Learn to Play Guitar – Fundamentals
Exercise #1: Fan Stretch Exercise
This exercise is designed to stretch your palm as well as the small muscles between each of your fingers.
1. Lay both hands ‘palms down’ and resting on a flat surface.
2. ‘Fan out’ your fingers as far as they’ll go until you feel some resistance. Don’t try to force them any farther at this point.
3. Relax your fingers back into resting position.
4. Go at an easy, almost gentle pace as you repeat this motion 5 times, one hand at a time, then repeat for both hands simultaneously a total of 10 times.
Exercise #2: Palm Stretch Exercise
This exercise stretches your palm muscles as well as muscles and tendons running along the underside of your forearm.
1. Grasp the fingers of your left hand by placing the fingers of your right hand flat across them at a 90 degree angle. The thumb on your right hand should ‘hook’ underneath your left pinky.
2. Slowly and gently press downwards with your right hand until you feel your muscles stretching all the way into your forearm.
3. Allow your fingers to raise back up.
4. Repeat this ‘stretch and release’ procedure 5 times.
3. Repeat this procedure again using your left hand on your right hand.
Exercise #3: Forearm Stretch Exercise
This exercise targets the muscles and tendons running along the top of your forearm. These are the key culprits in carpal tunnel, so you might even want to do this exercise outside of warming up for guitar practice if you type on a computer frequently.
1. Extend your whole arm out in front of you so that it is parallel with the floor.
2. Keep your wrist relaxed and allow your hand to dangle.
3. With your free hand, reach around and gently grasp the top of the other hand.
4. Press in, towards your body, until you feel the muscles in your forearm begin to stretch. Hold this position for a few seconds, then release.
5. Repeat on each arm 5 times.
Exercise #4: Independent Finger Stretches
This exercise is similar in form to the palm stretch, but the goal is to stretch out your tendons a bit more, along with the muscles at the base of your fingers.
1. Rest your left hand in your lap, palm-up.
2. Use the thumb, forefinger and middle finger of you right hand to grasp the ‘pinky’ finger of your left hand.
3. Gently push downwards until you feel the stretch.
4. Release and move on, repeating the procedure for each finger on your left hand, including your thumb.
5. Repeat the procedure on your right hand.
6. Do these stretches 4 to 6 times on each hand, alternating between left and right (e.g. stretch all fingers on the left, then all fingers on the right, then back to the left).
