Chromatic Exercises

Instructions:

The following beginner exercises are meant to help you develop mechanical skills of holding the guitar comfortably and the coordinated movement of strumming a single string with the pic while pressing down the respective note firmly. These exercises are written in the fifth position where the index finger of your fingering hand is placed at the fifth fret so that the sixth, seventh, and eighth fret are under your middle, ring, and pinky fingers, respectively. Your thumb should be somewhere behind the 6^th fret or so to allow your hand to rest comfortably on the neck while providing some opposing force for the other fingers. The strumming hand should comfortably hold the pic between the thumb and the side of the index finger with the rest of the fingers closed into a firm, but not tight, fist.

These exercises should be played with a metronome. After you gain some level of confidence, being able to coordinate your hands to produce clear tones, practice the exercises starting at 60 beats per minute and only increase the speed if you are able to play each exercise through without any mistakes. You may go as fast as you like, but slow practice helps train your muscles better! For some additional variation, feel free to change hand position, moving up or down the neck, maintaining good form, so you can familiarize yourself with the range of the guitar.

Exercise 01-01

Exercise 01-02

Exercise-01-03