How do you keep right hand pinky unlocked?

[fred]

After many years of playing electric, I have your typical bad habits
in my right hand position. My right hand pinky is locked and my
guitar teacher joked that I need to tape it to keep it in the right
position.

What have you done to get rid of bad habits in finger picking for
classical music - especially the right hand pinky?

Are there any particular exercises or pieces I could practice to
help my pinky in the right position and to keep it unlocked.
It feels like most of my right hand fingers are frozen! The left
hand is coming along a little easier. I am finally getting my thumb
lower.

Playing rock and roll can give you some bad habits that can take years
to fix!

[syl]

How do you mean "locked"? My problem, after years of steel-string playing, is that my pinky wants to rest on the guitar top, near the bridge. It's slowly getting better - no special exercises, just concentration. But the left thumb remains stubborn...

[fred]

I wish I could rest the pinky closer to the guitar top. But, I realize
it should not be right on the guitar. I find when I am moving my
right fingers, the pinky is sort of going haywire and has a mind of its
own.

I find that when I bend strings, forget about having the left thumb
that low. Also, depends on the width and feel of the neck to how
easy or hard it is to keep the left thumb low.

[Pepe Vergara]

I wish I could rest the pinky closer to the guitar top. But, I realize
it should not be right on the guitar. I find when I am moving my
right fingers, the pinky is sort of going haywire and has a mind of its
own.

I find that when I bend strings, forget about having the left thumb
that low. Also, depends on the width and feel of the neck to how
easy or hard it is to keep the left thumb low.

I used a rubberband to tie it to Mr. A. After a while, I stopped using the rubber band. IT now behaves and almost mimics Mr> A

[Guillermo Rosado]

Hi Fred:
Same as Pepe.
The rubberband worked very fine for me.
It doesn´t need to be tight,
Regards

[fred]

Sounds better than using tape, which my guitar instructor recommended!
He is a fantastic player, but I like the idea of using rubber band
much more. Than, you have a little flexibility.
Thanks so much Pepe and everyone for your great suggestions.

Fred

[larilian]

Like syl, I had a habit of resting my pinky on the guitar, and correcting the problem took concentration. I did have a nasty habit of resting my left hand thumb right above the low E. After years of steel string, and fretting notes with my thumb, that was a hard habit to break. Like your teacher said, scotch tape broke that habit. Good luck!

[M. Stephenson]

Relax your hand completly and get it into proper position. Play one note. Relax your hand completley and get it into proper position. Play another note. Repeat for several minutes.

It is harder than it sounds. Eventually it will become natural.

I still take this approach when learning new techniques and find it to be the best way in the long run. I often have to play stupid slow, but I remind myself that it is part of the journey.

I have been using this technice for a Nunez excersise for the thumb and index finger and still ahve to do it very slowly to focus on hand relaxation, finger attack, follow thru, and finger travel (actually, minimizing finger travel) as well as using proper thumb restroke technique. The effort is starting to pay off with intrest.

[tkeheley]

After spending years finger picking I had the habit of resting my pinky on the guitar top. The way I broke the habit was with scales. My instructor wanted me to learn the Segovia scales and I saw very little purpose in it. Then one day it hit me. I could play the scales from memory, so I would concentrate on playing the scales without my pinky resting on the top. That was the only time that I would concentrate on it. After a short while I noticed that I wasn't resting my pinky on the top at all.

[Crazy_Horse]

To train your little finger not to curl up into your hand go to a hardware store and buy a bit of plastic tubing that you can fit your pinky into and cut about a one inch long piece. Put that on your little finger when you practice. Practice arpeggiated with it on, too. After a while, your little finger won't want to curl up as much. This technique worked well for me and now my pinky looks like Julian Bream's when I play: the same level of curvatire as the rest of my fingers. Sounds crazy, but it works!