Fix Your Flying Pinky Guitar Technique (keeping fingers close to fretboard)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- ➡ FREE PDF: Top 3 Pentatonic Scale Patterns for more melodic soloing ➡ bit.ly/3lIQujx
Got the flying pinky guitar problem? Is it hard keeping fingers close to the fretboard? Here’s the solution.
Video # 126: Fix Your Flying Pinky Guitar Technique (keeping fingers close to fretboard)
LESSON CONTENT OUTLINE WITH TIMESTAMP LINKS:
0:00 - Guitar playing intro
0:04 - About this flying pinky guitar lesson
2:09 - About the channel
2:32 - Keeping fingers close to the fretboard exercise
9:28 - Don't hold your fingers down
11:07 - Next level 1234 permutations
11:57 - Conclusion, Free PDF, Question, Outro
LINKS & LESSONS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:
• ➡ FREE PDF: Top 3 Pentatonic Scale Patterns for more melodic soloing ➡ bit.ly/3lIQujx
• My website: www.soundguitarlessons.com/
• Top 5 Technique Mistakes Guitarists Make: • Top 5 Technique Mistak...
• Classical Guitar Without Nails (4-part mini-series): • SERIES: Classical Guit...
LESSON DESCRIPTION:
Well... I got COVID.
It was pretty bad for a couple days but I'm feeling a bit better now.
I'm glad to have found the energy to make this lesson for you :)
After my "technique mistakes" video from a couple weeks ago I got a few questions about how to train our fingers to stay close to the fretboard and how to deal with the flying pinky guitar problem.
I remember when my left hand fingers were flying way off the fretboard when I played.
I fixed that problem by consistently doing a simple, specific conditioning exercise.
In this video:
• I explain what that exercise is
• I warn against a common piece of advice that you should actually avoid
• And I share how often you should be practicing this exercise and how long it should take until keeping your fingers close to the fretboard becomes second nature
If your fingers are flying away from the fretboard when you play then this could really help, and I hope it does.
➡ FREE PDF: Top 3 Pentatonic Scale Patterns for more melodic soloing ➡ bit.ly/3lIQujx
➡ Enjoying my free weekly guitar lessons and interested in giving back? You can support my channel and help keep it going by donating here: www.soundguitarlessons.com/do...
I hope you enjoyed this lesson about how to address the flying pinky guitar problem and found it beneficial. Let me know what you thought in the comments. Leaving a comment helps the channel a ton-plus I just love hearing from you!
Thanks! :)
- Jared
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#guitartechnique #pinkyexercise #technique #guitar #guitarlesson #guitarlessons - เพลง
➡ FREE PDF: Top 3 Pentatonic Scale Patterns for more melodic soloing ➡ bit.ly/3lIQujx
I'll start practicing this. My pinky will usually retract to my palm anytime I put down my ring finger, so hopefully being mindfully of that tension during practicing exercises will help break the habit. Thanks for the video.
Hi Jared, I am 67 and a total beginner, with an acoustic guitar. Your voice is very pleasant. I trust you are feeling much better here in 2023. Mike in Oregon
I've followed one of your courses and noticed how smooth and effortless your playing is. This explains it! Thanks for revealing - I'll get practising. Get well soon mate!
Thanks, David! Glad this one was helpful :) Cheers
Thank you! The best day for me to watch this video was January 2nd when I started this guitar adventure. Since I missed it then, the second best day to watch and start working this is right now.
Great lesson! Something many of us figure will "fix itself" over time. But it takes practice and time. Also, never heard the "don't hold your fingers down" (9:28) bit. Great stuff.
Such a calm way of teaching.....like tranquil meditation 🙂
Thanks Jared. What a relief! I thought there was something wrong with me. My teacher gets totally aggravated with me over this. I haven’t realized a good solution to this until I watched and listened to this video. Thanks again. 👍
Hi, just watched your flying pinky video and I’m very glad I did. It’s been a problem for me for a long time although I didn’t realize it was until I started a jazz method book that instructed to keep your fingers close to the fretboard. What I’m especially grateful for is your advice to NOT keep your fingers planted on the fretboard which another guitarist on TH-cam instructed. For me, it’s a very slow process to unlearn this habit as you alluded to in your video. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your expertise. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
The part about not holding the fingers down makes a lot of sense and is very helpful. I was wondering why my hand kept cramping up 😅. Guess I gotta restart this exercise, lol
I really find your voice and explanation to be very calming and encouraging, so thank you very much.
Hope you are feeling better. This plus the other lesson on common mistakes really hit the bell thank you
Feeling better now, thanks! Glad this one and the technique vid helped! :) cheers -Jared
Thanks so much for that, Jared. I was so excited to see that something so good and useful came out from my last comment and I'm really grateful for this lesson. I'll definitely practice this extensively from now on to get rid of my flying pinky issue.
Take care of your health, have a good rest and in no time Covid will be history.
Thanks for the lesson request, Idan! That was a good idea :)
How has it gone? Is your pinky behaving now?
I've had my guitar for less than 2 weeks and after watching this video it felt like a fret fairy magically helped me get better 😭Thank you so much
Gracias Jared , efectivamente tengo ese problema , y voy a comenzar en poner en practica tus soluciones técnicas, saludos desde Argentina
The thing a lot of people initially don’t realize about guitar is that you have to go through these really slow boring repetitive practice sessions at least initially to get certain things down. I think the key is to do these really slow sort of boring exercises for only about 15 minutes at the most, and then go back to some other type of practice or simply actual playing. Another thing people don’t realize is that too much practicing in relation to how much you actually play and just letting go can be bad too. It’s about finding a balance in between both because sometimes some people will just play and will never practice and then there are people who only practice for the most part and never play and when you do that you’re kind of programming, certain type of rigidity that isn’t appropriate when you actually go on stage, and so when you’re on stage, you’ve kind of already programmed yourself into this mental activity in a way that it becomes habitual and that’s not really what music is about.
Simply brilliant.
I will actively practice the kernel of this lesson.
Thank you Jared. And feel better!
Thanks! Glad you found this one helpful! Cheers, Jared
Completely new to the guitar, but one common concept I am repeatedly hearing from guitarists is to really take your time and not rush through when practicing technique/hand positioning and such. I will be incorporating this excersize into my daily practice!!! Thank you for this video!!!
Also since I am new to your channel, do you have a video that shows other simple daily “excersizes” like this that would be beneficial in improving our play? If not, I would love to request one! ✌️
Welcome to the channel, Anna! I'd start working on this scale exercise: th-cam.com/video/-O55NE42HZE/w-d-xo.html. Then also start on this series that explains theory and has some really great, simple exercises in it: th-cam.com/video/-O55NE42HZE/w-d-xo.html. Let me know if you have any questions :) ** -Jared
Thank you! I needed to see this. Just finished practicing I feel like I got a lot done :)
Great to hear! :)
This has always been a problem...so I am looking forward to applying this great lesson...thaknks mucho.
very useful, thanks 🙏🏼 ❤
very helpful thanks
Thanks for the practice routine. Get well soon. 👍
Thanks, Amit!
Love this video, especially when you’re talking about not worrying about anything else.. I’m on a bass guitar, and i’ve been trying to do this lesson but there’s definitely been some rattling and plucking mishaps, but it’s nice to hear to just not worry about those things, cuz i’ve been worrying lol thank you! hopefully my flying pinky will be tamed
It also helps with string noise and speed great lesson.
This is just what I needed.
Good to hear! :)
Jared great lesson and tips. Its something I just covered with my teacher so this is going to be really helpful.
Ah, perfect timing then :) Glad it helps, thanks Andy! -Jared
I’ve been playing for 60 years or so and have such a short pinky(thanks Mom!) that the flying pinky is still happening- but here I am watching your video to help improve the left hand… I am going to start trying this in the morning! Thanks for the ideas
Thanks for the lesson. Get well soon
Thanks, Sherman!
Finally, a lesson that explains how to play closer to the fretboard! Thanks, I have been trying to improve on this, and couldn't find anybody to fully explain how to do the exercise!
I can barely play simple chords yet, should I worry about this now? Or get it to later on when I'm actually an intermediate
@@NotEkam you can always work on it a bit every day, but I wouldn't focus on it over learning g how to fret chords and technique. Make this part of your warmup every time, and there you go
Thank you. Sight reading any jazz standard is a skill I eventually want to develop. At improv jazz clubs these guys can open to any song and start jamming away.
Hi Michael. I'm glad you're interested in developing your sight reading. It's a special experience to hear brand new music to our ears coming out of our hands just from looking at the sheet :)
@@soundguitar Huh, I have been working on it for the last view months off and on. The way you describe it though is interesting. I will be working on that. Thanks for this nice shortcut!
Wow, great info!!!!!! This is a big problem for me!!!! Thank you!!!!!
Glad to help! Thanks for watching :)
Thanks man! Yeah it feels like I'm putting counter weight or psychologically "pushing" in a way on my pinky hence the slight strain in order to keep it where it is (for now!)
Ive been struggling with this forever , and you hit the nail on the head ,its remembering to actually implement it , i know its my problem but then i find myself wondering why its still holding me back , anymore advice on this would be greatly appreciated, but im guna stick to this , its fast pentatonics i want to master
you're a really good teacher! cheers from brazil my dude
Many thanks, Bruno! :)
This was a good video. I notice that I’m find when ascending, but when descending my pinky flies off when I raise my ring finger. I guess I’ll just have to practice isolating that move. Thanks for the tips!
I'm a new player. Been taking in person lessons for almost 2 months. My fingers definitely have wings 😅. It's not something my instructor has commented on yet. Thanks for the lesson, I'm going to start incorporating this into my daily practice routine.
Right on! Great to hear. Thanks for watching :)
Tnx for the tip- Do Not Hold Your fingers down! I have a motorcycle accident damaged pinky and my lower arm muscles ache if I try to keep all fingers down. Hence, gave up on these exercises. Will now resume!!!😊
Very helpful Jared, take care with Covid.
Thanks, Stuart!
So, I have a flying pinky, it would leave my fretting hand if it was not firmly attached. I have practiced the thing you said not to practice. Bad news is that I got good at it (spider walk, keeping all fingers pressing down on strings as you walk the four-fret span on every string, without lifting the other fingers. The good news is, I'm replacing the spider walk with the focused pinky exercise, every day, for the next six months. I just did it for 3 minutes and my whole hand is cramping, but my pinky is already behaving better. You have to also focus on staying relaxed, and not holding our breath, like I did. Thanks for the inspiration. If it came from anyone else, I wouldn't even try it.....
Hi Jamey, love your Pickup Music lessons, you're def one of the best to ever do this social media guitar tutorial thingy!
Quick question, can I learn tablature in lieu of more traditional sightreading? It's much more logical for me. Would love your thoughts on this. Thanks!
Thanks so much for the lesson. I'm 49 and I just started playing the guitar. Is there an exercise for picking the right string? I find myself doing the exercise, but picking the wrong string as I do the chromatic exercise. Thanks in advance.
Thank you
You're welcome :)
This practice has made me go insane trying it but that means it really good lol
So i spent a year teaching myself guitar. Now I've spent 6 months re learning a lot of what i taught myself.
I recently had surgery on my neck.
And i no longer have the hand strength i once did.
So it was an issue.
I had to get very deliberate.
My fingers were also all over the place.
I decided to do the spider walk thing but with the g scale.
It's the best thing i ever did.
It didn't take that much time since i already had the scale memorized.
But i wish i had this channel in the first place.
I thought i just wanted to play the clash and the pistols.
Turns out i kinda want to be good.
Not that either jones or strummer are slouches.
But i want to do this right.
Also, thumb strait and not to the side. Not at first anyway.
That was the hardest habit to break.
The difference in my chord changes, too.
The exercise should be second only to chromatic.
It makes sooooooo much difference.
Just do it...over and over and over.
Hi mate
Great video and really helpful. I'm playing a genre of Brazilian jazz called choro. Definitely the hardest thing I've done yet. I'm now having to go back and clean up bad habits, including the flying pinky!
Hey, another important thing. You mentioned biting your lip when playing. I've become aware of this recently and am working on relaxing my face, especially when playing complex chord shapes and progressions. Any chance you could make a video on tips for relaxing and avoiding cringy faces 🥴🥴? I think a lot of aspiring guitarists would really benefit. Cheers 🙏🙏🙏
Hi, thanks for the advice, so while I'm doing this I notice that my middle finger and index finger tends to go up when fretting my ring and pinky, so should I actively try to muscle those fingers down? Or should I try to relax more so they tend to move less, this is the distinction I'm a bit confused abour
Just checked. I am guilty of the flying pinky! I had no idea. Good lesson. Get well soon buddy!
Thanks, Sean!
thank you jared for this lesson and get well soon i have a question this exercise is for the acoustic too?
Thank you! --- Yep! for acoustic too :) **
Goo lesson, sub'd. My issue is not picking the notes but pulling off the notes at the 4th fret - the pinky retracts all the way back. Any lesson for that?
After practicing this, and seeing improvement, will it translate to songs I've already learned, or will I have to practice keeping my fingers close while playing said songs?
I literally just found the "planted finger" spider exercize and it does help with re-establishing my base movements and finger independence, but it does not help with exactly this.
One thing at a time...
Thank you!
I will incorperate this as soon as my fingers arent glued to each other!
Yay! Awesome. glad to help :) cheers
My decending is good but my accending is my problem how do i address that thank you
I have a problem with bending my middle finger when I'm playing with other fingers, so basically every time my finger gas to make huge distance to fretboard. Thanks for this exercise I can already feel the muscles in my hand I didnt know even existed there before😂
Noticed your thumb is under your middle mostly. Any advice on that and at what angle should the fretting fingers touch the fretboard ? How close to perpendicular? Thanks for a great video :)
Thank you Jared, it's a great lesson! I've got a small question though, if you don't mind: How do you combine not holding your fingers down with string-muting? Aren't you supposed to keep the index finger on the strings below to mute them?
Good question. Never keep pressure pushed down when you don't need it, but you can touch strings anywhere to mute them as needed, just without pressure.
Does this mean work similar for bass? That’s what I play (I’ve been playing since October or something) and I’ve been having trouble with this stuff a lot when I play
The first time I tried this exercise, and it kinda felt like when your leg falls asleep and you can't quite lift your foot up to walk. Like my muscles behind my hands weren't just weak, they damn near didn't exist haha.
A cool little side effect of building this hand strength is that barre chords (and chords that require left hand muting) started to unlock for me. Everything kinda ties together when you start consistently practicing
Hey man love the channel ! came from the vibrato/bending video and was curious what else u do around here :D (p.s. would love to learn smth like a bonamassa ( kossov) and Slash comparison type vibrato video, mostly bcz i think they are the two most important vibrato types in bluesrock, or maybe just a more indept bending + bending vibrato vid to learn from )
What i wanted to add to this one, i think , for most people, learn in an actual example would be better, especially when applying this to legato. I dont have a big hand at all and struggled a lot with straight 1-3-4 for example to be very efffient moving bcz i had to do a lot of wrist movement, especially going in different contexts, so learning in an actual musical example made it easier and practical >to me< but yeah, finger efficiency especially if u put it into a more blues rock example with the thumb over its a thing u rly have to practice conciously, not smth that just "happens" ;D!
You have a lovely voice and an enviously long pinky.
Thanks, Daniel! I don't think I've ever received that exact compliment before :)
Does this apply to acoustic guitars ?
Get well soon!
Thank you!
This video could have been 2 minutes long. 😐(even so, you make great videos, thanks for the great work.)
yeah... Gotta work on my brevity. Thanks for the feedback!!
If I practice this every day for about half an hour every day will the results come quicker? I see it's a big hinderance in my playing and I wanna really focus on improving my fretting hand technique
If I do this, but then spend tow hours practising (not excersises) the other way, will it not work?
After you practice this for a few minutes during a given session what about the remainder of the session? When doing scales do you just do what comes naturally or should you try to be always be aware of your finger distance to the fretboard? Thanks for the video.
I have the same question, I guess you just shouldn't mind once you're done with your excercise. So that you can focus on other aspects. But it feels silly to practice scales without considering this error we do
I can keep a short distance between my fingers and fretboard but my problem that I've been dealing with for years is that when I don't need my pinky finger, say, for a index and ring finger pull off or double-stop, usually people curl up their pinky to their palm, almost under the fretboard, but my pinky finger tenses up completely and flies off a lot, I mean, a LOT. Not sure what to do, the only thing it helps is when I put my thumb on top of the fretboard and play "hendrix-frusciante" style, then the pinky stays more controlled and curls up to the palm. Should I just play like that then? Because I feel that it's so much different than this technique, it's good for a funky, "mute-all-the-strings" kind of playing but isn't the technique showed in the video much better for playing in general?
If anyone could help me out I'd appreciate it!
Omg, my pinkie is like HALF the length of yours so HOW can it get it all the way up there?!!!!
I am an older learning and already injured my hand. I am slowing down but it is challenging to keep all my fingers near the board.
My pinky will move under the neck when I play a D chord which makes it impossible to switch chords with ease. I will try this exercise. Hopefully it helps.
Hack: play the raining blood spider riff while practicing this
Master ........DESTROY COVID🙋
My flying finger problem that I'm really struggling with involves the transition from an open chord, say a simple open C chord to a barre'ed B minor chord (think Travis-picking "Danny's Song" by Loggins and Messina). The flying finger that I'm experiencing is my barre'ing index finger. In the transition from the open C chord to the B minor barre chord, I'm able to get my three non-barre'ing fingers, my middle, ring and pinky fingers down quickly, but if I froze time, and took a photo at this point in time, you'd see that my barre'ing index finger has flown away from the finger board, and even worse, curled away. So, at this point, the only hope I have to complete the formation of the barre'ed B minor chord is to uncurl the index finger and slap it down in panic fashion. Wouldn't it be a lot better, as far as economy of movement and finger independence if I simply didn't fly my barre'ing index finger away from the finger board and curl it? And yet what seems so easy to write down in this comment, is impossible for me to actually perform.
Longest pinky I ever saw. Longer than his ring and middle fingers.
haha :)
I looked up the muscles in the hand, and it appears that you are referring to the lumbrical muscles. Do you think there is any value in doing lumbrical muscle exercises to help with this? For example, I found this: th-cam.com/video/6FkrqA5Drhg/w-d-xo.html , so perhaps the chromatic exercise with intense focus on keeping the pinky and ring finger as close to the fretboard as possible, in addition to lumbrical exercises? I feel I could do the lumbrical exercises at work and come home and practice the chromatic exercise to maximize my gains.
I took some classical guitar lesson in my past ,I can use my pinky but it's not good enough
can someone with smaller fingers than yours be successfu? Great video.
In my experience you might not be able to play certain things from your favorite players because they have freakishly large hands, but you can still be incredibly successful at guitar playing. You just might have to approach the instrument in a slightly different way but that’s part of what will create your own unique musical sound. One of the most successful jazz guitarists, Django Reinhardt, had only 2 functioning fingers on his left hand. You’re more than capable! 😎
I’m finding this difficult with small hands. Any tips? How to keep my fingers down, when trying to reach the frets :-)
Get a finger strengthening device. Pick your poison. The stronger your fingers are, the easier to do this technique. Watch a Dimebag Darryl video and see how stubby his fingers are. Get a guitar with a 7.25 fretboard radius. Those are good for smaller hands but they’re more difficult to play barre chords if you’re playing sitting down. Hope that helps.
Ok six months, I was getting frustrated because it was only slightly better in six weeks. Thanks.
"try to keep your fingers close to the board"
"c'mon it can't be that hard"
*tries it*
"AYO WHAT?!"
Crap, sorry you got the Covid. Hope you feel 100% soon.
Thanks so much!
3:39
My problem is that my middle finger keeps flying off while the other fingers are in my control
Interesting! I think the same exercise should help. Let me know how it goes :) -Jared
Yeahh..my fingers are behaving freaky...😂😂😂
Does anyone's pinky feel like it's gonna break putting enough pressure to play a note? Google has never heard of this.
what happens when you have to sledgehammer that pinky for a hammer on? You would need a specific kind of set up to get away with what you're demonstrating.
for hammer-ons you can lift fingers further up to "wind up" and come down with enough force. That's a great question.
Me here with my ukulele: 👁👄👁
Flying pinky? My whole hand is flying off
6 months!!!!!DAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been playing for like 3 years (self-taught, ofc I did) and I never tried fixing this problem.
My pinky LITERALLY bends back into my palm, mf really doesn't like being there, I've a lot of work to do lol
From all of pat martino's videos available i see his pinky just flew off the fingerboard when he plays, for example
th-cam.com/video/5Fac8eMCgmU/w-d-xo.html&start_radio=1&rv=tKubzjQbq2o
maybe this is the case where years of playing have conditioned his muscles to be in their own optimal state despite the conventional beliefs? And PM's speed and dexterity is nothing short of machine gun-like
I’m watching this video realising that you don’t even have a pinky finger! All of your fingers are long! How did you switch your pinky for another index finger ??
Works I guess but you say way too much useless stuff and make the video unnecessary longer. Could be done in 5-6 minutes.
Timestamp?
Loquacious, but good lesson
Agree. Good lesson, but I feel like this video could have been three minutes long.
I'll work on that! Thanks for the feedback!!
This feels like pulling teeth when I do it. I just can’t keep the pinky down.
Stick with it for months. It will work :)
@@soundguitarthat's bullshit though
Pinky for me isn’t the issue it’s my ring finger too close to index that’s my issue.
At 5.42 you talk about 'building muscle' in the fingers - but my understanding is that the fingers don't contain any muscles. Other than that, a useful video.
I'm no anatomy expert. I just mean the muscles that control the fingers :)
@@soundguitar The human hand is made up of the wrist, palm, and fingers and consists of 27 bones, 27 joints, 34 muscles, over 100 ligaments and tendons, and many blood vessels and nerves. So with that said your system is spot on, just like lifting weights.
my pinky doesnt care about what i want. it wont listen
I don’t like how every tutorial I watch conflict with eachother. This sucks
I totally hear you and I understand how that's frustrating. Thanks for your comment. Is there a tutorial that says you should have your pinky far away?
I've practiced this for months and my fingers still fly off. It's physically impossible to keep your fingers close to the fretboard and it only work for people who are born with some kind of weird tendons. These guitarists really don't know what the fuck they are talking about 😂😂😂