Joined: 14 Feb 2008 United States  Lessons: 3 Licks: 2 Karma: 11 
| Speed, Strength, and Finger Accuracy Exercisesby les_paul
13 Jun 2008 Views: 24428
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I have been using these exercises for over a month and they really work. I didn't make them up I found them on other sites, and after using them for a while, and seeing the results I thought I would put them here. To do the exercises right you need to use a metronome. I think that is very important, and if you don't have one there is one on this site at the top of the page.
The first exercise is just simple scale picking.
Just start with G major:
||--F#-|--G--|-----|-----||
||-----|--D--|-----|--E--||
||--A--|-----|--B--|--C--||
||--E--|-----|--F#-|--G--||
||--B--|--C--|-----|--D--||
||-----|--G--|-----|--A--||
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
E-----------------------------------------2--3--2-----------------------------------------||
B-----------------------------------3--5-----------5--3-----------------------------------||
G--------------------------2--4--5-----------------------5--4--2--------------------------||
D-----------------2--4--5-----------------------------------------5--4--2-----------------||
A--------2--3--5-----------------------------------------------------------5--3--2--------||
E--3--5-----------------------------------------------------------------------------5--3--||
D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D
Just set your metronome on about 80 or 100 beats per minute. play up and down the scale using alternate (up down up down) picking with one note per metronome click. When you are able to play through the scale five times with all the notes clean and clear and no mistakes move the metronome up 10 bpm. It is important to get your notes clear and clean, that is really the goal of this exercise because there is no point in playing lightning fast if all the notes are fuzzy and muted. Keep increasing the speed until you get to 160 pbm. After you are clean and clear at 160 bpm, drop the metronome back down to 80 bpm and play two notes per beat. Same thing as before use the alternate picking (if you are doing it right your down picks will be on the metronome click) and when you are clean at one speed move it up by 10 bpm. When you reach 160 bpm with two notes per metronome click, drop it down to 60 bpm this time and play four notes per metronome click. It can be very hard to sync yourself with the metronome when playing four notes per click. Try picking two down picks per click and once you get your rhythm add the up picks. It gets fast a lot quicker with 16th notes so you might want to only move up by five bpm at a time once you get to this speed.
This exercise really works. I have been doing ten minutes a day for over a month and I can tell a big difference not only in speed but it has really cleaned my playing up a lot as far as finger accuracy. So ten minutes a day and you will see results.
The next exercise is an awesome exercise to build strength in you fingers. It uses hammer ons and pull offs and gives your hands a good workout. When I first started this exercise I could only do about three or four minutes before my hands would start hurting. If your hands start hurting stop and just build your strength gradually. If you can't finish all of the exercise don't worry about it after a while you will be able to go as long as you want.
Do this exercise with a metronome as well. The idea of this exercise is to build strength so you don't want to go fast. I do this with my metronome set on 60 bpm. Focus on getting your hammers and pulls as loud and clear as possible. This exercise is great, I have used it for over a month and I can do killer hammers and pulls. Remember slow and steady, you wont build strength if you go to fast. It is hard to make yourself play slow but it pays off big. Also really hammer your hammer ons. Try to put your finger through the fret board, and get a good flicking action on your pull offs so they will ring out clear.
E--1-h-2-----------------------------------------------------------------1-h-2--||
B---------1-h-2---------------------------------------------------1-h-2---------||
G----------------1-h-2-------------------------------------1-h-2----------------||
D-----------------------1-h-2-----------------------1-h-2-----------------------||
A------------------------------1-h-2---------1-h-2------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------1-h-2-------------------------------------||
E--2-h-3-----------------------------------------------------------------2-h-3--||
B---------2-h-3---------------------------------------------------2-h-3---------||
G----------------2-h-3-------------------------------------2-h-3----------------||
D-----------------------2-h-3-----------------------2-h-3-----------------------||
A------------------------------2-h-3---------2-h-3------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------2-h-3-------------------------------------||
E--3-h-4-----------------------------------------------------------------3-h-4--||
B---------3-h-4---------------------------------------------------3-h-4---------||
G----------------3-h-4-------------------------------------3-h-4----------------||
D-----------------------3-h-4-----------------------3-h-4-----------------------||
A------------------------------3-h-4---------3-h-4------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------3-h-4-------------------------------------||
E--1-h-3-----------------------------------------------------------------1-h-3--||
B---------1-h-3---------------------------------------------------1-h-3---------||
G----------------1-h-3-------------------------------------1-h-3----------------||
D-----------------------1-h-3-----------------------1-h-3-----------------------||
A------------------------------1-h-3---------1-h-3------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------1-h-3-------------------------------------||
E--2-h-4-----------------------------------------------------------------2-h-4--||
B---------2-h-4---------------------------------------------------2-h-4---------||
G----------------2-h-4-------------------------------------2-h-4----------------||
D-----------------------2-h-4-----------------------2-h-4-----------------------||
A------------------------------2-h-4---------2-h-4------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------2-h-4-------------------------------------||
E--1-h-4-----------------------------------------------------------------1-h-4--||
B---------1-h-4---------------------------------------------------1-h-4---------||
G----------------1-h-4-------------------------------------1-h-4----------------||
D-----------------------1-h-4-----------------------1-h-4-----------------------||
A------------------------------1-h-4---------1-h-4------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------1-h-4-------------------------------------||
After you get through the Hammer ons run through it with pull offs
E--2-p-1-----------------------------------------------------------------2-p-1--||
B---------2-p-1---------------------------------------------------2-p-1---------||
G----------------2-p-1-------------------------------------2-p-1----------------||
D-----------------------2-p-1-----------------------2-p-1-----------------------||
A------------------------------2-p-1---------2-p-1------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------2-p-1-------------------------------------||
E--3-p-2-----------------------------------------------------------------3-p-2--||
B---------3-p-2---------------------------------------------------3-p-2---------||
G----------------3-p-2-------------------------------------3-p-2----------------||
D-----------------------3-p-2-----------------------3-p-2-----------------------||
A------------------------------3-p-2---------3-p-2------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------3-p-2-------------------------------------||
E--4-p-3-----------------------------------------------------------------4-p-3--||
B---------4-p-3---------------------------------------------------4-p-3---------||
G----------------4-p-3-------------------------------------4-p-3----------------||
D-----------------------4-p-3-----------------------4-p-3-----------------------||
A------------------------------4-p-3---------4-p-3------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------4-p-3-------------------------------------||
E--3-p-1-----------------------------------------------------------------3-p-1--||
B---------3-p-1---------------------------------------------------3-p-1---------||
G----------------3-p-1-------------------------------------3-p-1----------------||
D-----------------------3-p-1-----------------------3-p-1-----------------------||
A------------------------------3-p-1---------3-p-1------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------3-p-1-------------------------------------||
E--4-p-2-----------------------------------------------------------------4-p-2--||
B---------4-p-2---------------------------------------------------4-p-2---------||
G----------------4-p-2-------------------------------------4-p-2----------------||
D-----------------------4-p-2-----------------------4-p-2-----------------------||
A------------------------------4-p-2---------4-p-2------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------4-p-2-------------------------------------||
E--4-p-1-----------------------------------------------------------------4-p-1--||
B---------4-p-1---------------------------------------------------4-p-1---------||
G----------------4-p-1-------------------------------------4-p-1----------------||
D-----------------------4-p-1-----------------------4-p-1-----------------------||
A------------------------------4-p-1---------4-p-1------------------------------||
E-------------------------------------4-p-1-------------------------------------||
These exercises have really improved my playing. Like I said before I didn't come up with them, I found them on other sites so you might have seen them before. I did change a few things that I thought could be better but there it is. I hope someone finds it useful.
Later,
ThePusher
