This Warmup Is How Adult Guitar Learners Get Their Fingers Working Finally

This Warmup Is How Adult Guitar Learners Get Their Fingers Working Finally

Hey guys, Brad Litton from SimpleGuitar.com. This blog post transcribes my YouTube lesson on a simple finger warmup that came out of a coaching session. We were working on "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix, and one of my favorite things to do is take parts of songs and turn them into exercises. That's exactly how this came about.

It's suitable for beginners, it gets your fingers moving, and it shows you that you can find chromatic runs like this in actual songs — not just in boring drill books.

Where It Comes From (The End of Hey Joe)

At the end of Hey Joe there's a cool little chromatic thing. We took that part, then expanded it across the fretboard.

The song part:

• Play the third fret on your fifth string
• Then the sixth string open, and walk up the first three frets: open, 1, 2, 3
• Then on the fifth string: 2, 3, 4, 5
• Same thing on the sixth string: 2, 3, 4, 5
• Then on the fifth string: 3, 4, 5, 6

In the song, that's the part — then you go into a Hendrix sharp-nine chord. For this warmup, we keep going.

Expand It Up the Neck

After 3-4-5-6 on the fifth string, continue:

• Sixth string: 4, 5, 6, 7
• Fifth string: 5, 6, 7, 8
• Sixth string (first finger walking up one more fret): 6, 7, 8, 9
• Fifth string: 7, 8, 9, 10
• Sixth string: 8, 9, 10, 11
• Fifth string: 9, 10, 11, 12

You can keep going as far as you want. I usually stop at 10, 11, 12, 13 on the sixth string.

Then Walk It Back Down

That's the trick. From 10-11-12-13 on the sixth string, walk down one fret at a time:

• Fifth string: 9, 10, 11, 12
• Sixth string: 8, 9, 10, 11
• Fifth string: 7, 8, 9, 10
• Sixth string: 6, 7, 8, 9

…and keep walking down the same way.

You're warming up your fingers, working on independence and dexterity, and it came from an actual song. Way more fun than a random chromatic drill.

How Long to Spend on This

This is not something to camp on for a huge chunk of practice. Spend maybe 1, 2, or 3 minutes max as a warmup to get your fingers moving. Then go have fun working on a song you actually want to get down, and dive deep with that.

If you need to, rewind the video and use the controls to slow it down. Go up, come back down, and you can use this every day if you want.

If you want a simple place to start, grab my free Top 10 Things to Learn on Guitar First at http://simpleguitar.com/top10.

And hang out with other adult guitar players in the Simple Guitar Facebook group: http://facebook.com/groups/simpleguitar.

About the Author
Brad from Simple Guitar helps adult learners play the songs they love without the frustration. Visit simpleguitar.com for more free resources and lessons.