Baby Finger

Baby Finger

All guitarists struggle with their smallest fretting finger: it just isn’t very strong or agile. You have to work on it. Recently I decided to go all-out on it. I began playing all my familiar licks with only that finger: Day Tripper, Wipe Out, Pretty Woman, I’ll Take You There, Walk This Way, Satisfaction, and more. It was hard. Before I describe the results, a terminological point—what to call that feeble excuse for a finger. In the UK it is called the little finger; in the US the pinkie (ugh). I feel for it; it don’t get no respect. It needs a linguistic makeover. We could call it, unambitiously, the small finger or the edge finger or the runt finger or the refinement finger, but none of these really do the trick. So, I have decided to call it the baby finger; this is affectionate and not dismissive. We all love babies, especially the adults we call baby (as in “Baby, I Love You”). I want you all to join me in re-christening this delightful digit, this neglected prehensile gem, your baby finger. Now, doesn’t that feel better? Anyway, where was I going with fretting with the baby finger? The amazing thing is that, though difficult at first, it trains up remarkably well if you give it a chance; you soon find it confidently knocking out a fast complex lick all by itself. Respect! The baby matures quickly. This really helps with your four-fingered playing because there is no weak link anymore; your whole hand comes alive. Readers know how much I value the hand and the things it can do (tasks, jobs)[1]; well, this proves the point. And there is a final bonus: just by practicing with my baby finger this way I found that I had learned how to play slide guitar! Because the glass tube fits over that finger and requires it to become unusually dexterous. So, guitarist to guitarist, give your baby a chance to shine, to demonstrate its worth. You may come to love it.[2]

[1] Please, no adolescent sniggering at that mild piece of verbal humor. It’s time to grow up.

[2] I have become hyper-aware of that finger, solicitous for its well-being. I gaze at it in wonder. It has joined my other fingers in a happy brotherhood—a band of equals.