Chromatic workout. Part 1

July 3, 2009 | Warming Up No comments yet

Workout is not just for sportsmen, it is necessary for musicians as well. Exercise that I will show you today, is played by generations of guitar players. Perhaps it is single best exercise to develop and keep the chops up. It is equally great for the fretting hand (finger independence) and picking hand (alternate picking) as well as for two hands synchronization.

Here is the basic form of the exercise:

As you can see each finger is responsible for one fret. I start with the 1st fret only because the pattern is more obvious there (fret number corresponds to the finger number). It is advised to start playing the pattern higher on the neck (say 12th fret and then move down to the nut).

Below are some variations of the basic exercise. Play them all so that you ill not feel bored too quick!

First variation changes the order of the notes: we play from left to right when moving down and from right to left when moving up. The second variation shuffles things around even more. Thats great for the finger independence.

Feel free to come up with your own variations.

The word of advice: it is very important to play this particular exercise using metronome. Start slow and make sure each note is sounded well. Play with alternate picking.