Guitar Exercises
Getting your fingers to untwist themselves can be a frustrating process.
Practice is king – for the exercise we’re going to use the ‘G’ string as our basis and the notes from the A minor(natural) scale have been used – this will hopefully give us a few things,
- Learn how to use our fingers properly.
- Learn the notes on the ‘G’ string.
- Get used to moving up and down the neck in a none scalic way.
- Build up stretch in our fingers.
First thing we need to do is get used to the pattern – try the exercise below – the finger to use is written above the corresponding note – to get to grips with this you need to start slow and concentrate on getting your fingers right.
You will see that the first note of each bar is played with the 1st finger and the last note is played with the 4th finger.
The middle note is the trickier part, this note is indicated in blue it’s important that you get this finger correct as it will allow a smoother way of playing – it may be awkward but stick with it and you’ll see an improvement.
Remember,
- Play slowly to start
- Use Alternate picking
Once you’ve mastered the exercise try playing whilst learning the notes.
Notes have been added below for each bar.
Learning the notes on the guitar is one of the most important skills you can aquire.
Hope it helps!
Related Reading:
Learning the Notes of C Major on Guitar:
Exercise for Guitar:
Across the top in capitals: Notes from stave
Down the side: Strings on guitar
Numbers: Frets in guitar
Try learning the above in realtion to the stave
Try picking out the different patterns.
A clue, there are 5 patterns.
There are 3 starting on the ‘a‘ string including the one in the first image.
There are 2 patterns starting on the ‘e‘ sring
Related Reading:
Simple finger strength building exercises:
Use your 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers. With these exercises same finger number as the fret you are playing.
Expand each exercise by playing the same pattern through all six strings.
Use ‘Alternative Picking’.
Start slow, get a clean sound, don’t snap at the note.
Try and stretch but don’t force yourself to do something you can’t physically do yet.
If when playing the 3rd or 4th fret your 1st finger moves then so be it, eventually with time your fingers will adapt.
These are warm ups, treat them as such. Use them to develope your finger strengh but don’t spend too much time on them.
Save that time for the fun stuff.
Ex:1
Ex: 1a
Ex: 1b
Ex: 1c
