Using one's pinkies?

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The FGDP layout—and others like it—is symmetric, which I’ve found encourages use of my ring finger. Over time, I’ve noticed my ring finger getting ever stronger and more reliable as a result.

But what about pinkies? It’s very easy to imagine that, for example, a tom3 could be hit with the pinky on such a layout (I can imagine other uses for the pinky as well, hitting cow bell on dominant hand that handles hihat, snare, kick basic beat). What I’ve noticed is that I’ve given it a shot, and well… my pinky is falling short, hitting far too softly. Using exterior digits to sound quiet drum strikes seems a strategy in its own right, but if I can’t reliably strike harder with the pinky, it does really question the approach more broadly.

Finally, in piano, players spend years developing dexterity and strength in their pinkies. So I’m wondering… would this be a good way to go?

Opinions? Thoughts? People further down the road than I am that have already formed opinions on this?

Many thanks,
-David

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I have not found the need to use the pinky. In guitar playing the right hand actually avoids the pinky (left hand indeed trains it a lot).

It’s not like you cannot do it, it is just that in most cases you do not need to hit that many pads at once and a combination of your two hands often just does the job of hitting what needs to be hit.

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Fair enough. The 2 Xjam layout practically begs for it, given the size of the pads. Thanks!

-David

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