TE-001 • The Finger Gym

[narwhalman218]

Would it be more beneficial to do the finger gym on an acoustic or electric? I would assume acoustic because the action is higher but I could be wrong.

[mike42]

In terms of difficulty, the exercise will probably be harder on an acoustic. This is mainly because acoustic guitars tend to have thicker strings than electrics. However, a well set up acoustic guitar shouldn't be too much more difficult to play than an electric.

But I'd recommend you practice on whatever you're planning on playing. If you're going to play mostly electric then practice the finger gym on electric, because the exercise is about finger independence as well as strength. It's important to get a feel for how the hammer-ons and flick-offs feel on the guitar you're actually going to be playing. Just my two cents worth.

[bradt]

It's a good exercise, but unless you can pinpoint something specific that you think this will help with, you may want to consider putting it on the back burner for now. If you're just doing it for general exercise, that's fine. Just check there aren't more immediate things to be worked on.

You don't say what level player you are, but for beginners there are so many other more important things to work on. There's no harm in doing this, but most of us really aren't in a position to reap the rewards of this for some time after starting.

[narwhalman218]

@bradt

I've been playing for about 6 months, and I've just finished the intermediate course. I did it today, and it was tougher than I expected. I can see how it will improve my playing.

[mouser9169]

How does one do the 2-4 hammers without moving the 3 finger?  No matter how hard I attempt this.

You can't.

The ring finger shares a tendon with your pinky, that's why the two move together so well (bass players use them together as finger 3 in 'closed hand' playing). You can check that by just laying your hand flat on a table and lifting each finger in turn. You'll see how limited the range of motion for your ring finger is (this isn't a bad exercise to do either, btw: it also helps build finger independence and your tendons will stretch with use).

[Username]

Is it a problem if you have flying fingers while doing this exercise. I dunno if this is already answered, but I don't have time to look through the entire thread.

[TheCasual]

Is it a problem if you have flying fingers while doing this exercise. I dunno if this is already answered, but I don't have time to look through the entire thread.

No, not really. Just concentrate on stretching your fingers and doing the exercise right and safe.

If you continue on the IM course there is a exercise to combat flying fingers on the stage 1.

[stitch101]

Is it a problem if you have flying fingers while doing this exercise. I dunno if this is already answered, but I don't have time to look through the entire thread.

Better to nip a bad habit in the bud than have to do hours of exercises later to break it.
You learn what you practice so if you're practicing with flying finger you are learning flying fingers.

[Username]

Is it a problem if you have flying fingers while doing this exercise. I dunno if this is already answered, but I don't have time to look through the entire thread.

No, not really. Just concentrate on stretching your fingers and doing the exercise right and safe.

If you continue on the IM course there is a exercise to combat flying fingers on the stage 1.

I know about that exercise. That's why I asked, I was afraid my flying finger training would be kinda ruined if I practiced this while still training it. I guess I should have mentioned that. Thanks Anyway.

[TheNextAngus]

Still pretty confused.

When Justin does the finger gym in the video he is moving his fingers pretty far off the fret board and says that you want the second note to be as clear and loud as the first note, (which is a lot easier if you move your fingers far of the fret board, since you get much more power). But he also says that you shold move your fingers as little as possible, because it's easier to play faster, which alo makes a lot of sence.

I really want to learn this the right way since we all know that practice makes permanent.

[shadowscott007]

This exercise is about strength.  The minimum movement exercise is a seperate exercise.  That said don't let you fingers fly more than they have to.

Shadow

[stitch101]

Like Shadow it's about strength. The stronger you make your finger the less you need to lift them off the
fret board. Do the exercise to strengthen your fingers and as they get stronger lift them less.

[bradt]

Also, keep in mind that Justin sometimes does that for the video. It can be hard to see subtle movements, so he exaggerates a lot of them to get a better shot of what he's doing, and to get non essential fingers out of the way of the camera.

[Miligram]

hi everyone,

New to the forum and have an question about this exercise.
I'm currently working on the beginners course stage 6 and i'ts going pretty good.
I currently play the basic finger workout on the top 4 frets, and my 1 minute changes are around 50 for all changes when i try to switch as fast as i can.

At the fingerworkout I feel most of the  times  that my first finger is touching some of the lower strings. do I have to correct this for the exercise? or is it normal that when you play on the lowest string, you will mute some of the notes beaneath it? (I personally like it when i let some notes ring out when playing some songs)

My next question: would it be a good idea to use this exercise for my practice schedule to further increase my hand strength together with the finger workout

I haven't practiced hammer and flicks offs yet and I was questioning the same thing as at the fingerworkout. If I would do the hammer and flick offs as straight as possible, do i have to correct the string muting, just let it be muted, or is it just personal prefference?

[shadowscott007]

Short answer:  For this exercise it is okay to be muting the unused strings, and my even be preferred.

Longer answer:

Outside of this specific exercise you almost never want to be doing anything accidentally.  You want to be able to mute other strings or let other strings ring at at will.

Sometimes (many times) you absolutely want to be muting the strings you aren't hammering and pulling to avoid unwanted ringing because it will sound bad otherwise, single note solos and the like...

Other times you specifically want to allow other strings to be ringing when you are hammering and pulling because it sounds good or is the point of the lick or riff - like hammering and pulling inside a chord grip.

Shadow

[narwhalman218]

Hey! I've been doing this exercise for about a month on the first four frets, and its getting kinda easy. I was wondering how I could make it more difficult.

[shadowscott007]

Two things come to.mind, one would be to  repeat the hammer and pull on each comvo so for finger 1 and 2 hammer flicl hammer flick next combo.  Add more cycles as you want h f h f h f...

Second - and this fundementally changes the nature of the excercise into something different.  Trill (hammer flick repeat) as HARD and FAST (as fast as you can without getting sloppy, you want the timing to be even and hammer and flick volume to be consistent) as you can for a set duration... 5, 10, 20 seconds.. for each combo.  Probably don't need to run it across every string each time.  Pick a string and fret and do it in that spot.  Change strings and locations.  Shoot for strong, even,, and increase speed. Be careful don't over do it, you can hurt youself.  You are looking to get back to about the same level of tiredness you got when you first started.  Like I said this goes beyond the intentp of the original exercise.  Like graduating from regular push ups to clap push ups.

Be careful.

Shadow

[Hypnagogist]

Hey, I've been trying to practice lead guitar recently, but I think my fingers are missing strength and control. I'm not comfortable at all with hammer-ons and pull-offs because of that. More specifically, I'm thinking about the kind of pull-offs that you play with your thumb over the neck in blues/rock solos, like the first notes of the Stairway to Heaven solo (in the video lesson, Justin plays a lot of pull-offs at the beginning), or any of these fast runs down the blues scale that you see all the time in blues guitar solos.
I'm sure that this exercise can help, but Justin recommends not to do it with the thumb over the neck. So, should I also practice something else to improve in that specific area.

Cheers!

[stitch101]

Practice what ever you are having trouble with. It doesn't have to be an exercise laid out
by Justin or any one else.

If you are having trouble with Hammer ons with thumb over the neck then practice those.
Take those parts of the solo and make a practice routine out of them. Find other solo using
the same technique and make up your own routine.