ring finger

[hadleman]

My ring finger is an anoying little bastard. My other fingers are fairly independent, but my ring finger isn't so much. Any of you know good exercises to develop better finger independence?

[jade_bodhi]

My ring finger is an anoying little bastard. My other fingers are fairly independent, but my ring finger isn't so much. Any of you know good exercises to develop better finger independence?

Good question. I have the same problem. Ringman is wimpy, afraid to do anything on his own, tags along with others all the time. He IS annoying.

[perth]

anything that utilizes your ring finger is a ring finger exercise. it could be a scale, a chord, a solo, or even something you do when you're not near your instrument.

heres a couple ideas:

hold all 4 of your left hand fingers over the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th frets respectively, no more than a quarter inch above the string. slowly and deliberately move each finger down to the fret without moving any other fingers (the slow part is most important). move them in as many different patterns as you can: index, middle, ring, pinky; index, ring, middle, pinky; index, pinky, ring, middle; index, pinky, middle, ring; etc. practice to a metranome, and very slowly increase the tempo (maybe 6bpm per day).

hold your finger tips a quarter inch over any flat surface (car dashboard, tabletop, your wallet). slowly and deliberately move your index and ring finger down against the surface; lift them up, then move your middle and pinky fingers down. same as above, use different patterns and a metranome.

experiment and see what works for you.

[UKRuss]

Have a search around the forums...I'm fairly certain there is some stuff from posts before around.

[Mateo150]

Good question. I have the same problem. Ringman is wimpy, afraid to do anything on his own, tags along with others all the time. He IS annoying.

thats not really a problem, you really only have 3 independent joints extending through your hand/forearm. Thumb, index finger, and the other 3 share the last. It more about having your middle, ring, and pinky work together rather than have complete independence, because that's actually impossible. If you really want to work on it 24/7, lay your hand flat on a surface, then, while keeping all your other fingers flat on the surface, lift your ring finger as high as possible. Relax while you lift, don't tense your hand. You should be able to raise it 3 inches or so. Doing this a lot probably doesn't help your playing a lot. A lot of good players I see seem to be playing as if their last 3 fingers were one, mostly blues though.