So who here uses their pinky

[kdphysio]

[quote name='Hamster' post='172974' date='Apr 9 2008, 11:39 AM']I use mine a lot until it clicks down (and stays down until I shake my hand out or click it back with my right hand.) I'm guessing some kind of carpal tunnel syndrome?[/quote]

Hammy, sounds like the start of a 'trigger finger' or 'dupuytren's contracture' !!! (google them.......don't be too scared!! )

[Deep Thought]

Cannot imagine not using it.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='173436' date='Apr 9 2008, 09:00 PM']Cannot imagine not using it.[/quote]

+1

I keep the pinky nail a tad longer than the others on my picking hand, to use for violent strums and harmonics :brow:

[Born 2B Mild]

I wouldn't be perky without my pinkie

[paul, the]

Yes, certainly.
[quote name='bilbo230763' post='173096' date='Apr 9 2008, 01:50 PM']One finger per fret[/quote]
Exactly.

[FJ1200]

Yup - me too. S'wot it's there for, init?

[Bassassin]

Always. I really don't think I could play many of my lines without it, tbh.

Jon.

[Sean]

[quote name='Alun' post='173149' date='Apr 9 2008, 02:38 PM']Either 1 finger per fret or 124 for some lower fret things.[/quote]

This is exactly the way I was taught and it's become a subconscious thing.

[bremen]

[quote name='Golchen' post='172750' date='Apr 9 2008, 12:04 AM']I was just wondering whether or not most bassists here use their little finger for fretting? I know quite a lot of guitarists who don't really, unless they are shredders in which case they do! Personally, my little finger is pretty strong so I like to use it.[/quote]

does anyone *not*?

[NAS]

[quote name='dudewheresmybass' post='172762' date='Apr 9 2008, 12:22 AM']absolutely, it would be wasted if i didn't use it!
as a former Cellist, my little finger is also quite strong.[/quote]
+1. As a former 'cellist I adopted 1 finger 1 fret from day 1 on the bass. The pink one seems to get used for fifths and octaves a lot when I'm on the root with the 2nd finger in a major key and for minor thirds and sixths when I'm on the root with the first finger in minor keys. I also seem to gliss with it a lot so it's developed quite a callous!

[Mike]

Yep, all the time.

[Bay Splayer]

never really been aware of what fingers i use the most , or the least!

i definitely use my pinky a lot

probably use my middle finger the least

[bnt]

I thought at first this would be about the picking hand - my pinkie is too short for that. On the fretting hand, always. I've had to work at using the [i]ring[/i] finger properly, and still lapse in to index-middle-pinkie on the lower frets if I'm careless.

[Rodders]

Yep most of the time but it depends on what I'm playing

Rodders

[urb]

[quote name='Alun' post='173149' date='Apr 9 2008, 02:38 PM']Yeah, I was taught to use it when I first started many thousands of years ago so have stuck with it. Either 1 finger per fret or 124 for some lower fret things.

Cheers
Alun[/quote]

+1 dude


M

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='kdphysio' post='173324' date='Apr 9 2008, 05:32 PM']Hammy, sounds like the start of a 'trigger finger' or 'dupuytren's contracture' !!! (google them.......don't be too scared!! )[/quote]

I've got a Dupuytren's contracture. Yay.

So far, I'm getting away with it but it's coming on in leaps and bounds. I'm just going to worry about it when I need to...

By the way... 'Pinky'? Do we not say 'little finger' any more? Cuh...

I use my little finger all the time, FWIW.

[Jase]

Yep, use my little 'un.

[Guest]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='173096' date='Apr 9 2008, 01:50 PM']Without being contentious, I can't see how you can play WITHOUT using your pinky. One finger per fret plus two more frets by stretching (obviously not at the bottowm of the neck - see my avatar).

If you don't use your pinky (other than due to a disability), you really are cutting your potential by 25% or more (because it is the finger that can stretch the furthest).[/quote]

+1 always have, the advantage for me is being to play in place scales without shifts. I can't imagine not using it one finger per fret works for me.

[sixshooter]

I am a pinky user, although it has changed shape over the years and has a definate bend to the right, at the last joint! Recently hurt it and it was a pain not being able to use it....

[johnnylager]

Yup, all the time. And it's "little" finger.

Edited April 14, 2008 by johnnylager

[queenofthedepths]

I seem to recall reading on Wikipedia that "pinky" is the Dutch word for the little finger, but since this page now appears to have been deleted, that may well be a big lie!
Of course I use mine - moreso than my ring finger!

[jwbassman]

[quote name='The Funk' post='172781' date='Apr 9 2008, 01:13 AM']So I tend to double up the little finger and ring finger. Not always though.[/quote]

Due to being self taught this is how I tend to play most often, although I've recently had a couple of lessons and finger per fret is the way forward.

Trying to break a bad habit after 15+ years of doing it wrong is hard work...

[bremen]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='174226' date='Apr 10 2008, 11:13 PM']I've got a Dupuytren's contracture. Yay.

So far, I'm getting away with it but it's coming on in leaps and bounds. I'm just going to worry about it when I need to...[/quote]

I'm told that it can be fixed with a very simple operation...so simple that it's *almost* affordable to get done privately.

[nick]

[quote name='bremen' post='176259' date='Apr 14 2008, 01:36 PM']I'm told that it can be fixed with a very simple operation...so simple that it's *almost* affordable to get done privately.[/quote]

[i]"Dupuytren's contracture"[/i] - sounds like a track by The Fall(?!)
How's it going Chris?
Currently revisting 'M5#1' - awesome bassline. Hanley rules or what?

Getting back to the subject; I use my little finger - when required

[Hamster]

[quote name='kdphysio' post='173324' date='Apr 9 2008, 04:32 PM']Hammy, sounds like the start of a 'trigger finger' or 'dupuytren's contracture' !!! (google them.......don't be too scared!! )[/quote]

I went to see a consultant about it and he gave me an injection of corticosteroid? with what looked like a sharpened Maccy D's milk shake straw - it didn't half smart!

Now half my left hand is all sort of warm/numb/tingly. Doc reckons it's trigger finger caused when I broke my pinkie when I got knocked off my T595 a couple of years ago.

Now eating chocs as a sort of painkiller

Hamster