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I have trouble keeping my pinky over the fretboard. I practice and can get it to work the strings but most things I play I can stretch/slide my ring finger to hit the note (I have big hands and long skinny fingers). I try to avoid four finger chords because of it. Most of the time my pinky is wild and all over the place. Never in the way but not being utilized. Anybody else have trouble with their pinky? Any tips? Is it normal? Yo. Give me the stink on yo pink.

I have to play an alternate tuning so I can use my awkwardly stubborn, double-jointed pinky in chords. AADGBD works wonders for me.
Do you play any piano? Doing piano exercises helps strengthen up your ring and pinky fingers a lot (Hanon stuff, particularly).
I try to play scales every day on guitar using only my middle, ring, and pinky fingers. That's really helped as far as full hand dexterity goes...But yeah, useless pinkies are normal.

I think most people have trouble with their pinkies until they sit down and really work on it. To build strength and coordination, I'd suggest doing trills between your 2nd & 4th, and your 3rd & 4th fingers (the dimebag darrell method). Alternate picking and pull off exercises would probably be a good idea too.

A lot of guys get by fine with only 3 fingers... so if you don't miss those 4 finger chords, then it's not really a big deal. I like to play wide scale patterns (4-5 frets) and add extensions to my chords though, so a strong pinky is a must for me.

i gotta lump of scartissue around my middle left
makes it hard to separate my digits
or do quick maneuvers
so my pinky sees little action
im gonna be takin notes in here

when i picked up guitar in the mid-00s after a 2 1/2 year layoff i worked on specific issues which had always plagued my playing. i spent a lot of time working on playing octave double-stops (the Wes Montgomery thing), cleaning up my right hand/picking technique, and getting the small finger of the left hand involved more in phrasing. i was already using it for chords--i play a lot of oddball variations on standard chord shapes which i stole from Bob Weir of the Dead--but not so much for leads. i spent months working on this...it takes me about six months for a new technique to be incorporated into my day-to-day playing.

there were particular things i worked on as part of this. one was to clean up my left hand position to more of a classical style, with the thumb behind the neck and the knuckles raised so my fingertips are more or less pointing down at the fingerboard. i also spent some time working on three-fingered pull-offs (TWSS), getting them to articulate each note and making each note equal in volume. the octave runs also need the pinkanator so i can reach the higher note on the low and middle areas of the neck. it's like any other technical guitar thing: you do it over and over until it works. handy tip (TWSS): work on this stuff on acoustic guitar and it'll be easier on electric.

create excercises that focus on adding the pinkie... worked for me

ryan summit wrote:i gotta lump of scartissue around my middle left
makes it hard ...

TWSS

I think ZZ Top calls that "The Pleaser"

I had that problem until I really forced myself to figure it out. It's a good idea. Now my pinky is just one of the bros.

Play bass. It will stretch your pink to it's limits......................................................................................................

But seriously, if you have a bass try sliding between perfect fifth chords, like CGD, really fast. That will utilize your pinky in the most painful way. If not guitar works too, I guess......Maybe go between CDA and AEB?

And if you have long skinny fingers then you have an advantage in playing four note chords. Why would you actively try to avoid it? That seems counter intuitive.