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Author Topic: Pinky fretting problems  (Read 1684 times)

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m3tan

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Pinky fretting problems
« on: October 16, 2012, 06:19:32 AM »

I've been playing guitar for about a year and overall have been making pretty good progress. One area I've completely hit the wall and it's driving me nuts, is playing John's blues riffs from songs like Roll Over Beethoven, Bad Boy, I Feel Fine etc... When holding down a power chord, it's just impossible for me to reach that 5th fret with my pinky without lifting my ring finger off the 2nd fret.  One of my band mates suggested that I use my middle finger to hold down the 2nd fret, but that makes it impossible to play some riffs and also feels like I'm cheating. I've got pretty long fingers so I can't understand how others can do it but I cannot.  I've been trying pinky stretching exercises and playing power chord riffs as far down the fretboard as I can but not improving much.  I can do the D-G-A blues riffs from Roll Over Beethoven on a Rickenbacker 325 no problem (thanks to being short scale and so far up the neck), but it gets much harder as I move down the neck on I Want To Hold Your Hand. Playing the G riff from I Feel Fine on a Gibson J-160 is totally hopeless. I can't even come close to holding down the chord no matter how much I struggle. Thinking back to when I was a total beginner, the dreaded bar chords were really not much of a problem for me because I just forced my way through them with repetition. It took a few weeks and they sounded like garbage for a while, but at least I could form the chord from day one. How do you learn from repetition and develop muscle memory when you can't even form the chord?  In watching other guitarists I seem to lack the lateral movement with my pinky that they so effortlessly display. I can't create that separation between my pinky and middle finger.  My middle finger lifts off the fret every time. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mike
« Last Edit: October 16, 2012, 06:38:26 AM by m3tan »
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