Finger Fitness Lesson

Warming up & Finger Fitness

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  • Hi GMC!

    This lessons is about Warming Up & Finger Fitness. Because I am often asked how do I warm up before a gig, a season or just before teaching I decided to explain that more in details. Specially before gigs there isn't enough time to warm up my hands by playing on the guitar. So I came up with an easy finger exercise that helps me a lot to warm up without the guitar. Beside this it helps to get a better finger independence too. So you can do this exercise whenever you want.

    The complete warming up procedure you'll find in the 1st video Instruction.

    Beside this finger exercise I have a cool but easy to play scale runs thats helps for the development of your finger independence too.

    It's based on four 16th sequenced pattern of the 3 notes per string sales in G Minor and Eb lydian (G Minor). By going from one pattern to the next I'm adding one more higher note on each pattern. Then I repeat these four patterns in the next two octaves. Due to the fact that the guitar is tuned in fourth (but from G to B a Major third!) I have to change my fingering a bit. This also will help you to get a better overview of your fretboard. I suggest you to do this exercise without stopping (like a did in the main video). After I played every pattern for three times I make a little rest for one bar and then I go to the next one. So 2 minutes of 16th notes (with some rests) without making mistakes could be a challenge for you too. Remember this excises are not about speed but about fitness! Of course you can speed up the runs later, but always start slowly.

    The backing track is nice too because it's in 9/8 and fits perfect to the scale runs.
    After your exercises you could start to jam on it and just having fun! :-D

    Let's go thru the chords of the jam track:

    Backing Chords
    Gm7/11 | % | Ebsus2 | % |

    We have two modes here: G Aeolian and Eb Lydian which both are coming from the G Minor scale.

    Final words
    Have fun with this exercises, see next time!

    Cheers - Guido

    Technical specifications
    Guitar: Music Man Luke II
    Strings: D'Addario NYXL 09/42
    Amp: Peavey JSX Top with Marshall 2x12" V30
    Effects: T.c. electronic G-Major
    Sound-deflection system by DEEFLEXX

    Mics: Shure SM57
    Audio Interface: Focusrite Saffire PRO 24
    Recording SW: Logic 9, several plugins

    Standard tuning: E, A, D, G, B, E

    Tempo: 100 BPM

    Time signature: 9/8



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