H A N D S T R E T C H E S A N D E X E R C I S E S

Transcription

1 P a g e 1 H A N D S T R E T C H E S A N D E X E R C I S E S Something important to get in the habit of now, whether you're just getting started or have been playing for years, is stretching your hands and fingers. Think of this as warming up, like an athlete getting ready for a game or race. These stretches help limber up the fingers and increase your speed with notes and chord changes. Here's a simple stretch that only takes a minute or two to do before you start your practice or playing session. This stretch will help you build your guitar playing stamina. To keep your wrists and hands nice and limber try this exercise: put your hands together in front of your chest like you're going to say a prayer. Now lift your elbows until they're parallel to the ground. Slowly rotate your fingers towards your chest as far as you can go. Then rotate them so you point away from your body. Save a prayer for me now

2 P a g e 2 Another good stretch is as follows: Make a fist with each hand and hold it up in front of your chest with your thumbs towards you. Open your fist and stretch your fingers back as far as you can and hold that for a count of ten seconds. A third exercise will stretch the muscles in your hands. Slowly curl your fingers down to the point where your fingertips are touching the palm of your hand.

3 P a g e 3 Keeping the fingertips as close to your palm as you can, try to spread your fingers apart, so your knuckles no longer touch. Hold for five seconds and then bring your knuckles together. Repeat this exercise three or four times. Grrr Now pick up your guitar. We're going to work on finger stretching. Let's fret a C Maj7 chord at the 7th fret (see the diagram). Place your index finger on the first string (high e) at the seventh fret. Middle finger goes on the second string (B) at the eighth fret. Ring finger is placed on the third string (G) at the ninth fret. Put your pinky finger on the fourth string (D) on the tenth fret.

4 P a g e 4 Follow the tabs, first moving your index finger down one fret (to the sixth fret) while keeping the remaining three fingers in their current positions (Step 1 to step 2). Do you feel the burn yet? Don't worry - you will! Now, keeping your index finger at the sixth fret, move your middle finger down one fret from the eighth to the 7 th (Step 2 to step 3). Keep your ring and pinky fingers in place on frets 9 and 10, respectively. Take your time and keep going with the next section. You're feeling that burn now, aren't you? Unless you have long fingers, this exercise is tough. It's not impossible, but it takes some real patience and perseverance to get through it even just once. Repeat the process with your ring finger (Step 3 to step 4. Finally, move your pinky down one fret (Step 4 to step 5). Once you've completed moving every finger down one fret successively, do it again. Repeat this exercise five times. Now reverse the process with each finger moving back up one fret at a time. Repeat five times following this tab. Remember, take your time and don't rush it. Not only will your fingers and hands become very flexible, this will help with finger strength and help you with chords and leads as you learn and improve.

5 P a g e 1 F I N G E R S T R E N G T H E N I N G E X E R C I S E This exercise will help build up the calluses on your fingertips. Try to keep your fingers between a degree angle to the strings when pressing the string down. Starting on the sixth string (the fattest one), put your index finger on the first fret and play it. Then put your middle finger on the second fret and play that. Ring finger on the third fret, play, and pinky finger on the fourth fret, play. Then move up to the fifth string, first fret, index finger. Repeat on all strings, then reverse and go back down to the sixth string. Slide your index finger up to the second fret on the sixth string and work your way up and back.

6 P a g e 2 Once you ve worked up to here, turn around and work your way back. This will give your fingertips a workout they won t soon forget!