FINGER EXERCISES

Finger exercises are a very important element of a guitar players practice regimen. They can be utilized as warm up or cool down exercises when practicing or before live gigs. It is very important to get the blood flowing through the fingers when beginning practice or before a gig. Just like a sprinter warms up before a track event, a guitarist warms up before playing. When finger exercises are done properly, and consistently integrated into your practice regimen, they build strength, dexterity, picking accuracy, finger mobility and speed, tie both your hands together, get both hands working with machine like precision, and help clean up your playing. They also put a brain into each finger and get them working with precision. Some complain that these are boring, but the bottom line is that they work, and your playing with greatly benefit from them. So do them daily, cleanly, and with good technique.

The exercises listed below will increase in difficulty as you go down the list. Remember, Rome was not built in a day, so it will take some time to master each one. The most important element is at first to play each exercise slow, in time, clean, with no overtones, dinks, sloppiness, or missed notes. Play them slow at first to get your brain used to each individual finger pattern. Then slowly bring up the speed. When you are ready you can play to the click of a metronome to ensure that you are playing in time. Set the metronome at a comfortable speed. Then slowly bump up the speed of the metronome. I cannot emphasize enough, and you are probably getting sick of me stating this, but playing slow, clean, and in time is way better than fast and sloppy.

Be sure to watch the video lesson that coincides with this written lesson – the video lesson is in the intermediate section and titled, “Finger Exercises-improve your picking, finger strength, dexterity, speed, and clarity -13:28 minutes “

By working these exercises ten minutes daily you will find your picking accuracy, speed, finger strength and overall finger dexterity will increase dramatically. They can also be done while watching television, or waiting for something to download on your computer. Whenever you have a spare five minutes pick up the guitar and try and blast a few down the neck a couple of times each.

The finger pattern is the order of your fingers that you will be using during the entire exercise. As always with guitar – your index or pointer finger is 1, your middle finger is 2, your ring finger is 3, and your pinky finger is 4. Keep your fingers in that same exact pattern as you snake up and down the strings vertically for the entire fretboard – don’t change the pattern. Watch the video that goes along with this written lesson if you are not sure. Start each exercise on the low E string and play four notes per string with the given finger pattern. Then after the first four notes drop down to the next string – but always use the same pattern that you are currently working on. When you get to the last string then go to the next fret but stay in the pattern. Keep your fingers as close to the fretboard as possible. Do not let your fret hand come way off the fretboard and out of position – watch your pinky finger as many guitarists have trouble keeping that little guy close to the fretboard.

Utilize strict alternate picking – up, down, up, down, etc. For now, alternate picking with take you the furthest the fastest – so use it exclusively with these exercises. Remember to keep your thumb anchored on the back of the neck and not have it slide up and out of position. Continue with the finger pattern snaking up and down the fretboard vertically utilizing all six strings all the way until your first finger hits the 12^th fret on the low E string and then go back and immediately repeat the exercise 2-4 times each, if possible. When you get to the end of a given exercise it is important to repeat it, because it will build strength. Don’t stop after one run down the fretboard. To build strength the exercise must be played over and over again, multiple times. You will feel the burn the more you implement these exercises. If you feel big pain, stop, shake your hand out, give it a rest, and confirm that you are utilizing the proper technique. Then start again after a little rest period. The twelve sets of patterns below are listed in pairs. Practice each set every day for 2 weeks before moving on to the next set. Try to master one set before moving on the next set. Keep at it every day and watch as your playing soars to the next level!

FINGER PATTERNS

Set 1 – 1,2,3,4 and 4,3,2,1

Set 2 – 2,3,4,1 and 3,2,1,4

Set 3 – 1,4,3,2 and 4,1,2,3

Set 4 – 2,1,4,3 and 3,4,1,2

Set 5 – 1,2,4,3 and 4,3,1,2

Set 6 – 2,1,3,4 and 3,4,2,1

Set 7 – 1,3,4,2 and 4,2,1,3

Set 8 – 2,3,1,4 and 3,2,4,1

Set 9 – 1,4,2,3 and 4,1,3,2

Set 10 – 2,4,1,3 and 3,1,2,4

Set 11 – 1,3,2,4 and 4,2,3,1

Set 12 – 2,4,1,3 and 3,1,4,2

• DOWNLOAD: Minor Pentatonic BLUES scale with expanded scales – page 1 with diagrams

• DOWNLOAD: Minor Pentatonic BLUES scale with expanded scales – page 2 with diagrams

• DOWNLOAD: Minor Pentatonic BLUES scale with expanded scales – page 3 with diagrams

In these written lessons you will learn the Minor Pentatonic Blues scale in all positions. Included is the expanded positions which combine boxes to get you playing laterally across the neck and out of that boxy style of play that many get trapt into. These lesson shows how to add the b5, or blue note to the minor pentatonic scale making it the Blues Scale.

These written lessons have the six major scales diagrammed out across the neck. You will want to learn all six shapes cold. These major scales are critical for the guitarist wanting to move to the next level.

Click on the orange links below to open the PDF files:

TO COINCIDE WITH THESE WRITTEN LESSONS WATCH THESE TWO VIDEO LESSONS IN THE INTERMEDIATE SECTION:

• Learn theses MAJOR SCALES over the entire neck and you know the modes Part 1 – 11:46 minutes
• MAJOR SCALES Guitar Lesson – connection links – see the neck as one big scale – Part 2 -9:21 minutes

For the most part all music theory compares back to the major scale. The major scale is the elemental constant that all other scales are compared. You are probably familiar with the sound of a major scale – doe, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, doe. There are many different fingerings and ways to play major scales all over the guitar neck. In these lessons you will learn a system of six major scales that I have found students gravitate to the fastest. With all six memorized, you can utilize the entire guitar neck. The scales overlap with each other and you need to note this as that is how we will get you started linking them together – through these overlaps, or link points. So I have also included some scale links so you can play across the neck three octaves.

The major scale is constructed from seven notes, built from the scale degrees of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Memorize the scales one at a time and take your time and play the scales slow and in time. It is essential that you know these major scales cold and are comfortable moving them around in all keys. In the last written lesson you will learn to link them together so you can start to view the neck as one big scale because you will see the overlap and how they fit together – then just move that WHOLE chunk up or back to change key. If you know your major scales you will then know all the modes of the major scale – as they are just variations of the major scale – so its absolutely critical to get these scales down cold!