FINGERSTYLE GUITAR LESSONS

Hey guys, today I will show you three killing exercises that will help you stretch your fingers. I think it’s essential to reach a good level of flexibility and stretch if you want to play chords and scales fluently. Also, with these exercises, you will be able to improve control and accuracy. As usual, make sure you are safe! Don’t compromise form and rest every time you need it. I am trying to help you, not ruin yourself, so please, follow these three rules and be safe.

1. Rule 1: Does it hurt? Stop immediately!
2. Rule 2: Does it burn? Stop immediately!
3. Rule 3: Do you have cramps? Freacking stop immediately!

Why do you need to stretch your fingers?

Stretching is really important for different reasons:

1. Prevent injuries.
2. Improve speed and control on a chord change.
3. Improve fluidity on scales.
4. Increase strength (you can play longer).
5. Give you a mental boost.

Prevent injuries.

For me playing guitar and workout are the same thing. When you go to the gym, you train different parts of your body to a better shape. You will notice, though, that when you start working out, the movement is stiff, and you get easily tired. It will take a couple of weeks to really start feeling you are doing the right movement. This is also the time when you can feel that your body is growing and improving.

When you play guitar, you go through the same process. You train your fingers several times during the week to get better. When you start, the fingers feel weird and stiff, and it takes time to really start feeling the improvement.

Go to the gym and start working out like a crazy man, and you end up hurting yourself. It’s the same thing when you play. Stretching your fingers will prevent things like sore fingers, tendons, and cysts. Trust me!

Improve speed and control on a chord change.

Flexible fingers will enable you to perform better chord change. When you play chords like C major, G major, or F major chord, you notice straight away how stretchy these chords are. By practicing these exercises, you will improve your chords as well as finger’s muscle.

Improve speed and control on Scales.

A lot of people think that speed and control are innate. What they fail to realize is that control, as well as speed, is something you develop with time and practice. The best friend of speed and control is flexibility and stretch. You will see that your fingers will naturally feel stronger once you start practicing these three killing exercises. Make sure you practice the exercises step by step and follow all the recommended fingers.

The mental boost.

Do you know a nice feeling after you work out? You feel your muscle are bigger, and your confidence grows. Practicing exercises like the one below, will help you improve your confidence and boost your self-esteem. We feel better when we know we are practicing the right things.

Let’s get started!

Exercise 1 – Stretch –

In this exercise, we are going to use asymmetrical pattern 134. That means you will always use the 1st, 3rd, and 4th fingers of your left hand. The right hand will be plucking the strings with an i-m (index-middle) pattern. Now, to stretch the fingers, you want to make sure you hold the fingers down! This is the only way you will be able to stretch the fingers. Check the pics below.

Let’s get into details.

• Pic 1: Start the exercise with the index finger. Relax the other fingers.
• Pic 2: When you play the second note with the ring finger, hold down the index finger.
• Pic 3: Play the last note with the little finger but remember to keep the index and middle finger down.
• Pic 4-5-6: Do the same thing on the 5th string. Remember, fingers stay down.

The left-hand finger pattern is 1 3 4 on each string.

Exercise 2 – Control –

This exercise is a killer. You really want to learn it step by step and slowly. It’s based on two chords: E minor 9 and C major 9. Both chords have the same shape, so you start playing them the same way. Then, you have to shift the index finger from the 5th to the 2nd string. When you do that, make sure you hold the other fingers down to allow the stretch. I have recorded a quick video for this one. I was home, so it’s a bit noisy but definitely helpful! Good Luck! Stop immediately if you feel pain.

The right-hand pattern is P I m an m I (Thumb, index, middle, ring, middle, index). Group the notes in three. 123 123 123 123.

Finger stretching exercise for Fingerstyle Guitar by Marco Cirillo. BlitzGuitar.com from Marco Cirillo on Vimeo.

Exercise 3 – Stamina –

The last exercise is another symmetrical killer. This time we are working on a quite stretchy position so, please, make sure you practice slowly. If you think is too stretchy for you, come back in a couple of months and try again. Remember, if you damage your tendons, you could spend months before you can play again.

The exercise is based on a 124 finger pattern. The difficult thing here is that there is a fret between each finger, so the positions are quite stretchy. Have a look at the diagram.

Remember that the right hand will always pluck with the i-m (index-middle) pattern. Keep the fingers relaxed and play the exercise slowly. Remember this is a stretching exercise, so you shouldn’t play fast. The speed should be a maximum of 70bmp. Please focus on the movement, and make sure you hold the fingers down as we did for exercise 2.

Right-hand pattern i-m

Thank you very much for watching and reading. I hope you have fun!