Guitar Finger Stretch Exercise
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Over the years that I have been instructing private in-home guitar and bass guitar lessons, many of my students have labored over learning how to use proper fingering techniques to play better on their instruments. Yes, there is a correct way to play the fretboard notes your guitar.
Learning the techniques on how to play your guitar correctly, will of course take time. How much time it will take, depends on how much effort you are willing to put into practicing. For some, these techniques make sense right away. Others it can still feel like a struggle to get every note - as if your fingers are somehow tying up in knots. So much of this has to do with the amount of strength you have in your hands and fingers - and how much control you actually have over your fingers.
Everyday practicing stretching exercises is just as important as practicing your chords and scales. Learning improvisation by practicing and playing scale melodies is a great way to stretch your fingers, however it can still limiting to the dexterity and strength needed to help you break out of comfortable scale boxes.
In the following exercises, you will need to use the “same finger-same fret” method to practice these nonsensical scales. These are merely linear (chromatic) scales that are not really based on any sort of melodies. You MUST use a metronome for these exercises. I recommend that you start off at around 60-70 bpm, then slowly increase to 80-90 bpm. Do these exercises at least one or two times every time you pick up your guitar to practice.
