So as a new bass player did anyone else have the problem of your little finger on your plucking hand sticking out like an embarrassing appendage whilst playing? Photo below for illustration. I just can’t make the littler bugger stay down. Any tips on how to fix before I strap it to the ring finger to keep it from having its own little party and looking dumb.
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It happens to many people at the beginning. For me, it used to be the fretting hand’s pinky, every time I wasn’t using that finger it would stick upwards like a cat’s tail or an antenna.
For the plucking hand, it might be easier to control it, with some exercise. You can start by placing it gently on the E string when you aren’t playing at that string.
Now I forgot how Josh calls the plucking hand’s pinky and ring fingers when they are being used to help mute strings 
Helping fingers? 
No, I can’t remember now.
But we can use the pinky and ring fingers to help muting strings, while plucking the D and G strings.
I remember when I started, muting was difficult and all these things were hard to control, but then little by little they kind of magically started working. I practiced them, and at some point, they became automatic. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if I still lift a pinky like that, while my attention is elsewhere.
But you can practice with just the plucking hand, going up and down, doing alternate plucking, and gently using the ring and pinky fingers to help mute the E and A strings, placing them gently on them while plucking the others. Or if you don’t want to do that, you can practice plucking, with the ring and pinky coiled down relaxed.
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I believe Josh calls it the sneaky finger, and it’s the one muting technique that I’ve not got the hang of yet. Thanks fur you ideas that’s helpful 
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Sneaky fingers! That was it!
Glad to help! 
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There’s nothing wrong with that. I watched my cover videos and sometimes I do that too. 
What you want to watch out for is the other hand, many people like to stick the middle finger up. Some say it’s a big No No 
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I came here to say that I catch my plucking hand pinky poking out from time to time as well. I don’t worry about it.
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I come from playing guitar so my left hand is pretty disciplined at not insulting the audience!
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I think this is why I had the exact same pinky problem. (I say had, but it comes and goes.) When I would play finger style guitar, I would anchor my pinky on the soundboard and use three fingers and my thumb to pluck the strings. It just seems natural for it to be sticking out like that!
I don’t really care much about it anymore, but when I was intent on training this out of me, I would practice holding something small and light with my pinky and ring fingers while playing.
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Huh! I thought it’s only me 
that’s why I need a pickguard. The nail is quite hard and it scratched the pickguard quite a bit where I anchor my picking hand with my pinky. I was nervous every time I play my Nylon and my Acoustasonic
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I did that with a minor foot injury; taped the middle left toe to the second toe. It helped quite a bit.
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That’s a good point. I mostly used a pick with guitar but when I didn’t then my right hand plucking pinkie was often in the mix so I’ve no idea what I did with it when it wasn’t engaged!
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Kinda looks like you’re resting your arm with your wrist on the body. You may want to slide your arm over further and rest more towards the meat of the forearm. This would also be causing your pinky to stick out, if you’re resting on the gripping tendons that run about 1-2 inches behind the wrist.
This is generally better playing position. Fingers can more easily pull the strings parallel to the body instead of into the body. Makes shifting to higher strings easier.
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Yes true, I think I’m sitting too low and that’s causing posture issues. It doesn’t happen so much when I’m stood up (still does a bit though)
Well y’know I didn’t wanna mention it but…
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I used to do this in high school until a friend asked me why I was doing that. All I could do was blurt out “I dunno”. In a fit of teenage anxiety I trained myself to tuck those fingers in. It’s nice to see there’s nothing wrong with it
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