Basic Technique Exercises

This page has exercises to help establish basic technique as outlined in this lesson.

Fingering Exercises

Fretting Technique

 E--------------------------------------------------------------1--2--1--2--
 B--------------------------------------------------1--2--1--2--------------
 G--------------------------------------1--2--1--2--------------------------
 D--------------------------1--2--1--2--------------------------------------
 A--------------1--2--1--2--------------------------------------------------
 E--1--2--1--2--------------------------------------------------------------
    i  m  i  m ...

 E--2--1--2--1--------------------------------------------------------------
 B--------------2--1--2--1--------------------------------------------------
 G--------------------------2--1--2--1--------------------------------------
 D--------------------------------------2--1--2--1--------------------------
 A--------------------------------------------------2--1--2--1--------------
 E--------------------------------------------------------------2--1--2--1--
    m  i  m  i ...

 E--------------------------------------------------------------1--3--1--3--
 B--------------------------------------------------1--3--1--3--------------
 G--------------------------------------1--3--1--3--------------------------
 D--------------------------1--3--1--3--------------------------------------
 A--------------1--3--1--3--------------------------------------------------
 E--1--3--1--3--------------------------------------------------------------
    i  r  i  r ...

 E--3--1--3--1--------------------------------------------------------------
 B--------------3--1--3--1--------------------------------------------------
 G--------------------------3--1--3--1--------------------------------------
 D--------------------------------------3--1--3--1--------------------------
 A--------------------------------------------------3--1--3--1--------------
 E--------------------------------------------------------------3--1--3--1--
    r  i  r  i ...

 E--------------------------------------------------------------1--4--1--4--
 B--------------------------------------------------1--4--1--4--------------
 G--------------------------------------1--4--1--4--------------------------
 D--------------------------1--4--1--4--------------------------------------
 A--------------1--4--1--4--------------------------------------------------
 E--1--4--1--4--------------------------------------------------------------
    i  p  i  p ...

 E--4--1--4--1--------------------------------------------------------------
 B--------------4--1--4--1--------------------------------------------------
 G--------------------------4--1--4--1--------------------------------------
 D--------------------------------------4--1--4--1--------------------------
 A--------------------------------------------------4--1--4--1--------------
 E--------------------------------------------------------------4--1--4--1--
    p  i  p  i ...

Economy Fretting

This exercise focuses on economy in fretting, by minimizing unnecessary finger movement. Hold the frets with each finger behind the current fretting finger:

             p
          r-----r
       m-----------m
    i-----(hold)------i

  --4--5--6--7--6--5--4--
    i  m  r  p  r  m  i

As seen above, the index finger can hold the 4th fret throughout the entire tab above. The middle finger can fret the 5th fret, so long as the lower 4th fret does not need to be played. By holding the lower frets, they do not need to be re-fretted later on. This emphasizes economy of motion, reducing the amount of fretting your left-hand fingers need to do, allowing greater speed, clean picking technique, and performance stamina.

This exercise applies the above principle to an open position C scale.

          r        r        r              r        r
                m--m     m--m     m                 
       i--i                             i--i     i--i
 E--------------------------------------------0--1--3--
 B-----------------------------------0--1--3-----------
 G-----------------------------0--2--------------------
 D--------------------0--2--3--------------------------
 A-----------0--2--3-----------------------------------
 E--0--1--3--------------------------------------------

The above exercise is simple and demonstrates the possible economy holds on the different strings, but it does not demonstrate the benefit, which occurs when ascending and descending on the same string. It is also more evident outside of first position:

          p        p        p        p     p           p     p        p                          p---p
       r--r     r--r                    r-----r     r--------r              r     r
                         m-----m                                   m--m                 m     m------m
    i--i     i--i     i-----------i              i--------i     i--i     i-----i     i---------------i
 E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 B-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------5--6--5--6--8-/10--
 G-----------------------------------------------------------------------5--7--5--7---------------------
 D--------------------5--7--9--7--5-----------------------------5--7--9---------------------------------
 A-----------5--7--8-----------------8--7--8--7--5--7--8--7--8------------------------------------------
 E--5--7--8---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------