Help a young guitarist please.

[IbanezPrestigeBoy]

Hey Guys, some times when I play, I feel as if my pink and third finger are kind of doing there own thing, to the point where I have very little control over them. Are there any exercises you guys do in particular to help build strength and control in your fretting hand? Also, some times the cordination of my picking hand and my fret hand is a tad off and it can be quite frustrating. Can any of you guys suggest anything but sitting there and playing things over and over immensly slow or is that my only option, lol? Last things, Are there any really good instructionals out there that have really helped you guys out, I mean, I have the Petrucci, and Gambale's "Modes' No more Mystery" but that's it.
Thanks for listening to me whine like a little Bi-yatch.
Nick

[HereWeGoAgain]

I would think that the legato section of the Petrucci video would help you tremendously. Try watching TV or something when you are practicing your repetitive technique stuff. It really helps.

[Artist]

what thickness picks are you using? Thin picks can give the effect of misco-ordination.

[IbanezPrestigeBoy]

I use the Blue 1. mm Dunlop tortex picks, as well as the 1.14 mm purple dunlop tortex occasionally.
Yngwie uses a 1.50 and he has a great pick hand! I'm not sure what Morse uses but he too has a phenomenal pick hand.

[Roland]

Something as simple as bending two fingers at once while switching could help. For example: Bend your thumb and middle finger, bend your index and ring finger, bend your middle finger and pinky, bend your ring finger and thumb. Do that and youll probably have more control over your fingers' motions. I, myself, seem to have conjoined ring and pinky fingers, since i cant do a motion with one finger without the other finger following.

[little wing]

Guess that it all still comes back to the basic's, pratice and pratice... Warm up before gigs or praticing sure does help too..

[Fink Floyd]

Everyone has cojoined ring and little fingers, because those two fingers share a tendon whereas the index and middle fingers have a tendon each. This means that they will move together much of the time.

Exercises I found really helpful for building up control in my fretting hand was running 3-note-per-string scale shapes. Example:

G---------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------9
A---------------8-----------8--10--------8--10--12--8--10--12----
E--8--10--12-----10--12-----------12------------------------------

And so forth up and down the scale pattern (that particular one's C Ionian, or C major). Do this with all the mode shapes - I work through all 7 mode shapes in at least 2, preferably 3 different locations on the fretboard - it's good to get used to doing this at the bottom and at the top of the fretboard. It also sounds more musical than chromatics.

This helped my finger independence no end - my little finger is much faster and more accurate now than it was two months ago. It's also a great alternate picking exercise too.

[IbanezPrestigeBoy]

Thanks for the advice guys, that exercise really helps alot.

[Jamie]

These two are beauties for your finger strength.

First One:

Start on high E string, position V:

E------6-5-6-5-----------------------------------------------------
B---------------6-5-6-5----------------------------------------------
G------------------------6-5-6-5------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------6-5-6-5--------------------------
A----------------------------------------------6-5-6-5-------4-3-4-3
E------------------------------------------------------------------------4-3-4-3-4

These are trills with index & second finger only, pick each string once. Repeat at positions VI, VII, all the way up to an octave above.

Then with fingers 3 & 1, and then 4 and 1, similar but now using A pentatonic:

E------8-5-8-5-----------------------------------------------------
B---------------8-5-8-5----------------------------------------------
G------------------------8-5-8-5------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------8-5-8-5--------------------------
A----------------------------------------------8-5-8-5-------5-3-5-3
E------------------------------------------------------------------------5-3-5-3-5

Again, repeat all the way to the top. You probably won't make it there the first few times, aim to start at about 100 on the metronome. If you do make it all the way to the top, your fingers are stronger than you think. The reason I say this is that mine *feel* weak all the time, but are clearly not as they can do this type of stuff now, and they couldn't before. They don't feel different though.

Second one:

(numbers are fingers, no picking, this is legato only:

2-1-2-1-3-1-3-1-4-1-4-1-3-2-3-2-4-2-4-2-4-3-4-3-4-2-4-2

Play on every string, high to low, shift one position and go back low to high.

Hope this was clear enough. They're the ones for finger strength & independence as far as I'm concerned.

[IbanezPrestigeBoy]

Wow, Jamie. Thanks alot, these exercises really kicked my a$$. Where did you get them from and do you have any more?
Thanks again, I really appreciate it man.
Nick

[Jamie]

A previous teacher gave them to me. I don't have vast amounts more, but what you should do is take the principles in them and write your own exercises:

i.e. endurance - play the exercise on every string, or ascending in each position.

finger independence - develop exercises that use combinations of fingers 2, 3 & 4 to get your hand used to making these odd movements and thereby more independence in your fingers.

these seem to be the areas you struggle in.

is it all legato work you are doing / trying to improve?

[Jamie]

oh and anytime you use a computer, learn to touch type and do it religiously. I am just learning now and i figure if my pinky & 3rd finger get confused, they have some learning to do.

i'm struggling with the same problem but on my right hand....

[davester1234]

Hey jamie, thanx, I really appreciate those little excercises...wow, what a workout!!

[Jamie]

From what I heard you don't need 'em Dave!

[Infinite]

Gripmaster XL - really helped me when I started playing