Unruly pinkie

[fearceol]

I just realized from participating in this thread that my right pinkie instinctively curls under my coffee mug handle

You do realise that this is an excellent way to develop pinkie strength...?

Check out this clip.

 

[Anglerfish]

Also: you haven't described your practice regimen or your goals as a new bassist. Are you interested in teaching yourself a useful skill at home for your own personal development, or do you plan to bust out and join a band as soon as you can become good enough? I would probably recommend designing a course of action to learn the techniques that suit your goals.

I practice 1,5-2 hours per a day on weekdays and 3-4 hours on weekends. Mostly run scales: major, minor, chromatic. Joined my first band less than one month ago and even played one gig with them already. We play a mid tempo grunge and I am the sloppiest of us now. But in future I wanna develop a good technique and move towards thrash and death metal.

 

[storybass]

That Russ Rodgers video is great.He is my teacher and my playing has greatly improved. I was having trouble with my plucking hand for about 4 years and he told me what to do and now its fixed.

 

[static0verdrive]

How can I stretch my hand and keep it relaxed? I get so much tension when try to spread my fingers wide.

NEVER stretch! If you want, keep your thumb behind the root note so it can be like a reference point, and move your whole hand (pivoting on the thumb). Stretching = tension = stress, and repeating any action under stress is exactly how you get Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI, also known as carpel tunnel syndrome).

Start slow for all muscle memory practice. Angle your headstock up so the tuner for your E string is about eye level when you're standing. Also angle the headstock out away from you (and tail of the bass in closer to your side) by a little bit. This angle of neck should allow both your wrists to be in a much more straight/natural position and ease a lot of tension when trying the exercises. Keep your fingers relaxed and curved as if you're holding a bottle.

Remember to practice being relaxed - try to keep all your muscles as relaxed as you can, the whole time. Your elbow shouldn't be raised up (your shoulder will get tired quick!), your hands should be relaxed, etc, etc.

My teacher taught me this a couple of years ago and I went from 5-10 minutes of playing before being in pain, to playing hours now and stopping because I'm hungry, not sore

 

[static0verdrive]

in future I wanna develop a good technique

I would START with that, so you can easily get into other styles and techniques. There are many great beginner threads here on TB or PM me if you have any questions. It sounds like you're working on decent stuff but try to be using good technique while you do it - it is much harder to UNLEARN bad technique after you've drilled it into your brain than it is to simply start with good technique, slowly. Trust me on this one!!!

 

[FourBanger]

I spent a lot of time playing many different chords on a guitar. I was a better bass player after many years' hiatus as a guitarist even though I hadn't touched a bass in that time. YMMV

 

[ZonieBass]

You might want to try a Digi-Flex. Great exercise tool for the hand and fingers.

 

[Anglerfish]

Here is a video of me trying to play a short chromatic excercise at three different places of the neck. Hope it'll make clear what am I doing wrong and how to fix that. From what I see myself: my fretting hand feels kinda uncomfortable and there are a lot of tension, waste of motion and fret buzz. Especially closer to the nut.

 

[Mushroo]

Not bad! Here are my suggestions:

1. It's okay to practice even slower than that, if you need (or want) to.
2. Right now your playing is "staccato" meaning your notes are short and cut-off sounding. Try practicing the same exercise "legato" meaning your notes are long and sustain as long as possible before playing the next note. This will really force you to use economy of motion and smooth technique.
   
3. In my opinion, your left-hand thumb is over-rotated toward your body (especially as you move toward the nut). Try rotating your thumb in the other direction, so it is pointing toward the headstock (like you are hitch hiking) and you will probably also notice this brings your elbow away from your body. Imagine your hand is open about to basket-catch a falling baseball, not clamped shut like you just caught it. You don't want your thumb curled into your palm; that creates a crease in the palm at the base of the thumb. In palm-reading terminology, don't compress your "life line."
   
4. This one is controversial, but in my opinion, it is totally okay to use 1-2-4 fingering in the lower positions.
5. More controversial advice: you look bored! I don't see any value to playing rote scale exercises 1+ hour a day. Make sure you mix up your practice time, maybe 10-15 minutes of scales and then move on to fun and musical exercises that make you want to get out the chair and jump around.

Good luck and keep practicing (fun things). I think you are almost there!

 

[Rocktometrist]

Here is a video of me trying to play a short chromatic excercise at three different places of the neck. Hope it'll make clear what am I doing wrong and how to fix that. From what I see myself: my fretting hand feels kinda uncomfortable and there are a lot waste of motion. Especially closer to the nut.

Looks to me like you have a good foundation to build on in terms of technique--you just need to continue practicing to build muscles and muscle memory. One idea might be to do exercises that focus specifically on your pinky--so instead of just doing chromatic exercises, do exercises which continually involve that finger in different patterns (which in turn will help build those hand muscles). Also, pay attention to the angle that your hand approaches the fretboard (especially as you move toward the nut)--try to keep it oriented so that the pinky stays in striking position when the hand is relaxed (as opposed to pivoting it so your pinky goes under the fretboard). Don't excessively strain your hand or do anything that hurts, obviously.

I know it can seem impossible at first, but once you build the muscles in your hand (and if you continue to concentrate on good technique), it will eventually become second nature. You're off to a good start!

 

[spanndrew]

As a beginner, everything is going to feel strange and alien for a while. You have to give things some time, and stick at them.

Here is another clip on developing your left hand technique.

I took lessons with Russ for a while, his methods will work.

 

[sonicblue62]

All of my pinkie issue went away when I started to play upright. You can't get away with a lazy pinky there.

 

[fearceol]

Here is a video of me trying to play a short chromatic excercise at three different places of the neck. Hope it'll make clear what am I doing wrong and how to fix that. From what I see myself: my fretting hand feels kinda uncomfortable and there are a lot of tension, waste of motion and fret buzz. Especially closer to the nut.

I can almost feel the carpel tunnel syndrome setting in by watching that clip. Your hand looks tense and the wrist is bent. For a start, I'd suggest wearing a strap even when sitting and to bring the left arm out from your body some more.

Here is another clip for ya !!

 

[static0verdrive]

in my opinion, it is totally okay to use 1-2-4 fingering in the lower positions.

ABSOLUTELY. Goes right along with staying loose / relaxed as much as you can. To clarify: I retired my ring finger whenever fretting below the 7th fret (i.e. if I want to use frets 5, 6, 7 then I use fingers 1, 2, 4). No stretching, economy of motion, etc.

 

[Anglerfish]

Slowed down, put on a strap, turned my thumb away and tried to keep that natural hand position (not always successfully). Is it better now?

 

[d-dave]

Hi everyone, here is another question from a horrible bass noob with super small hands.

My unruly pinkie (and sometimes even a ring finger) always tends to curl when I'm playing notes with my other fingers. When I play on thinner strings it even goes under the neck and I waste a lot of motion to take it from there when it's time to use it. How can I fix that?

When I play with my pinkie on thicker strings it bends only in the joint that is closer to the end. Another one keeps straight and it feels kinda uncomfortable. Are here any suggestions?

As many have already stated, it's not at much an issue of "super small hands" as much as the fact that your muscles are trying to do something they've never done. I don't have small hands (not huge, but relatively large - 10 inch left hand span pinkie to thumb) but when I was starting out, I had the same difficulty.

I was entirely self-taught and it was long before the days of Youtube. I wound up developing a very unhealthy play style initially, using only my first three fingers on my left hand almost exclusively. Your instinct when flexing all the other fingers, is for your weaker pinkie to 'draw up'. It wasn't until I was playing in a band with all older members (about 6 years in) that one of the guitarists and my closest buds said the next time he saw me using that ring finger he was gonna break it.

Of course he was kidding, but it made me conscious of it. I began moving out of my comfort zone, looking up some exercises in Bass Player magazine and really woodshedding to relearn how to play the correct way. Spider is a great beginner exercise to force all four fingers to do what they're supposed to do.

You're fine. You're not a "horrible bass noob". You're just a noob. And that's cool. Because every freakin' one of us were also noobs once.

 

[Bodeanly]

When I was 14, I broke my left pinky. Instead of waiting for it to heal (like the doctor recommended), I started tucking it under the neck and stretching the eff out of my ring finger. Nearly 25 years later, I can fret that pinky just fine, but when I don't use it, it curls itself below the neck. On my plucking hand, my ring finger moves in unison with my middle finger. It looks like I am plucking with three fingers, but I'm not.

 

[devnulljp]

I played classical guitar fr a long time and the Spider helped me.


There's another good one in Pumping Nylon he calls Odair (Adssad)'s favourite exercise


This is good too.


I still do these exercises even on standup bass, although it's a stretch.

 

[madbass6]

Back in my day we had no internet!!
In This day and age questions like this on TB forums seem no brainers! i mean dude just Go on Youtube.com there's thousands covering and demostrating proper technique! its probably what half your replies on here probably did before replying to you anyways!
Heres the site
www.youtube.com

 

[Billybladez66]

I've seen some great advice, but hadn't seen anyone mention this to help. Practice in front of a mirror and watch your hands. I always found it was easier to correct what I was doing wrong if I saw it from a 3rd person point of view, as opposed to only seeing your hands from 1st person, it will also help you learn to play without always having to look at your fretting hand.