d minor with pinky stretch to 1st string 5th fret

What is it??? alternate position??? I've stretched my ring and pinky apart
trying to get the stretch but I;m not even close. Stinking ring finger always wants to go along for the ride. Frustrated Wilfried Welti makes it look simple. Kinda pisses me off

Mark

Yup, you need to use middle finger to half barre across strings 3-4. That frees up the other half of your hand to stretch the pinky easier, and your ring finger is free to come along for the ride

It works!! Thanks guys. That pinky-ring connection must be some evolutionary malfunction that needs to go the way of the Dodo bird

Mark

pointer on 2 right??

Hikina said:

It works!! Thanks guys. That pinky-ring connection must be some evolutionary malfunction that needs to go the way of the Dodo bird

Mark

Click to expand...

The muscle tendons that are responsible for the ring and pinky essentially operate within the same "network" so they inherently want to move together.

Recstar24 said:

The muscle tendons that are responsible for the ring and pinky essentially operate within the same "network" so they inherently want to move together.

Click to expand...

... but the old practice practice practice mantra can teach an old dog new tricks

After 50+ years of strumming and picking on a guitar my left (fretting) hand pinky is used to doing a bit of work, but it was only when I took up woodwind a few years ago that I needed my right-hand pinky to become independent ... it learnt, probably simply because I needed it to so's I could play those lovely deep bass notes on my clarinet! I still need to encourage my right-hand ring-finger to become totally independent, though, so I can leave the pinky "down" whilst lifting the other ... we're getting there

By way of further encouragement (and giving me a chance to show off), when I took up ukulele a just a few years ago my left pinky just about reached the 5th fret with my index (pointer) finger on the first (on a soprano ukulele). The 7th fret is now perfectly reachable and used frequently in the "first position", that is to say without having to move my thumb from it's "normal" playing position.

As always, YMMV but don't give up too soon

Good luck !!