Five Finger Picking Exercises for strengthening the little finger for right hand picking.

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GuyBodenGuyBoden Frets: 733
edited March 2020 in Technique
Five Finger Picking Exercises for strengthening the little finger for right hand picking.

Does anyone know any good exercises for strengthening the little finger for right hand picking?


"Music makes the rules, music is not made from the rules."
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Try hybrid picking sweep picking exercises.
    I've hybrid picked for over 30 years now - the reality is the little finger will always be weaker but this exercise helps.
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  • GuyBodenGuyBoden Frets: 733
    edited February 2020
    octatonic said:
    Try hybrid picking sweep picking exercises.
    I've hybrid picked for over 30 years now - the reality is the little finger will always be weaker but this exercise helps.

    Many thanks, I will give some Hybrid picking exercises that use the little finger a try.
    "Music makes the rules, music is not made from the rules."
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    You know that warm up that we often do with the left hand - one finger per fret (say 5 6 7 8 th frets) and then play across the strings going 5678 5678 5678 etc, then changing to say 5768 5768 etc and other variations ...

    do similar with right hand
    pick a string (say top e) and and play imac imac imac, then cami cami cami, then iamc iamc iamc, cmai cmai,  iicc iicc iicc, mmcc mmcc etc

    i index, m middle, a ring, c little


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  • GuyBodenGuyBoden Frets: 733
    sev112 said:
    You know that warm up that we often do with the left hand - one finger per fret (say 5 6 7 8 th frets) and then play across the strings going 5678 5678 5678 etc, then changing to say 5768 5768 etc and other variations ...

    do similar with right hand
    pick a string (say top e) and and play imac imac imac, then cami cami cami, then iamc iamc iamc, cmai cmai,  iicc iicc iicc, mmcc mmcc etc

    i index, m middle, a ring, c little



    Great stuff, just what I wanted pimac. Five fingers no pick.

    I've been using a Holdsworth type Chord scale playing imac imac imac, then cami cami cami, then iamc iamc iamc, cmai cmai,  iicc iicc iicc, mmcc mmcc etc as you suggested. Many thanks.

    It's not easy to keep the "a" ring finger still, when playing the "c" little finger. I've been using four fingers for a long time, but not the little finger. It's difficult.

    Holdsworth type Chord Scale using "A" Aeolian:
    EBCA = Amin7
    FCDB = Bdim7
    GBDC = CMaj7
    AEFD = Dmin7
    BFGE = Emin7
    CGAF = FMaj7
     DABG = Gdom7


    Thanks to BigJon for the great chord idea.




    "Music makes the rules, music is not made from the rules."
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  • GuyBodenGuyBoden Frets: 733
    edited March 2020
    I've been practicing five finger right hand picking for the last month, so the little finger is improving slowly.


    Here is the exercise I have devised utilising all picking permutations:

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Right Hand Picking Patterns

    p=thumb i=index m=middle a=ring c=little

    Choose any five note chord and play the following picking patterns.

    pimrc pimcr pirmc pircm picmr
    picrm pmirc pmicr pmric pmrci
    pmcir pmcri primc pricm prmic
    prmci prcim prcmi pcimr pcirm
    pcmir pcmri pcrim pcrmi

    ipmrc ipmcr iprmc iprcm ipcmr
    ipcrm imprc impcr imrpc imrcp
    imcpr imcrp irpmc irpcm irmpc
    irmcp ircpm ircmp icpmr icprm
    icmpr icmrp icrpm icrmp

    mpirc mpicr mpric mprci mpcir
    mpcri miprc mipcr mirpc mircp
    micpr micrp mrpic mrpci mripc
    mricp mrcpi mrcip mcpir mcpri
    mcipr mcirp mcrpi mcrip

    rpimc rpicm rpmic rpmci rpcim
    rpcmi ripmc ripcm rimpc rimcp
    ricpm ricmp rmpic rmpci rmipc
    rmicp rmcpi rmcip rcpim rcpmi
    rcipm rcimp rcmpi rcmip

    cpimr cpirm cpmir cpmri cprim
    cprmi cipmr ciprm cimpr cimrp
    cirpm cirmp cmpir cmpri cmipr
    cmirp cmrpi cmrip crpim crpmi
    cripm crimp crmpi crmip


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------




    "Music makes the rules, music is not made from the rules."
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