Guitar Finger Training For Scales: Lesson 2

In this guitar lesson we’re going to look at two new exercises that are designed help you develop your scale technique. Unlike the ones we looked at in the first lesson, these exercises focus on the following descending finger combinations…

  • 4 2 1
  • 4 3 1

Let’s get started by looking at the first exercise for this lesson…

Scale Technique Exercise 3: Practice For Five Minutes

Guitar Scale Technique: Exercise 3
As you can see from the TAB, this exercise focuses on the 4 2 1 finger combination. Although it looks very simple, you need to practice it in a very specific way to get value from it. If you just practice the exercise mindlessly then you’ll get minimal benefit from it. For this reason, I really recommend watching the video below numerous times. Pay very close attention to the instructions that I give on the video, and do your best to focus on all the details I mention when you practice the exercise.

OK, now that we’ve looked at the 4 2 1 finger combination, let’s now take a look at an exercise that will help you develop the 4 3 1 finger combination…

Scale Technique Exercise 4: Practice For Five Minutes

Guitar Scale Technique: Exercise 4
This exercise focuses on the 4 3 1 finger combination, which is another essential group of finger movements that are used frequently when playing scales. Be sure to watch the video a few times and implement all the suggestions in your practice.

Practice Recommendations

I’m assuming that you’ve already worked on the material that was covered in the first lesson. If you haven’t, then you should review that lesson before working on the stuff in this lesson. All the practice recommendations from the first lesson also apply to this lesson.

What I recommend doing now is creating a finger training practice schedule that you do each week. This will help ensure that you practice all four exercises in an organized way. Here’s an example of what you could do…

Example Guitar Practice Schedule

A Few Last Words

Many guitarists will look at the exercises we’ve covered in the last two lessons and just dismiss them. They’ll think that the exercises are too basic and not worth practising. If they can already play at a virtuoso level, then they might be right. (Although I would argue that the basic mechanics of playing are always worth reviewing on a regular basis).

If you don’t already play lead guitar at a very advanced level, then I think it would be a mistake to neglect practising the four scale technique exercises. This is because very complex things on guitar can often be broken down into very simple movements. The simple movements of the exercises will help prepare you for more complex musical ideas. In other words, they help to build the essential foundation of technique that is needed to play guitar at a high-level. I recommend working hard at them.

Have fun!

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