Learnt a reall good exercise for keeping your fingers close to the strings....

Lewy

This may be well known but I'd never come across it before a workshop I went to this weekend...

It's essentially the standard ascending one-finger-per-fret chromatic exercise moving across the strings but as you move from one string to the next, you keep each finger down on the note it fretted on the previous string until you have to lift it fret a new note on the new string.

So.....lets say you start at :

6th string, 3rd fret, 1st finger

Put down 2nd finger on 4th fret, keeping 1st finger down

Put 3rd finger down on 5th fret, keeping 1st and 2nd down

Put 4th finger down on 6th fret, keeping 1st, 2nd and 3rd down

Then.....

Put 1st finger 3rd fret 5th string, keeping 2nd, 3rd and 4th in place on 6th string

Only lift a finger off the 6th string when it need to fret a note on the 5th. Keeping going up across all the strings.

Once you've got the concept you can apply to ascending scales and licks.

Only to be done once youve warmed up and for short periods of time as its quite a strain but really useful.

Apologies if everybody learned this in their first guitar lesson but I'd never come across it in 20 years of playing so though I'd share.

JAYJO

Lewy said:

This may be well known but I'd never come across it before a workshop I went to this weekend...

It's essentially the standard ascending one-finger-per-fret chromatic exercise moving across the strings but as you move from one string to the next, you keep each finger down on the note it fretted on the previous string until you have to lift it fret a new note on the new string.

So.....lets say you start at :

6th string, 3rd fret, 1st finger

Put down 2nd finger on 4th fret, keeping 1st finger down

Put 3rd finger down on 5th fret, keeping 1st and 2nd down

Put 4th finger down on 6th fret, keeping 1st, 2nd and 3rd down

Then.....

Put 1st finger 3rd fret 5th string, keeping 2nd, 3rd and 4th in place on 6th string

Only lift a finger off the 6th string when it need to fret a note on the 5th. Keeping going up across all the strings.

Once you've got the concept you can apply to ascending scales and licks.

Only to be done once youve warmed up and for short periods of time as its quite a strain but really useful.

Apologies if everybody learned this in their first guitar lesson but I'd never come across it in 20 years of playing so though I'd share.

Thanks for sharing. 

frankus

The Spider it's an awesome exercise - I should do it more often! ... I will! Thanks for reminding me

Lewy

Ah it has a name, cool!

frankus

It has a cool name

Who was the workshop with?

Lewy

frankus said:

It has a cool name

Who was the workshop with?

Workshop was with Charlotte Carrivick (amazing young flatpicker, mandolinist, old time banjo player...). Was a mixed-level workshop so a lot of it was a bit beginnerish but still got a few useful bits out of it.

frankus

Sounds awesome and diverse. Sometimes it's nice to be one of the grown-ups in a class ... I imagine

I really want to do another course to reinvigorate my guitar playing ... reading this had made me realise that'd help me a lot.

Thanks

handsomerik

Thanks for that. This is something I really need to work on.

Whenever I watch the prymaxevintage pedal demos on you tube I'm amazed at the economy of movement that that guy has. He makes playing look so effortless. Check him out.

PinkyFloyd

Been trying this.  It's hard.  Going down the neck it's hard to ring the notes out clearly because of fingering issues and I have to stop and 'think' my third finger into moving.

Going up the neck is easier for some reason.

It's tough!  Going to keep practicing it as I can see how it might benefit.

Bidley

Such a simple yet brilliant exercise, my teacher taught me this in one of my first lessons. Well done for sharing, this kind of thing can help everyone.