Fret Hand Exercises

Logical Lead Guitar

15 More Fret-Hand Exercises

By Adam St. James

LogicalLeadGuitar.com

Copyright 2007

Adam St. James LogicalLeadGuitar.com PO Box 5706 Woodridge, IL 60517

Logical Lead Guitar – 15 More Fret Hand Exercises By Adam St. James

Logical Lead Guitar Bonus Section: 15 More Fret-Hand Exercises This book includes a collection of fret-hand exercises I've been using for decades to improve the speed, agility, accuracy, and stamina of my fret-hand fingers. I consider these exercises to be essential to any player's practice regimen, especially those who are closer to beginner than pro – though that's not to say you shouldn't keep using them throughout your guitar-playing life. In fact, I just spent a couple hours this week (May, 2007) going through all the exercises in this book – and I've already been doing them for 30 years. Like I said, I still use them regularly to boost my speed, accuracy and agility! The following exercises are what I believe to be the most time-efficient way to improve your frethand abilities – better than playing scales, or even lead guitar, at least to some degree. When I go out and play a show, and leave the club disappointed with my playing, you can bet I hit these exercises hard within the next few days. They've always worked wonders for my lead playing. Also, they're so easy to remember and to play (after you've put in a little time with them), that you can do them even while you're actually concentrating on something else. Hey, multi-tasking is even possible with guitar practice!!!

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Bonus Section: 15 More Fret-Hand Exercises (cont'd)

That's right. I've done these exercises sitting at my kitchen table with a magazine spread out in front of me, taking breaks only to turn pages. I've put in countless nights hitting these exercises while watching a movie or a sporting event. By the way, these exercises will improve your rhythm guitar playing as well as your lead playing because they improve overall finger dexterity, not just your lead guitar playing abilities. Like I said, they're essential exercises all guitarists should utilize. Just go for it!

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Exercise 1

You'll use your first and second fingers for this exercise. Also, use alternate picking if possible. If you don't know what alternate picking is, read and study "Bonus Section: More Pick-Hand Exercises," and/or watch the video segments of this course. Play the 1st fret on the sixth string with your first finger, then the 2 nd fret with your second finger. Then play the same thing on the fifth string, followed by the fourth string, etc., until you've crawled your first and second fingers all the way across the strings, and back again. When coming back from the first to the sixth string, continue to play the first fret with your first finger, followed by the second fret with your second finger. When you've played from the sixth string to the first and back again, slide your first finger up one fret and do it again, this time playing the 2 nd and 3rd frets with your first and second fingers. Continue this process, using nothing but your first and second fingers, as far up the neck as possible.

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Exercise 2

Now we'll do the same with your second and third fingers. Play the 2 nd fret on the sixth string with your second finger, then the 3 rd fret with your third finger. Do the same on each string, to the first string, then back again to the sixth string. Then move up one fret and continue up the neck as far as possible.

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Exercise 3

And of course we'll continue the trend by using the third and fourth fingers on our fret hands. Play the 3rd fret on the sixth string with your third finger, then the 4 th fret with your fourth finger. Crawl across all six strings this way, then back to down to the sixth string again. Then continue up the whole neck as far as possible. Your third and fourth fingers will probably seem the least coordinated, so obviously they'll need the most exercise. Work on them twice as much as you do with the other fingers and you're playing will grow by leaps and bounds.

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Exercise 4

Now we'll start combining groups of fingers. Let's put the first three fingers together and play 1-2-3 on each string, as follows: Play the 1st fret on the sixth string using your first finger, then the 2 nd fret using your second finger, and the 3 rd fret using your third finger. Now repeat this fingering across the neck and back, and then up as far as possible.

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Exercise 5

And now let's put the second, third, and fourth fingers to work. This will be a little tougher, so give these three more regular work, and you'll benefit trememdously. Play the 1st fret on the sixth string with your second finger, then the 2 nd fret with your third finger, then the 3 rd fret with your fourth finger. Continue as usual.

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Exercise 6

And now of course to put all four fingers together. Play the 1st fret on the sixth string using your first finger, the 2 nd fret using your second finger, the 3rd fret using your third finger, and the 4 th fret with your fourth finger. Now repeat this fingering across the neck and back, and then up as far as possible.

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Exercise 7

With Exercise 7 we'll start putting the fingers in the groups of two we haven't covered yet. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, then the 3rd fret with your third finger. Repeat as usual.

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Exercise 8

Now let's play the 1 st fret with your first finger, and the 4th fret with your fourth finger. This one might need more work because your fourth finger probably won't be as nimble as your third finger.


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Exercise 9

And finally let's put the second and fourth finger together – they'll certainly need some work! Play the 1st fret with your second finger, then the 3rd fret with your fourth finger. Repeat here, there, and everywhere.


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Exercise 10

With Exercise 10 we'll start mixing it up even more. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, the 2 nd fret with your second finger, and the 4 th fret with your fourth finger. We'll skip the third finger in this exercise, and just play 1-2-4 across the neck. Repeat as usual.


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Exercise 11

This one is a little more tricky, but you should be able to handle it. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, the 3 rd fret with your third finger, and the 4 th fret with your fourth finger. We'll skip the second finger in this exercise, and just play 1-3-4 across the neck. Repeat.


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Exercise 12

Now we'll get a little crazier. I'm going to have you stretch your fingers a bit, as you'll certainly have to do occasionally when playing lead guitar. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, the 3 rd fret with your second finger, and the 4 th fret with your third finger. Stretch it out like this across and up the neck.


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Exercise 13

Now let's take that a little farther. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, the 3 rd fret with your second finger, and the 5 th fret with your fourth finger – stretching two frets between each finger. You'll need this one for certain lead licks, and there's no better way to play this pattern – believe me, I've already tried all the alternate fingerings.


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Exercise 14

And now I'm going to make it even tougher – but no pain, no gain, right? This exercise will really strengthen your fourth finger. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, the 2 nd fret with your second finger, and the 5 th fret with your fourth finger.


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Exercise 15

Now we'll take the same approach, but substitute the third finger for the second finger. Play the 1st fret with your first finger, the 4 th fret with your third finger, and the 5 th fret with your fourth finger. This is an excellent workout!


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Extra Credit

Great – now do it all backwards! Start each exercise on the first string instead of the sixth string, and start with the highest fretted note, and descend to the lowest on each string. As an example, for Exercise 1, you'd play the 2 nd fret on the first string with your second finger, then the 1st fret with your first finger. Then you'd go across all six strings down to the sixth string, and then back up to the first string. Then, of course, you'd slide up one fret and repeat. I actually shifted to doing almost all these exercises in this backwards motion after a few years of doing them "forwards." I found that I actually got more important exercise for the fingers that needed it most – the third and fourth – by going backwards. Again, I've been doing these exercises for decades, and still use them as an essential part of my practice regimen – especially if I've been playing less than I'd like to (that's when they seem to be most important to my satisfaction with my playing).


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An interesting note: I remember beginning to write my first guitar instructional book back in the early '80s on these exact exercises, but, not knowing anything about the book publishing business at that time, I never completed the process – and 15 or more years went by before my first instructional book actually came out through publisher Hal Leonard. But somewhere in my house I've got the original, hand-made, pencil drawings of these exercises. Yeah, I had a computer, back then, but I couldn't create the necessary sheet music and tablature with it at that time. I often wonder how might my life had been different if I'd put out all this stuff 25 years ago? And how might your guitar-playing have been changed if you'd seen and started practicing all the exercises years ago! Well, there's no time like the present, so get going!!!


Logical Lead Guitar LogicalLeadGuitar.com By Adam St. James For the complete course, and our free lead guitar tips newsletter, visit us at www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com. www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com . The entire Logical Lead Guitar course is a DVDbased guitar lesson course featuring nearly four hours of professionally produced video footage, with detailed close-ups of the instructor's hands so you can easily duplicate the riffs, licks, tips, and tricks taught in the videos. If you play the DVDs in your computer, you can easily loop sections for repeated viewing, allowing you to view an example over and over until you can understand and play along with it properly yourself. The Logical Lead Guitar course comes with two DVDs, one audio CD and 11 separate course books – of which "15 More Fret-Hand Exercises" is just one. Nearly every example played in the videos is written out in Tab (tablature) and sheet music in the course books, which total 200+ pages of professional instruction. There are more than 450 examples demonstrated on video and 100+ additional examples demonstrated on the audio CD – including full solos at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of playing.

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The course provides a lifetime worth of musical knowledge, and essential information you'll use for the rest of your guitar playing life! When you finish studying the Logical Lead Guitar course, your playing will have forever changed and you will be on your way to playing at the pro level of all your favorite guitar heroes! Thank you again for checking out Logical Lead Guitar!

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For additional music and guitar instructional resources, including songbooks with exact transcriptions of your favorite artists' music, plus other DVD- or CD-based method books covering virtually every style of music, please also check out our other websites: www.RockinRhythmGuitar.com www.RockChops.com www.BluesLessons.com www.JazzGurus.com For more information on the author, please visit: www.AdamStJames.com or email [email protected]

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Fret Hand Exercises

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