Stretching

[Julian Barton]

Is there anyway to stretch your fingers a little further without injuring yourself in the process? I was trying to reach the 7 to 12 stretch in the Etude and it just killed my hand. I was curious if I could somehow practice stretching farther for lack of a better term.

 

[Isaac Díaz]

Hi Julian! The one exercise for stretching that I know goes like this. Play the 1-2-3-4 notes on each string, starting on the low E you go up and down. Then, you play 1-2-3-5, same routine. Then 1-2-4-6. I don’t have the tab for it, but it’s pretty simple. I’m sure there are many others exercises out there. Hope it helps!

 

[Kevin Welton]

I’ve used that exercise Isaac, really does help! But i would recommend doing it at higher frets when first using it, find a fret that gives a comfortable stretch and gradually move to lower frets over time as stretching becomes easier

 

[Larisa Ramirez]

Thank you both Kevin and Issac for the tip! I just tried to play a C chord (total newb here) and was having a hard time with the positions and mild stretching.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Here’s a video because it’s much easier to explain this way rather than typing everything out-

 

[Julian Barton]

I just saw this bless your souls! I have had such a hard time and all to have a super simple fix. You guys are awesome.

 

[Aightball]

Christopher> Thank you! Total newbie here and finding that my pinky finger is super short…I’m really struggling to play frets on the top E (6th string?) with it. Hopefully these stretches will help!

 

[Christopher Lonski]

[No message]

 

[Will Cabernet]

Hopefully this helps, I’ve been doing this for two days and already I can feel the difference, so it works

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Also great info Will! Stretching for guitar is often overlooked, and its NEVER should be! This stuff is so important.

 

[Cody Kennedy]

Where do you have your thumb? When I was learning “Tornado of Souls” by Megadeth there’s this stretch from 17 to 10, when I played with my thumb on the side of the neck, close to the fret board I couldn’t reach it. When I put my thumb on the bottom of the neck kind of in the middle, I found it a lot easier.

 

[Aightball]

Gotta say: I’ve been doing some of the listed stretches and it’s really helped! As a beginner I still need to work on everything, but I didn’t feel so pained after playing today!

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Kelly, make sure you check out that second video I posted! It should help a bit with some of the issues youve had.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Cody, Ill try and do a video a little later tonight when I get home of that Tornado of souls solo and show you how I do it.

 

[Aightball]

Christopher> I tried that one this morning…holy cow! Kind of hoping it will help my elbows (I’m old and they’re wearing out from typing and band and everything else). Thanks for the tips! Keeping an eye on this thread

 

[Christopher Lonski]

I’ve been meaning to get that video of the “Tornado of souls” solo up to show technique and hand position, but video recording has been crashing my system and I can only get about a minute out, so Ill get it up as soon as I figure that out.

 

[Christopher Lonski]

Here’s that video cody so you can kind of see where my hand is for the Tornado of souls solo. As for the really wide reaching part, my thumb is kinda close to the bottom part of the fretboard and my thumb is pointed towards the headstock. Hopefully this helps in some way-

 

[Christopher Lonski]

I should have clarified: The pressure on the neck is at the first joint of my thumb and that is in the middle of the neck or just slightly below the middle of the neck. You can kinda see my thumb creep up a little, so it looks a little deceptive.

 

[Aightball]

Interesting…definitely something I’m working on. My question is, as a newbie, how does hand position differ for scales, etc? I’m on a small acoustic and find my hand position changes by which string I’m on . Any good tips?

 

[Christopher Lonski]

I would say that the most important thing to focus on, #1, is making sure each note SOUNDS clear and strong. As guitarists, we focus so much on the physical and technical aspects for everything but the way to approach EVERYTHING is to let your ear decide. That being said, technique is important to achieve those good sounds. I would say the thing to focus on the most is for your fingers to come straight down on top of the string with the harder tip of your fingers, no at an angle with the soft parts. This differs a bit once you get into string bending and vibrato.