Comments

That bow tip is so true! I started pointing that out to my students and more than half of the time it was the bow that was making their left hand pinkies sound so bad. This topic hit me just at the right moment as I adjust to using thicker gauge strings. Thanks as always! What's the secret of a decent vibrato with the 4th. finger?
Thanks, as always, Drew. This makes perfect sense. I have said to my teacher that when I play a note with 4th finger the sound becomes 'shy'. Now I can go to work on fixing this.

Thank you Drew.

Well, I’ve been known for doing all sorts of shifting to avoid using the pinky to get the sound I want, quite against my teacher’s advice. During today’s lesson, my teacher pointed this out to me again that the sound produced by my pinky was not as bad as I had believed. So I guess the problem is in my head rather than in the finger.

Even though I’m still deeply sceptical, I’m prepared to pretend that my pinky can do all the work other fingers can and see what happens, so long as I am paying special attention on the bowing while using the pinky. Thanks, Drew!