Thread: My pinky is messed up, no guitar for me?

What do you mean mobility? As in slower? The more you practice the guitar the more 'mobile' your pinky becomes, that's how it works.

Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed

What do you mean mobility? As in slower? The more you practice the guitar the more 'mobile' your pinky becomes, that's how it works.

No, my left pinky does not have the ability to move in certain directions. Like a person who can't turn his head left.

I have to admit that I'm a little skeptical about your apparently useless pinky; I've heard all sorts of excuses for why people might not be able to play guitar well, e.g., "my fingers are too fat/skinny/short/long," "my hands are too big/small," etc. It's been my experience that anybody can learn to play guitar well regardless of their hand situation.

But giving you the benefit of the doubt: you might not be the next Yngwie, but I'm confident that you'd be able to get by with limited use of your pinky. However, if you really think it's going to be a major problem (and once again, I'm skeptical), you could always just learn to play left-handed, assuming you haven't gotten very far at all in learning yet. (If you have then you may already be past the "point of no return.") Doing so would make certain things harder, like buying an affordable guitar and reading tablature, but it would allow you to use all fingers of your fretting hand.

Originally Posted by Sandform

No, my left pinky does not have the ability to move in certain directions. Like a person who can't turn his head left.

Is this some kind of medical condition that you've been diagnosed with? Or are you just making that assumption because you have a hard time doing things with your pinky? Being the most underused finger (I believe), all pinkies initially have less mobility than the other fingers. I know it was Hell trying to get my pinky to press down hard enough on the strings and move around fast enough to fret, but I'm slowly getting better at it.

It's not something that just comes naturally. You're going to have to train and condition the finger. That's all.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

Is this some kind of medical condition that you've been diagnosed with? Or are you just making that assumption because you have a hard time doing things with your pinky? Being the most underused finger (I believe), all pinkies initially have less mobility than the other fingers. I know it was Hell trying to get my pinky to press down hard enough on the strings and move around fast enough to fret, but I'm slowly getting better at it.

It's not something that just comes naturally. You're going to have to train and condition the finger. That's all.

I haven't paid a doctor to look at it, but my mother is a nurse and my step father is a doctor who focuses on bones and is a professor at a university.

My pinkie stays straight when I try to turn it to the side. When I try to place my pinkie to my thumb it doesn't work, however on my right hand it does. Given the size of the reach lost, about the width of my pinky, I don't think it will effect guitar that wildly, really as long as I don't try to use my pinkie on the strings closest to me, I shouldn't have a problem, it seems the directional ability of my pinkie is only faulty if I have to reach forward to much. At the very least I will just have to learn to position my pinkie before the rest of my hand on the more complicated pieces.

I know of a guy with a crippeled arm who plays guitar, and plays it damn well too. And if my word isn't enough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-O1...eature=related

Originally Posted by Sound

I know of a guy with a crippeled arm who plays guitar, and plays it damn well too. And if my word isn't enough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-O1...eature=related

lol wow

My stepdad looked at it, turns out it is my thumb and some muscle problems I have. Which means? I shouldn't have a problem with the guitar, good news for me.

there's lots of excercises for pinky. Do some scales. not pentatoics.

or you could be like yngwie malmsteen. He mostly uses 3 fingers.