Guitar Finger Exercises for Flexibility, Control, Speed, and more

Lesson #527 • Nov 17, 2023

Hey there, friends! In this week’s lesson I want to share some of my favorite go-to exercises to help with finger independence, control, speed, and agility. Without question, baking any of these into your practice routine can work wonders. Even though the gains you make may seem hard to notice day-to-day, they no doubt add up over time — making everything that much easier to play.

There are, of course, no limit to the number of exercises you might use to improve finger control. This isn’t meant to be an all-inclusive list — but I think this gives a solid overview of the different types of exercises you might encounter. Try them all, see what works for you, and run with it! I’ve also included a few general tips that will apply no matter which drills you bake into your routine.

0:00 Overview
0:47 C major finger walk
3:43 G major finger walk
5:33 E major finger walk
8:23 Scale Exercises
13:20 Spider Exercises
19:17 Tip 1 - Warming Up
20:21 Tip 2 - Discipline
22:21 Tip 3 - Consistency

Instructional PDF 2 pages

Lesson Discussion

Zoomed-In Exercises with Tabs

Here’s each of the exercises I demonstrate in my main tutorial, clipped out as individual videos with tabs on screen. Use these for reference when getting familiar each of these.

The following videos are available to members of Song Notes Premium. If you’re not a member, learn more about the many perks of Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those of you who are members — thanks for your support! It makes these lessons possible.

C Major Pentatonic Finger Walk

G Major Pentatonic Finger Walk

E Major Blues Finger Walk

Scale Exercises

Spider Exercises

Similar Lessons I’ve Made

Here’s some of the scale-related lessons I reference, as well as some related strength-training exercises I’ve made.

Barre Chord Strength Training Exercise (Left Index Finger)

Barre Chord Strength Exercises! For Left Ring & Index Fingers

★ Instructional PDF

Nirvana-inspired barre chord exercise

★ Instructional PDF

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Guitar Finger Exercises for Flexibility, Control, Speed, and more

Instructional PDF 2 pages

Lesson Discussion