Stiff pinky

I don't know if this is the right forum section but anyways: After I play a lot of REALLY fast runs that require a lot of "pinky action", it starts to slow down and get stiff. Any advice on how to make it more fluid like the other fingers?

It's just practice man. In all your exercises make sure you use one finger per fret. Your pinky will need more work, but after a little while you should find it gets easier.

Just make sure you keep using it, and you'll get there. You might also consider a gripmaster / giro ball or whatever to build strength in general, but it will come...

u probly already know this but, being tense is bad. it slows u down and causes all medical issues. only advice is really onoly play as fast as u can without tensing up.

try and get close to this limit. so play just before u get tense. and try and slowly get faster but not so much as u get tense. this will alow u to be less tense at faster paces. which will give u more speed. and u wont get stiff.

Remember that playing guitar is asking muscles to perform a sometimes vigorous act.

Like any good athlete, you should take a short break when you start to feel tired. So practice a bit, take a break, practice again, take a break, etc

Originally Posted by: hunter1801I don't know if this is the right forum section but anyways: After I play a lot of REALLY fast runs that require a lot of "pinky action", it starts to slow down and get stiff. Any advice on how to make it more fluid like the other fingers?

I try to use my pinky as little as possible and rely on the first second and third fingers for most solos but I do use it pretty often.

Ya, don't neglect it because it will come in handy sometime down the road. I hardly ever use mine, but that's what I always have to work on in most things I do, so its important. It's really just practice. You'll build up speed and this problem should disappear. Good Luck

A good way to strengthen the pinky is to use it in power chords. I only use my forefinger and pinky for rhythm and it definitly helped build fret stength when I started out. As Ren said, the rest is just practice - muscle memory has a lot to do with it too. So practice 123, 123, 123 and 1234, 1234, 1234 runs to get the fingers and tendons working.