How To Cure The Dreaded 'FLYING PINKY' On The Bass Guitar! (No.214)
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
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Pretty much all bass players suffer from a 'flying pinky' in the earlier stages of playing bass guitar but it's important to rectify this if you wan to play fast and efficiently. In this video lesson I show you how to cure your little finger flying off the fretboard and get you playing with a correct fretting hand technique.
We cover the following aspects of left hand bass playing technique:
1. Thumb position
2. Hand shape
3. Finger pressure
4. Controlling your pinky
Timestamp:
0:00 How to cure the flying pinky on bass guitar
0:44 Thumb position for bass fretting hand
2:04 Light touch on the bass fretboard
2:55 The flying pinky exercises
3:43 Exercise 1
5:50 Warm Up Book For Bass Players
6:21 Exercise 2
7:25 Exercise 3
#basstechnique #flyingpinky #howtoplaybass
• Click for the FREE pdf:
www.gbshed.com/flying-pinky
I just realised my pinky takes no notice whatsoever of what my brain tells it to do! These exercises will be a big help, thanks.
You're not alone with this Ned!! Glad the lesson helped.
Excellent, ... thank you Greg!👍
Thanks Marc
Thank you for all this tips.
Any time!
Your a a good teacher.
Thanks Pat
Thanks Greg. Had computer issues so just got to see this. Great tips I’ll be practising these exercises as well as pressing more gently in the strings. Appreciate your lessons.
Cheers Ruth, glad the lessons are helping. Thanks for the coffee.
I lost part of my ring finger in a childhood accident. Still opted for a right handed bass & have struggled with pinky & one finger per fret spacing since. After practicing your pinky & thumb placement techniques, I've noticed an improvement in a few areas. I will use parts of these exercises as my warm up routine...thanks! I subscribed ages ago.
Glad the exercises are helping Avon. I use 4 fingers over 3 frets a lot, missing out my ring finger so it can work. I also recommend using the pinky instead of the ring finger for octaves and 5th so don’t worry about adapting the technique snd not using one finger per fret.
I’m 5 years in on guitar and started 5 string bass last year. One way I accidentally got my ring and pinky under control is I play slide guitar on bass, guitar and baritone guitar.
I wear my slide on the ring finger and it can lead to a spastic mess.
I’m still using a pick on bass for faster aggressive playing.
I’m very thankful for your lesson on Oh Well, you mentioned in that lesson some fast note runs are tricky and they are easier with a pick.
I’m still learning Motörhead, Ramones and Budgie.
Today’s lessons on pinky flail is a good one Greg.
I needed a reminder to slow down, look 👀 and be a little kinder to myself.
Thanks gain.
Glad the lesson helped Kerry and I still have to remind myself to slow down and put less pressure on myself!
The pick definitely makes certain faster bass lines more manageable. Hope the 5-string is progressing well. Cheers
Greg as always thanks for your tips, PDFs, and demonstrations on your videos. I wanted to let you know I purchased your “Warm Up,” book and can’t wait to get started with the exercises. I’m thinking this book will also help me keep my fingers closer to the fretboard with daily practice. I also read that while practicing these exercises, I will also gain some theory knowledge, which in return produces musical harmony. Thanks again for all that you do, I thoroughly enjoy each and every one of your videos! 👍🏻👍🏻
Great to hear, yeah the book will definitely help with better fretboard technique and will help with keeping your fingers closer to the fretboard. I also tried to included a little bit of useful music theory alongside the exercises. Enjoy!
Hi Greg, thanks for this lesson, it could have been aimed straight at me after our face to face lesson and it was good to get more teaching on this subject and one more exercise to do as well. It's great that you emphasise going slow as my tendency is to race ahead as soon as I have got the exercise half right and the slow repetition really gets it home. Cheers
Cheers Lawrence, it's such a common issue that I thought it was about time I made a CZcams lesson on it! We all have a tendency to rush through things, I still have to remind myself to slow down when learning something new! Glad you liked it.
Very nice tks a lot
No worries, glad it was useful.
THANKS ... 👍👍👍
Welcome 👍
I sorted my pinky by playing the major scale BACKWARDS (starting with the pinky) in the first position. It’s not a race! Extremely slow practice will sort a lot of technique issues. In my opinion.
Good tip there with the backwards scale Durbin and slowly slowly catchy monkey with the slow practice 👌
Hi Greg, wonderful practical advice on this age old problem facing bass players. Pinky use on bass becomes a real technical problem, and your exercises will certainly help. I’m naturally left handed, but have always played with right handed bass and guitars, so pinky use in the past didn’t really present a problem. Arguably, this may be due to having more natural finger strength in my left hand as opposed to right handed players fretting with their hand they don’t use as much in everyday life, like work or sport etc. Roll the clock forward and I have mobility problems, arthritis mainly, in my left hand to the extent that my pinky is crooked and virtually useless for fretting. It has been this way for quite a few years and I have toyed with the idea of getting a “leftie” However, to overcome my particular “pinky” problem I just sort of adapted different techniques, I slightly roll my hand to the left which gives me more space for my ring and middle fingers, thumb is still anchored to the neck. I also get round the problem by sliding to notes that should be fretted by the dreaded pinky. I’m playing with mainly three fingers but utilising them more. It seems to work, even on a 5 string. Add those exercises into your practice regime and if, like me, if mobility problems are a concern, don’t give up, keep playing, adapt to the situation and create techniques that allow you bypass the problem.
Keep Groovin’
Bryn
Hey Bryn, interesting about you feeling that you could have more finger strength in your fretting hand due to being left handed. That makes a lot of sense.
I mentioned arthritis in the lesson as this seems a really common issue with lots of my subscribers. So much so that I'm thinking of doing some research into it to see if I can find common coping techniques. It's really great that you've found a way round this to keep playing. Great advice all round. Cheers
The 1,4,3,2 exercise is harder for me to do with out flying fingers compared to the arpeggio good exercise thanks.
That is definitely the harder exercise! 😀
Hi Greg, I'm 62 learning & playing bass for almost 4 yrs and, thankfully, no arthritis. Glad you noted mobility issues re where to place my thumb, as I have a permanent tendon injury on the middle finger of my fretting hand. Perhaps a blessing, in that I need to use that pinky more and it's quite strong. Nevertheless, it still flies off. I thank you for this useful exercise. As you showed, my thumb does need to rest on the side of the neck pointing to 2 o'clock, in order to get any use out of that angled middle digit. By trial & error, I also found that holding the bass in a more classical position, at 45 degrees resting over my L knee, rather than the usual R knee and parallel, gave me the most comfortable and useful position. I note this, in case others may have not considered this option. Greg, if you any additional ideas or suggestions (or if I'm completely off track), I'd love to hear your opinion. Same for the others that have commented. Cheers!
Hey Herm, you aren't alone, I speak to a lot of bass players with mobility issues in their hands and it's great to see how they overcome this in all different sorts of ways. I will definitely give the 45 degrees bass angle on the left knee some thought. I have tried this a long time ago and know some pro electric guitarists who play like this. It could be a really good alternative for bassists with hand mobility issues. Thanks for sharing.
What about not having little finger lost mine years ago but im still going to try bass arrives in a week fingers crossed lol
At least you don't have to worry about training your pinky then! On a serious note, you can still make it work. The bass player from Tower Of Power only fretted with his first two fingers so he could mute the strings with his other two fingers and he was such a great bass player. Have fun when your bass arrives and let me know how you get on.
I sure like the idea of a bass guitar, 2 less strings to deal with:-)
Don't get a 6-string bass then Kirk!
I’m 49. Been playing since I was 15.
I’ve tried a gazillion exercises over many long years.
Nothing’s helped ever. No matter how slow and careful, my pinkie can be ‘forced’ to work for the moment it HAS to fret. Otherwise, it flies ALL the way out like some prissy person drinking a cup of tea.
I even tried bandaging it to my ring finger and it just made playing worse and extremely painful.
Whenever my pinkie ISN’T flying, it’s extremely painful. My fingers, my hand, my wrist, my forearm and even my shoulder (sometimes even up to my neck).
It was true from my first lessons in my teens and remains such today.
My pinkie flying feels comfortable, natural and good….no matter how much I despise that it does so. 😕
Maybe something is wrong with me. ?
It's possible that you do have a legitimate issue with your hand but it could also be a few other factors like thumb position, how relaxed your hand is, hand shape, etc. it's tricky to say without seeing you play.
gorilla glue :)
It's certainly an option! 😀