Is my pinky too short?

[GinLove]

My pinky fingers are shorter than average. All of my fingers are short, but my poor pinkies are much shorter than many others. (Embarrassing story: I went to a nail salon, and the technician asked me what is wrong with my pinkies ). I am in Module 3 Lesson 1, and there is a lot of pinky work. I am fine with using my pinky. The issue is that my pinky is so short that my other fingers need to go halfway over the fretboard for my pinky to reach the E string. No amount of lifting the neck is helping. Does anyone else have this issue? Do you push through and try to make it work or just use the ring finger? I really need device for my “deformed” pinky.

[eric.kiser]

Your pinky finger is probably just fine. Part of playing is figuring out what works for you.

Can you post a picture?

[GinLove]

Thanks for the response. I will do some extra pinky practice and see what happens. I’ll also try to get someone to help me to take a couple of pics as well.

[alexv]

You are not alone, plenty of people have similar issues. Hand and finger size should not matter much if you practice consistently.

With small hands, you need to microshift more, since you can’t physically make your finger any longer. You can also bend the other fingers (middle and ring) a little bit, so they are closer in length.

I microshift a lot. My hands are small, my pinky is small, and I can get around, and I even prefer this over trying to stretch too much, which is often uncomfortable.

[Gio]

I would bet (along with @eric.kiser ) that it’s fine.
There’s a few good threads of other folks with small-hand/pinky concerns here:

Here we go again...SHORT PINKIE players

I have small hands and very short pinkies. I broke my left pinky when I was 9 and it never really healed properly. It is very weak, and I always struggled to control it when I tried to learn to play guitar. But I was able to make some progress with the bass. I just forced myself to use my pinky, and tried to concentrate on my hand position. It wasn’t easy, but soon I was able to stretch my fingers in ways I never thought possible. [20221020_091540]

[alexmorrison14]

[GinLove]

Thanks

[John_E]

@GinLove

I really need device for my “deformed” pinky.

Cut it off, it’s obviously useless

My pinky is relatively useless, so I team it up with my index finger and shift as needed. BTW - this is how (at least I) play upright bass, the index finger is not used and it moves around and supports your pinky.

This is all perfectly fine.

[Henning]

@GinLove

My pinky fingers are shorter than average. All of my fingers are short, but my poor pinkies are much shorter than many others. (Embarrassing story: I went to a nail salon, and the technician asked me what is wrong with my pinkies ). I am in Module 3 Lesson 1, and there is a lot of pinky work. I am fine with using my pinky. The issue is that my pinky is so short that my other fingers need to go halfway over the fretboard for my pinky to reach the E string. No amount of lifting the neck is helping. Does anyone else have this issue? Do you push through and try to make it work or just use the ring finger? I really need device for my “deformed” pinky.

Welcome to the BassBuzz forum, Gin.

Sorry to hear about the bad experience with the nail technician. The devil in me, is saying that if it happens again, you could consider to show the full length of your middlefinger to the nail technician. IMHO I think it’s only embarrassing for the nail technician, not being more assertive.

After reading your thread, I start looking at my own hands and finger length, and realised, that my pinky has a reach that is about 37-38mm (approx. 1.5 inch) shorter , than my middlefinger. Never thought about that before…!

That is about the same distance as the width of the fretboard at the nut for my bass. When fretting the E-string with the pinky I bend the other fingers, while trying to hold the pinky as flat as possible. That means that my other fingers end up being bend at an angle at about 45 degrees.

As you mentioned that you have been doing fine in module three, I would say as long as you don’t experience pain, I think you will be good.

On the not so serious side and absolutely no pun intended, as for a device for extending fingers while bass playing there is always the funk fingers to consider, made famous by the bassist Tony Levin:

In my own case it might even improve my bass playing.

Wkr,

Henning

[itsratso]

don’t make me post another video of ellen alaverdyan. cuz i swear to god i’ll do it

[dave216]

I have Clinodactyly (curved pinky - not my fingers but about how mine look).

I do a lot micro shifting to compensate. Depending on the fingering (usually the E string) it is just easier to use my ring finger. I have come to accept I will probably never be able to do a four fret stretch on the first several frets due to this.

[itsratso]

@dave216

never be able to do a four fret stretch

which will put you in the same boat as 95% of all pro players

this is the topic that probably comes up the most here, almost everyone goes through it. except josh. there are videos out there of people killing it on full scale basses, people missing fingers, people missing their whole hands, little children. there’s tony iommi, django reinhardt, hell even les paul all overcame significant physical problems along with a bazillion other musicians. trust me, no matter who you are and what you think is wrong with your hands, you’ll be fine. if you want to you’ll be fine. (not specifically you dave216, just using your quote. you’ve figured it out).