New DTAA member, Dennis, asked this question the other day:

“When I place my fingertips on frets 5,6,7 and 8 the space between fingers 2 and 3 is much less than the others due to finger 3 leaning toward finger 2.

Is this normal or not?”

Dennis

My answer.

Dennis is talking about the middle and ring fingers here.

I.e. fingers 2 and 3.

The reason why these fingers “lean into” each other is because they share a tendon.

It can be hard to separate these two fingers at first.

In fact, it took me a few years to be able to train the muscles in the fretting hand to be able to separate these fingers.

If you ever watched Star Trek and tried doing the Spock “Live long and prosper” Vulcan salute, you’ll know what I mean.

If you haven’t seen Star Trek, this is basically where he holds his hand up in the air with two fingers split like in this image HERE.

I can do this easily enough now with my fretting hand, but I cannot do it at all with my picking hand.

That’s because I’ve never trained the muscles of the picking hand to be able to do this.

With time, you can develop the finger dexterity to split your middle and ring fingers up.

On the fretboard, this means more dexterity, a bigger reach, and the ability to play across a wider number of frets and strings.

All good stuff.

…But, in the meantime, what do you do while you’re building up this dexterity?

Simple.

Use your pinkie more.

There will be many times the ring finger won’t be able to reach certain notes if the middle finger is being used…

But in these situations, the pinkie will be ready and waiting.

For example, try playing:

A string – fret 3 (index finger)

B string – fret 3 (middle finger)

High E string – fret 5 (It can be extremely hard to play this note with the ring finger, but a fair bit easier with the pinkie)

That’s just one example.

I’m not saying it is easy to play the above with the pinkie, but it is certainly easier for most.

That’s just another reason to use the pinkie.

Anyway, for more help with improving the dexterity of all your fingers, check out the In Focus course inside Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy.

Not only do I share some technique/dexterity-building exercises, but I also show you some surprising tips on how to make the most of your current finger dexterity…

Find out more about the Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy

Have a great Saturday!

Dan Thorpe

Guitar Domination

P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.

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