An Exercise to Get Your Fingers Going

Time to start working those strings with some scale/note playing ..So let’s start with something easy.

First: Make sure your positioning of your hand is right. Your left hand should be place so that the thumb is solidly behind the neck of the guitar and the top of the thumb should not be hanging out over the top. Usually the thumb is a little more than half way up the neck.

Second: Your wrist should be dropped so that your fingers have enough leverage to hit the strings and notes like a hammer on a nail. A good solid bent wrist will give you a lot more leverage.

Third: Starting with the 6th string (the one closest to you- the lowest in sound-the E string) put your index finger on the first fret and play that string only. (For positioning, you finger should be right next to the fret bar between the first and second fret but not on the bar, still within the first fret).

Fourth: keeping that first finger down now put the middle finger in the second fret on that string and pluck it. Do this with the ring finger on the third fret and the pinky on the fourth fret.

Fifth: Now move down to the 5th string and do the same thing all over again. Do this same exercise on each string all the way down to the 1st string.

Sixth: Once you have completed that, slide the whole exercise down to start on the 2nd fret and start all over. Eventually you should take this exercise not only up and down the neck but also backwards (starting on the first string 4th fret and moving your way down all the way to the 6th string 1st fret)