Guitar exercises
 

In my teens I played a lot of guitar, then started playing piano for a band, and among other things have kind-of neglected my poor guitar for a while. Recently I picked it up again and have started playing again only to discover my fingers are nowhere as strong or fast as they were when I played every day :(

So, I'm wondering what exercises you guitarists use to build up strength and agility etc. What do you to practice your techniques? Just learn loads of songs? Any effective exercises you stand by? At the moment I'm just doing scales and chord changes to warm up and then learning a few songs.

The biggest thing that you need to learn is how to accurately alternate pick. It's a little late tonight, but tomorrow I can tab out some scales for you as well as some other exercises such as alternate picking the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, fret on each string.

personally i'm a big fan of playing along to non-guitar music. old school free jazz works very well for this, it provides you with a nice moving background of music and allows you to stretch out as much as possible with the guitar. it's great for developing new techniques and voicings.

[QUOTE=Pobodys_Nerfect;682081]The biggest thing that you need to learn is how to accurately alternate pick. It's a little late tonight, but tomorrow I can tab out some scales for you as well as some other exercises such as alternate picking the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, fret on each string.[/QUOTE]

That's what I ussually do, but make sure you do it to a metronome. For finger strength I also fret the 1st string 1st fret, pluck it, then hammer on with a combination of fingers. I will go down the neck this way and then instead of hammering on I will pull off. This excersise was extremely useful for devoloping my finger strength.

So for example
1 finger (pluck)
2 second finger (hammer on)
3 third finger (hammer on)

Then vary the combinations (124, 134, 234, 12, 23, 34, 1234, 14, 13 etc)

I find that (utilizing said alternate picking excersises) just practicing major scales to a metronome is a good workout for both hands and helps to get them working together smoothly.

personally i found playing guitar hero and rockband on expert mode with a pick far more entertaining (and ultimately beneficial) than sitting with a metronome and scales. you still need to develop alternate picking methods and different strumming patterns to succeed and you're still moving your hands in tandem to a mechanical click.

it's no replacement for the real thing and not something i'd suggest if you're trying to build up chops from nothing but if you've already got the ability to play and just need a way to hold yourself over it's great.

Cool, thanks for the advice everyone. I'm gonna do a whole range of things. Hopefully with practice I'll build up strength and agility again...

Haha I'd never thought of this, I have Guitar Hero but 'Hard' is as far as I've gone in difficulty so far...

yeah i only played GH3 and only played a handful on expert before switching over to RB (which is far more forgiving and less of a clicking game). i found it to be better as an addition to my regular playing routine. it's not an exercise i'd do instead of playing guitar, just something i'd do when i couldn't.

at the moment i'm developing drumming chops. i've never owned a kit but i'm curious to know what someone who 'learns' an instrument solely from a video game sounds like on the real thing hahaha

lol, I am a pro at the drums on RB, but on a real kit I am terrible! Perhaps that answers your question :P But everybody is different I suppose!

haha yeah it's not the same and i'm not expecting it to be the same either, especially not if you try to apply what you learn from the game into a typical band situation. lucky for me i have a very warped view on playing music and have a few close friends who are willing to support my lunacy :laughing:

i'm quite curious now to hear what modern music will sound like in 10-20 years or so when the generation of kids who learned just about everything about music through those games start trying their hands at the real thing.

great question. that sounds like a thread all on it's own.
i love drums. i can do the easy-peasy livin after midnight or ac/dc kinda beat, but nothing complicated. i wish i could play fills like on pantera's "13 steps" or holy mackerel's "delicate tendrils"

My friend's little brother played rockband drums non stop for over a year and now he has had a drum set for less than a year, and has amazing timing.

^That has nothing to do with playing Rockband. Drummers either got it or they don't. He apparently does.


People who actually play drums have more of a likelihood of being good at Rockband...but it doesn't work the other way around. A real drumset responds a lot differently.

that's actually the exact opposite reaction to everyone i know.

the few real drummers that i jam with have a really hard time with the game, either because of the layout of the pads and reduced size of the 'kit', or they want to play more notes than on screen. one of them graduated from PIT so he's not exactly a slouch on the skins either.

rockband has EVERYTHING to do with building up your timing skills. all you're really doing is playing along to a very colourful metronome that also provides a better soundtrack that tic, toc, tic, toc.

i've sat on a kit before i know it's not the same thing AT ALL. then again playing the guitar in the game is not at all the same as playing the real thing. that doesn't mean the finger exercise is lost when you switch from buttons to strings. in essence the game is ALL about timed patterns.

for the original question - whenever I play a new song or try something new, I always do a few scales to warm up my fingers first. It's a good habit to get into.

I've been doing everything suggested and practicing every day and I've improved heaps! Pretty much back to my original standard. The tips of my fingers are getting harder too, haha.

yeah, when that happens, you could stck a pin in there and not get any blood, haha