Finger Exercises

RoRK

Banned
Finger exercises take a large part of my 'playing' time. Other than scales, modes and chord progressions (which I dont' really practice or know what it's about in terms of theory), finger exercises are very, very important.

So, I thought up a mnemonic to help folks categorise the different exercises they go through. The end result is to have a better idea of what it is we're trying to accomplish with each type of exercise so that we know which one to use when we're trying to improve on a part of our playing.

It's also good to defferentiate between left and right hand exercises - but off course lah - and which finger the exercise is targetted towards. This is relevant because some exercises are specific for a particular finger or group of fingers.

So the mnemonic is D-ASS - hehe - sure remember right? :mrgreen:

That's
D-exterity
A-ccuracy
S-trength
S-peed

Dexterity, Accuracy, Strength & Speed. So these are what each exercise whould try to accomplish. Of course one exercise may target more than one of these attributes.

Feel free to add to the list if you think you should but please don't be too pedantic about things.

Then feel
1) free to add the type of exercises you care to share with the folks here

AND
2) state which attribute the exercise is good for.

AND
3) which finger or group of fingers the exercise is targetted towards.

Can?
You RIKES?
 
somehow i feel that its quite hard for us to explain it by words?
unless you expect us to use pictures?
but of course basic finger exercise has been covered on John Petrucci's Rock Dicipline video.
 
I'm sure there are lots of guitar videos out there and many of them have finger exercises. The intention of starting this thread is for us to deposit our finger exercises here - those that we find useful.

If you're using an exercise from a Website, then specify the site URL so that folks know where to get the original and also to protect the intellectual property owner's rights by simply acknowledging where you got the exercise from if it's a book. It's the Internet, so use videos (vid cam or telephone cam oso can) diagrams, tabs, words - a combination - whatever.

Maybe use the following as a sort of template so that fewer words are required.

Target Attribute(s) -
State Benefits -
Target Hand & Finger(s) -
 
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This is the one I am using. Not sure if it's doing any good (when my debut album comes out - any day now - I will let the world know). Anyhoo, here's the stuff I copied into my info archive some time back. I'm sure you can get the original website somewhere if it has not already been trashed.


Finger Dexterity

One thing that makes a guitar player great is good finger dexterity and clean sounding notes. It is important as a beginning or intermediate guitarist to practice techniques that will increase finger dexterity. I will share some techniques I have used and still use today to improve finger speed and dexterity.

Here is a real basic finger exercise. It can be a little tedious, but be sure play every note clean and in even time. Play it slowly, your cheating yourself if you rip through it haphazardly. The purpose is to strengthen your fingers and you'll have to start slowly to do that. Speed up after you can play it well. Play this all the way up and down the neck.

E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---3---4-|
A||-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|----------------|
E||--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|----------------|


-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---3---4--||
-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|-----------------||
--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||


This next exercise is similar, only in a different pattern. Be sure to use all four fingers and watch out for fret buzz, that annoying buzzing sound that occurs when playing notes sloppily.

E||--1---4---2---3--|-----------------|----------------|
B||-----------------|--1---4---2---3--|----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|--1---4---2---3-|
D||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
A||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|


-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
-----------------|-----------------|------------------||
--1---4---2---3--|-----------------|------------------||
-----------------|--1---4---2---3--|------------------||
-----------------|-----------------|--1---4---2---3---||


Here is a simple riff I made for you to practice over and over, up and down the fretboard. You can make up your own as well.

E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
G||----------6---7--|--9---7---6------|----------6---7-|
D||--7---9----------|--------------9--|--7---9---------|
A||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|


---------------||
---------------||
--9---7---6----||
---------------||
---------------||
---------------||


After you get these down, keep playing them. Play them while you're walking around the house, on the web, watching TV or eating. Gradually play these faster as you get better at them.

Once you have built up your finger dexterity you can now start attacking scales and modes. Shown below is a simple mode.

E||-----------------------|-----------------------|
B||-----------------------|-----------------------|
G||-----------------------|------------12---14----|
D||-----------------12----|--14---15--------------|
A||--12---14---15---------|-----------------------|
E||-----------------------|-----------------------|


-----------------12----|--13---15----||
--12---13---15---------|-------------||
-----------------------|-------------||
-----------------------|-------------||
-----------------------|-------------||
-----------------------|-------------||


Now lets take the mode and 'play it out'. Notice the pattern used. You can apply this to any and all scales and modes. This works excellent for building speed and dexterity.

E||-----------------------|-----------------------|
B||-----------------------|-----------------------|
G||-----------------------|-----------------------|
D||-----------------12----|------------12----14---|
A||--12---14---15---------|--14---15--------------|
E||-----------------------|-----------------------|


--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------12----|
--------12----14----15----|--12----14----15----------|
--15----------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|


--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------12----|
--------------12----14----|--------12----14----------|
--14----15----------------|--15----------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|


--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------12----13----|--------12----13----15----|
--12----14----------------|--14----------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|


--------------------12----|--------------12----13----|
--12----13----15----------|--13----15----------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|


--------12----13----15----||
--15----------------------||
--------------------------||
--------------------------||
--------------------------||
--------------------------||



You can also play this backwards. I like to play this while warming up my fingers. Always be sure to warm up your fingers before you begin a long jam session. Warm up with these exercises listed above, or with some scales. I have heard that some guitarists will massage their hands and run them under luke-warm water before playing to loosen up their fingers. Personally, I think that's a little extreme but you should try it and see if it works for you.

Not all guitarists are concerned with speed and clean sounding notes. Some are just happy with having a sloppy style, and that's fine. But basic exercises like these should be practiced by all guitarists, even the sloppy ones; because they will reap great benefits if done correctly.
 
sorry betsybug, borrowed your diagrams :oops:

made some changes:

E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---3---4-|
A||-----------------|--5---6---7---8--|----------------|
E||--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|----------------|


-----------------|-----------------|--5---6---7---8--||
-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|-----------------||
--5---6---7---8--|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||


I also did practice patterns similar to the ones betsybug showed, and i would like to add in the above one. You can also do it upwards, the climbing direction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

the following on was on advice from my guitar instructor way back in my cca days:

E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|---0---2---3----|
A||-----------------|---0---2---3-----|----------------|
E||---0---1---3-----|-----------------|----------------|


-----------------|-----------------|---0---1---3----||
-----------------|---0---1---3----|-----------------||
---0---1---*----|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||


no pausing/rest on the *, continue on the open B string.

one FULL cycle: EFGABCDEFGABCDEFG-GFEDCBAGFEDCBAGFE

basically they are the notes off the C major scale, starting from the E open string. IMO, this exercise 'trains' alternate picking and also alternate fingering on the classical. after completing and ending on the 1st string, do the reverse and climb up playing the reverse order.

if you starting with a downpick, you'll end the first string with a downpick, then start and end the reverse order with an up-pick.

for classical guitar's fingering, must also alternate between your right index and middle fingers. Can try middle/ring also, for fun.

this 2nd exercise only trains 3 fingers on the left hand though :( and should be a common exercise on classical guitars???
 
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No prob, hollowman. It'll be good if you can change the fonts of the tabs to Courier - easier to read. I'll be trying out your exercises later.
 
Hi ya,
I dunno if this helps (sorry betsy, i borrowed yur tabs too) but this is what i usually use to practice and warm up. Trains the 1 3 4 fingers, then the 1 2 4, than a major arrpeggio sweep up and down, then back to the cycle again.
Hope this helps.


E||-----------------|---7---9----10---|-12--10---9-----|
B||--7---9---10-----|-----------------|----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
A||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|
E||-----------------|-----------------|----------------|


-----------------|-----------------|----7---9----10--||
-12--10---9------|--7---9---10-----|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||

-7---------------|-------------7h10|-S12--10—9------||
----8------------|-----------8-----|-----------------||
------7----------|-------7---------|-----------------||
----------9------|-----9-----------|-----------------||
------------10---|-10--------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
 
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WOOOOTTTTTTTTT!!!

Great input so far guys! Do give me a wee bit more time to put my own .02 into this thread.

Finger exercises are IMPORTANT. Not only for D-ASS but to allow one get out of one's rut - it will open doors to licks and riffs.

And donch forget to try them at different fret positions. That's when it gets into ROCKing mode!!!
 
Here's a right-hand exercise that's great for strumming.

It's the flamenco rasgeudo. Great for flamenco but also great for a lot of other uses. This will provide a more percusive bite to your strums.

Use rasguedo for percusive purposes or use it wisely to emphasize parts of your song so that your strums don't sound the same the same the same the same the same the same.

Rasguedo Exercise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsSvIl4gFEY&feature=related
From the page, above, you will find other links to other rasguedo exercises.

It's really cool stuff. Donch believe? Then see this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVmUpJTNUpI
 
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