantly.

But the main takeaway - time and effort. Keep at it and it'll get better. Good luck!

 

[Killing Floor]

There are a lot of weird stretches. Look up Stu Hamm, for example. Or smaller scale. Or both. I’ll bet there are a ton of players who don’t rock the pinkie. Don’t sweat it. Learn some exercises.

 

[LoTone]

I have been playing for over 30 years. The first twenty years, I would just slide around and use my ring finger. Over time, I trained myself to use my pinky. It's not the end of the world if you don't use your pinky. However, it might help you, to slowly work at it over a long period of time. There are a few pieces of music, here and there, that are very hard to play just by sliding around.

On thing I did to build strength, was to use my pinky in conjunction with my ring finger. The ring finger can help provide additional pressure. As your pinky gets stronger, you will get to a place where you will be able to use it on its own.

 

[Ric5]

Short Pinky Syndrome?

exercise and play and exercise and play your finger will become more than good enough

 

[ezstep]

Never heard of Ian Anderson, with his "deformed" pinky? He did alright in the music world using only nine fingers.

 

[James Collins]

I don't understand why people think they have small hands all the time. The pinky is typically much smaller than the ring finger. Mine stops at the distal joint of my ring finger. It works just fine. I can stretch four frets in first position on 34" scale. You just need to practice 40 hours everyday.

 

[Mr Cheese]

I'm a beginning-intermediate player. Have always struggled with my pinky. It seems to always point back toward my thumb. I can't get it to lay straight on the fretboard. Also my pinky seems weak. I can't get a good strong press on the string. I want to position my hand with the root on the pinky more often but it doesn't work so well. I think this is limiting my playing.

I recently discovered these really great Leland Sklar youtube videos. I think he started doing them during the coronavirus shelter-in-place. He talks a lot and plays a song, and talks more. Not much about bass playing, more about people and experiences. We all know his playing but now here's a chance to get to know him personally. So I'm checking him out, and his pinkies are way longer than mine! Like, his pinky is almost as long as his ring finger. Mine is a inch shorter. Big AHA moment for me.

So - what can I do to overcome the fact that I'm not Lee Sklar?

I have the same problem. What I tend to do is when I play fast, I ditch my weak pinkie and just slide with my ring finger. I use my pinkie only when I play the slower stuff. Hopefully it will get to the point where I use it all the time, but for now, I'm just building it up.

 

[The Deep]

I think it’s simply a matter of forcing the use of your pinky more often. Try finding some bass exercises that target the pinky for proper execution of the drill. I too had difficulty incorporating my pinky finger into my fretting hand. A few short weeks of dedicated focus really accelerated and acclimated its use in my playing.

As bassists, we must adapt our bodies to conform to the demands of the instrument, as it will not accommodate our predilections and shortfalls. Practice, repetition and determination are essential learning tools.

 

[Discount Bassy]

Django Reinhardt got around the guitar pretty well with only two fingers.

 

[elgranluis]

Have always struggled with my pinky. It seems to always point back toward my thumb. I can't get it to lay straight on the fretboard. Also my pinky seems weak. I can't get a good strong press on the string.
So - what can I do to overcome the fact that I'm not Lee Sklar?

Well , just a couple of things. When I started playing upright , my teacher explain The fingering. Basically the ring finger is a support for the pinky ( for all the purists , I’m talking classic technique , not maestro Karr). So , the four fingers basically stretch to only three notes.

I can suggest using the ring finger and the pinky as one digit.

The thing I was going to mention , onE of th greatest Electbassists I know , measures at about 5 6’, and has very short fingers. Same as my upright bass teacher. The guy was like 5” 3’


EDIT - my touchscreen is acting up , therefore the horrible grammar.

 

[TrevorR]

I think it’s simply a matter of forcing the use of your pinky more often. Try finding some bass exercises that target the pinky for proper execution of the drill. I too had difficulty incorporating my pinky finger into my fretting hand. A few short weeks of dedicated focus really accelerated and acclimated its use in my playing.

As bassists, we must adapt our bodies to conform to the demands of the instrument, as it will not accommodate our predilections and shortfalls. Practice, repetition and determination are essential learning tools.

This absolutely nails it. Small or large hands, short or long fingers have little to do with it. As others have said stubby pinkies is pretty much normal physiology. It’s about learning new techniques and good habits.

Lee has long fingers... but then again Tal Wilkenfield is tiny and has short ones... check out some videos of her playing with Jeff Beck. She has no problem getting around a full scale bass.

There are plenty of exercises you can to to train your pinkie to work independently or in conjunction with your ring finger (a variation on the double bass “Simandl” technique). As a beginner I worked on both of these and now they’ve both become second nature and I swap between them without thinking about it while I’m playing. Sometimes I’ll be playing “one finger per fret” if that’s working for a line, sometimes Simandl and sometimes I pivot on my thumb or move hand position slightly to make lines work. And sometimes using all three within the same song/bass line. It just comes with targeted practice and repetition.

There’s lots of good tips and exercises out there...

 

[Mili]

Short Pinky Syndrome doesn't exist!
But for sure another syndrome exists.
"Looking for syndromes" Syndrome.
Looking for solutions outside and lack of focusing, thinking, analyzing....