Check out this hand strength exercise for the left hand (fretting hand). Every two finger permutation is dealt with in isolation in order to gain a more balanced approach.
Finger Strengthening Exercises
The exercises in this lesson are designed to strengthen the muscles in your left hand by isolating every possible two-finger permutation.
For the first permutation (1st to 2nd finger), start on the 5th fret of the E string and move to the next semitone. Then, you need to repeat this on the next string and so on until you have reached the 6th fret of the G string. After this, you simply move up a fret and continue the exercise down to the E string again. You can continue this pattern all the way up the fretboard.
Tips:
- Start slow
- Gradually begin to build up speed when the exercise starts to feel easy
- Focus on getting a full, warm sound out of every note
- Play every note for its full duration
- Use alternate picking on the right hand
Exercise 1: As written picking every note
Exercise 2: Same as Ex 1 but using hammer-ons
Pretty! This was an extremely wonderful article. Thanks for providing
these details.
Thank You!!! Awesome….
Thank you for this exercise, it is very effective. A suggestion came to mind of how to expand upon this great exercise, sorry if you discussed this elsewhere. Adding the descending permutations in targets some additional muscles, try going through finger patterns of 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, 3-1, 3-2, 3-4, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3 as an extended exercise over just the forward permutations. The final section leading with the pinky is a killer! Thanks again, this is my new go to warm-up
Oh wow, GAH.
My third fretting finger wants to “toe-in” on a stretch, explains a lot of random sloppiness I haven’t been able to target until now. This doesn’t happen on a keyboard, but once I turn my hand over and fret notes, my third finger wants no part of it.
Excellent exercise, thank you!!