Getting your fingers to untwist themselves can be a frustrating process.
Practice is king – for the exercise we’re going to use the ‘G’ string as our basis and the notes from the A minor(natural) scale have been used – this will hopefully give us a few things,
- Learn how to use our fingers properly.
- Learn the notes on the ‘G’ string.
- Get used to moving up and down the neck in a none scalic way.
- Build up stretch in our fingers.
First thing we need to do is get used to the pattern – try the exercise below – the finger to use is written above the corresponding note – to get to grips with this you need to start slow and concentrate on getting your fingers right.
You will see that the first note of each bar is played with the 1st finger and the last note is played with the 4th finger.
The middle note is the trickier part, this note is indicated in blue it’s important that you get this finger correct as it will allow a smoother way of playing – it may be awkward but stick with it and you’ll see an improvement.
Remember,
- Play slowly to start
- Use Alternate picking
Once you’ve mastered the exercise try playing whilst learning the notes.
Notes have been added below for each bar.
Learning the notes on the guitar is one of the most important skills you can aquire.
Hope it helps!