pinky moves to much

[blackbox]

I am having trouble with my little pinky getting away from me. What are some excersises I can do to really build reliance on the little one and have more control over it?? Thanks for any replies. peace

[Prez]

I would vote for chromatics with a metronome. It's a great way to develop all of your fingers equally. Honestly,there are lots of things you can do - this is just one.

[Jminor]

Try changing the fingering of different chords/scales or whatever so you incorporate your pinky more..

EG. try and play without using your index finger (even if it's only simple open chords/pent scales)
OR
learn new box scale patterns where your pinky is used for the root note.

[anthony2]

I would say isolate the pinky. The thing that works best for me is the D to Dsus4 chord. xx0232 to xx0233 Make the D chord with the index, ring, middle. The pinky is now able to go down on the fret to make the Dsus4. Lift the pinky but leave all the other fingers where they are. Put the pinky back down again, lift again, and so on. You're really able to concentrate on the pinky because all of the other fingers are staying still.

Another good chord change to isolate the pinky would be C major to C7. x32010 to x32310. Use ring, middle, index for the C major chord. Keep those fingers on the fretboard. Place the pinky down for the C7. Lift the pinky to return to C major.

Or G6 to G. 320030 to 320033. Middle, index, ring to make the G6. Then keeping those fingers where they are lower the pinky to get G major. Raise only the pinky to get G6.

Fmaj7 to Fadd9. xx3210 to xx3213. Use the ring, middle, index for the F major 7. Lower the pinky to make the Fadd9. Raise only the pinky to make the Fmaj7.

More complex, this one includes a barre. A7 to A7. 575677 to 576587. Barre with the index, then ring, and middle. Keep those fingers in place. Use the pinky to go on and off the 8th fret. Just starting you could also use E7 to E7 020100 to 020130 since it uses open strings.

There are probably other changes that you could do with just the pinky but these should get you started.

Anthony