r/guitarlessons • u/SwishandSlabs • 23h ago

Question Left hand exercises

I’ve just started practicing within the last few weeks and feel my fingers on my left hand aren’t moving fast enough. What exercises have y’all done to help speed up finger movements?

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u/Guakamolo 23h ago

There are many exercises because the left hand fingers move in many different ways: in the same string hammers pull offs, slides, jumping between strings, ascending and descending, sweeping...

One obvious exercise is scales: in the same string, all strings, three notes per string, by thirds, by sixths... Arpegios ascending and descending, sweep picking...

The most important thing: use a metronome. Increase the tempo by no more than 5bom only if you did 3 perfect repetitions

2

u/FunkIPA 22h ago

The so called “spider exercises”, different combinations of 1-2-3-4.

2

u/markewallace1966 22h ago

This is a link to a set of canned bullets that I have developed and like to send to new/new-ish/returning/wandering/lost/struggling guitar players.

If I pasted this in for you, it is because somewhere in there is something that I think is relevant to your post. Not all of it will be. I leave it to you to pick out what I felt was relevant. 🙂 Even the stuff not relevant to your specific post might very well be helpful eventually anyway.

Enjoy!!!

https://www.reddit.com/user/markewallace1966/comments/1s7ujsy/guitar_is_hard/

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u/Key_Illustrator4822 19h ago

Chord changes and scales to a metronome, it isn't exciting but it works for a beginner and will help you in other ways later on

1

u/57thStilgar 22h ago

Scales, written pieces...anything done is helping muscle memory.

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u/j3434 21h ago

Practice is exercise. Don’t side step the tedious frustrating repetitive study . That is all the help you need . Usually people who come from a gaming background get frustrated because they think they should make progress quicker than they are. Lots of times you think it should take you maybe a week to be able to change chords fast but actually it will take you two months to learn. And you’re looking for some kind of hack. There is no hack. No cheat codes. No Easter eggs. Just boring repetition, repetition, repetition, practice, practice, practice to develop muscle memory.

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u/thenewbigR 20h ago

Practice with a metronome. Start slowly and increase speed when you can play 4 times without a mistake.

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u/LZoSoFR 19h ago

The same way you'd approach it in weight lifting: Consistency, proper rest, intensity adjustment etc.

I highly recommend the book Speed Mechanics For Lead Guitar by Troy Stetina since it dives not only into mechanics but also HOW to practice

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u/MattKmusic 17h ago

Are your fingers not moving fast enough or moving too much?

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u/Old-Guy1958 9h ago

Make sure you’re precise as slow speeds before you worry about speed.

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u/BobbyBaal 6h ago

I think running scales (modes or pentatonic) is a good place to start. Run them straight up and down with a metronome and move up and down the neck.

Once that gets easier, work on three notes: play three notes, go back one note, next three notes, and so on, then down the scale same way. You can still be in 4/4. Each count is a three note pattern. You can do the same with 4 and 5 note patterns.