How to build finger independence on the guitar

How to Build Finger Independence and Use Chromaticism On The Guitar 

In this lesson, we will be looking at the proper development of being able to use all four fingers on the guitar, and I show you some exercises that you can use throughout your guitar playing life to make sure that all four fingers are kept ‘fit’ on the guitar so that you can use them for all elements of playing. All of the ideas in the video can also be used before playing to warm up your hands, thus preventing unwanted injuries.
 

Using all four fingers

Being able to use all four fingers is extremely important as it opens up for you so many more possibilities of playing than just being able to use two or three fingers. For example, if you want to play in the key of F major and you need a passage that incorporates frets 2, 3 and 5 on the 3rd and 4th string, you’re going to struggle to do that dexterously if you have normal sized hands like me and only use fingers 1, 2 and 3. It makes much more sense to play such things with fingers 1, 2 and 4. 
 

Adding Chromaticism

If you are looking to be able to incorporate Tom Quayle and Brett Garsed style Chromaticism into your Legato Playing, you are also going to really struggle if you can't use all four fingers. Both of these players use a style that employs four consecutive semitones which I describe in the video lesson, and is a great way to add a bit of spice to standard scale passages.  
 
 

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