Guitar Warm Up Exercises

Many beginner guitarists often overlook the importance of doing finger warm ups prior to practicing on the guitar. This is a very serious mistake that would really hamper the growth and long term development of their guitar playing skills.

First of all, the lack warm ups for the hands and fingers would increase the chances of developing tendonitis and repetitive strain injuries (RSI). Like the other muscles of the body, we do need proper warm ups prior to strenuous activities to prevent injuries.

Secondly, warming up enables our fingers to hit high performance better and would make subsequent practicing more effective and efficient. This would lead to better results and time saving. One other immediate benefit is that guitar techniques and hand movements will become more fluid after warm ups.

Beginner Guitar Lesson - Guitar warm up exercise 1 

This first exercise will develop endurance and muscles in your fretting fingers. Place your 4 fingers on the 1^st string in a line starting from the 5^th fret. While the rest of you fingers are IN CONTACT with the string, life your index finger and place it on the 2^nd string and play that note. Now, with the rest of the fingers in contact with the strings, lift your middle finger and place it on the 6^th fret of the 2^nd string and strike the note. Continue this motion with the rest of the fingers.

Play this warm up exercise up and down the strings. This exercise will also force your fingers to play with minimum motions and is very useful for advanced techniques that require you to play fast. Do this exercise at a slow tempo.

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Beginner Guitar Lesson - Guitar warm up exercise 2

I call this the bumble bee training. This exercise is modeled after the song “flight of the bumble bee” and makes your hand moves up and down the fretboard. The more difficult part about this exercise occurs when you move back up the fretboard will emphasize on the synchronization of your fingers.

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 Beginner Guitar Lesson - Guitar warm up exercise 3

How many of you guys know the notes of the fretboard at the back of your hand? In order to clear up these foggy areas of the guitar, this next exercise will help you remember the notes of the guitar as well as train your reflex.

Set the metronome at a really slow tempo (60 bpm). Decide randomly any note that you want to locate and find it on the 6^th string. At the next click of the metronome, locate the same note on the 5^th string so on and so forth. You can refer to this chart of the guitar fretboard for help if you need.

As you build up your fingers’ strength and agility through these warm up exercises, you will find significant improvement in your guitar playing overtime. Remember to spend at least 5 - 10 minutes to warm up your fingers prior to any practice! I assure you that you will save more time practicing by doing warm ups before jumping straight into playing the guitar.