Bass players....stretch that pinkie

[Hemisaurus]

I mean the fretting one. I'm finding too many of my riffs I'm avoiding using my pinkie, anyone got a good simple pinkie workout that doesn't involve me playing like the guy from the Stray Cat's

[moose23]

Carol Kaye loves the pinkie (ooh ahr) maybe try some of her lessons or chordal scales?

[zachoff]

1-4, 1-4, 1-4, 1-4 first finger/pinky 1st & 4th fret of each string
2-4, 2-4, 2-4, 2-4 second finger/pinky 2nd & 4th fret of each string
3-4, 3-4, 3-4, 3-4 third finger/pinky 3rd & 4th fret of each string.

Over and over.

[fallen]

Play 3 note per string major scale modes up and down the neck?

The patterns I use are repetitions of a 5 fret stretch 1-2-4 finger and 4 fret 1-2-4 and 1-3-4. It's a decent alternate picking exercise as well.

I'm guessing you already know your modes but I could tab out the patterns I use if anyone is interested. Can't find any decent images online.

[Hemisaurus]

1-4, 1-4, 1-4, 1-4 first finger/pinky 1st & 4th fret of each string
2-4, 2-4, 2-4, 2-4 second finger/pinky 2nd & 4th fret of each string
3-4, 3-4, 3-4, 3-4 third finger/pinky 3rd & 4th fret of each string.

Over and over.

Your one string short

Yeah, I should have said musical sounding excercises, I've done the one finger, one fret thing to death. Maybe I should go back and watch that Jaco video again.

[jibberish]

force it. by that i mean just use it all the time as part of your arsenal. you will forget about it soon enough and it will be like your other 3 fingers. 

having your pinky working for you adds a lot of ability since it can get out there farthest and also (for guitar) is there to drop on a note during a chord. and very fast 4 note runs are more doable when the pinky is one of the 4, ESPECIALLY if there are frets between the notes.

i got my pinky manged blocking a volleyball spike attempt. i was depressed for a while. it still isnt right, but it works ok again. told myself to watch my left hand very very carefully from then on. 

[VOLVO)))]

Play powerchords with it for a while.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Lumpy]

Carol Kaye loves the pinkie (ooh ahr) maybe try some of her lessons or chordal scales?

Carol Kaye loves the pinky but doesn't stretch. She's against stretching to reach notes, and against the 1 finger per fret approach (she says you should only cover 3 frets, using index/middle/pinky).

If you just want to build up pinky strength, use it whenever possible, like to hold down the dumb 'coasting along' quarter notes, for neck slides, etc. Any time you need to only use one finger to do anything, substitute the pinky. Also, do hammer ons/pull-offs with your pinky (while other fingers are in correct position) as mentioned. That one will give you a workout. 

[Danny G]

I use my pinky all the time, mainly cause my hands are kinda small.

I'd say make good use of the aforementioned exercises to build strength and make a conscious effort to involve the pinky more. Don't let the little guy feel left out