The BEST Beginner Guitar Exercise for Pinky Strength

Today is all dedicated to your pinky .

Now , the pinky is notoriously the weaker digit .

It's on the fringe of the Digit society if you will .

And it's , well , it's just downright little , it's our littlest finger and , and oftentimes it's our weakest finger .

And when I notice that my pinky is weak is , is when I have to hold like a G cord or something , some sort of cord involving the pinky for a long time .

And I think to myself , I gotta to strengthen my pinky .

So I've developed an exercise called dusting off the digit , which really serves that very purpose .

We're gonna , we're gonna brush off the dust on your pinky if you will .

So that can , it can be a functional member of the Digit Society .

And what I wanna do is is focus on two very important aspects of your pinky and that is one mobility and the second is strength and I'm not talking strength like I don't want you to be able to lift up a car with your pinky .

I just want you to be able to confidently fret with your pinky and feel that you're in control of it because so often it , it is weak and we feel like , oh , we're just hanging on by a thread .

This exercise has been developed for that specific purpose to build strength and aid in the pinky's mobility .

So without further ado , let me show you what exactly you're gonna be working on .

So we're gonna start with our pinky on the fourth threat of the low e and throughout this entire exercise , every single note that you will fret will be with your pinky .

So this truly is a pinky builder exercise .

So we're gonna start on that fourth threat of the low E string .

We're gonna do a down stroke on that , move it forward to the fifth threat and do an upstroke there .

All right .

So that's just a , a pair of eighth notes one and , and then we're gonna replicate that same pattern but on the A string , two and again , fourth threat to the fifth threat .

So , so far we have this one and two and ok , we're gonna carry that same pattern through all the strings .

So we're gonna do it on the low E fourth to 5th , 1/4 to fifth D , fourth to fifth G B .

Mhm .

And there you have it .

Ok .

So if I was going to do that with a count , I would do it as such one and two and three and four and one and two .

And , and I , and if I'm using a flat , if you're using a flat pick here .

You're gonna always be going down on the number beats and up on the and beats .

So that would sound like this down , up , down , up , down , up , down , down , up , down , up .

And when you get to that high E string fifth threat , you're not done because we haven't fully dusted off the digit .

We gotta do something a little backwards feeling because this has all been ascending so far .

So we have to descend .

What you're gonna do then is bump your pinky up to the sixth threat of the high E and you're gonna do a downs stroke there and then an upstroke on the fifth of the , of the High Easter .

So down up for 65 , then you're gonna move to the B string replicate the same pattern , sixth threat , fifth threat , so on and so forth until you get to the low E string .

So that's gonna sound like this if I was to do it with a count .

Remember , I , I went from here one and two and three and four and one and two .

And so this will be three and four and one and two and three and four .

And ok , so that descending portion starting on the , the high E string sixth fret 656565 , 656565 .

And again , maintaining that alternate pick direction throughout .

Now , this is a , this is a difficult exercise .

So I just want you to be aware that speed is not the focus here .

OK .

Accurate uh notes , nice clear sounding notes , notes without any buzzing uh and and nice solid , confident movement of your pinky is absolutely crucial , crucial here .

Sorry .

So please don't , don't concern yourself with doing this fast .

It's more about cleanliness and clear tone , proper pick direction and po and proper pinky placement .

You can say that five times fast and , and best of luck to you .

Uh So what I want you to do again , start this slow and then as you get more comfortable with it , as you feel like your strength is building , go ahead and up the tempo a little bit .

Now , one quick trick that I just wanna share with this because I think it'll help you out a lot is that when I do this , my thumb actually stays in the same spot in terms of where it sits on the back of the guitar neck .

So that being the case , uh I'm just gonna kind of use that thumb as an anchor point and I'm pushing away with my thumb and down with my pinky .

So there's kind of this lever action that really helps with good solid fretting .

And that's true for the ascending portion and the descending portion .

So there you have it , that's dusting off your digit .

Remember to take it slow and be patient with yourself .

You're not gonna build strength and speed overnight .

But if you do this consistently .

It absolutely will help your pinky out in a big , huge major .

Extra .

Awesome way .

Best of luck .

If you like the pinky exercise that I just showed you , you're absolutely gonna love my five day acoustic guitar practice challenge .

It's perfect for you .

Whether you feel like you're stuck in a guitar rut or you're just looking to boost up your practice routine .

So , what is the five day challenge over the next five days every day ?

You're gonna get a brand new acoustic guitar exercise that's gonna help you a ton .

And by the end of the week you're gonna feel like your fingers are stronger .

You're gonna feel more confident in where your fingers go on the fret board and you're gonna have the foundation of a killer practice routine .

So just go ahead and click the link here in the video or down in the description and start your five day challenge today .

I can't wait to see you there .

If you like the pinky exercise that I just showed you .

You're absolutely gonna love my five day acoustic guitar practice challenge .

It's perfect for you .

Whether you feel like you're stuck in a guitar rut or you're just looking to boost up your practice routine .

So what is the five day challenge over the next five days every day ?

You're gonna get a brand new acoustic guitar exercise that's gonna help you a ton .

And by the end of the week you're gonna feel like your fingers are stronger .

You're gonna feel more confident in where your fingers go on the fret board and you're gonna have the foundation of a killer practice routine .

So just go ahead and click the link here in the video or down in the description and start your five day challenge today .

I can't wait to see you there .