Guitar warm-up exercises

September 28, 2015October 11, 2015 Kris Petersen 1 Comment free guitar lesson, free guitar lessons, Guitar lesson, guitar warm up exercises, Kris Petersen, warm up

These 13 invaluable Guitar Warm-up Exercises are created to really get your hands moving and ready to play anything. This snippet is from the LICK FACTORY’s forthcoming ‘THE DRILL INSTRUCTOR’ Video .

When I perform I like to improvise around chord progressions, chord positions and solos. I never tend to play the same part exactly the same gig after gig. That’s what I find fun and it has become an integral part of my playing technique.

At its core the most important part for me to execute ideas on the fly is to have my hands completely warm before hitting the stage. Ideally I’d play the entire gig so my hands would be completely on fire, then go back in time and start the gig again. To my knowledge there is no time travel stomp box just yet, so I do things the old fashioned way.

We all know that the longer you have been playing in one consecutive session, the better your playing becomes. As much as us guitar players like to think that we’re invulnerable to the ails of the average man, out hands and fingers suffer the same muscle strains as any other person. Using guitar warm-up exercises before a serious practice session, rehearsal or gig is just as important as stretching before running or warming up before a gym session. The warmer your hands are, the more limber you fingers become. Stretches become easier and your creativity will not be hindered by a lack of physical ability.

These warm-up exercises are a part of my regular routine that I do before every rehearsal and show. Every player is different in their approach to warming up and these exercises are what I do to start. There is a full routine that I follow however that is way too much to talk about here. These exercises focus on stretching your fretting hand as well as getting your picking hand in sync as well. Its important to realise that no matter how fast or limber your fretting hand is, unless your picking hand can keep up, you are in for some pretty sloppy playing. The focus on your fretting hand is stretching and getting the muscles moving. The focus on the right hand is to get it loose for alternate picking as well as get your hand used to even picking patterns across varying rhythmic patterns.

Guitar Warm-up Exercises

Exercise 1:

The first step is to begin with the right hand. Left hand is not as important here. I use a single note from the G Major scale on the D string, 4th fret.

Alternate Picking is important. Starting with a down stroke keep your picking at an even velocity for both the 16ths and the triplets. A metronome is extremely important here. The tempo is not really relevant. Its more about being rhythmically accurate.

During this exercise, use your 1st finger for the 4th fret.

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 1 — Guitar Warm-Up Exercises 1: Targeted at warming up the picking hand using both 16th notes and triplets.

Exercise 2:

This exercise gets the fretting hand moving. The fingering is based around a 3 note per string G Major Scale. Playing the notes on the D string, you’ll be alternating between the B (4th fret), C (5th fret) and the D (7th fret).

It’s important to use correct fingering here, so you will be using your 1st on the 4th fret, 2nd on the 5th fret and 4th finger on the 7th fret to play this exercise.

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 2 — Guitar Warm-Up Exercises 2: This pattern uses the 1st, 2nd and 4th fingers across a pattern you would use in a 3 note per string Major scale.

Exercise 3:

This one works on the second type of fingering that you would come across when using 3 note per string scales. With a 1,3,4 fingering pattern you will be playing notes from the A Major scale.

During this exercise, use your 1st finger for the 4th fret, 3rd finger for the 6th fret and 4th finger for the 7th fret.

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 3 — Guitar Warm-Up Exercises 3: This pattern uses the 1st, 3rd and 4th fingers across a pattern you would use in a 3 note per string scale.

Exercise 4:

Working the next stretch, we’re back to a 1, 2, 4 fingering across 5 frets. 1st finger on the 4th fret, 2nd finger for the 6th and 4th finger for the 8th fret.

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 4: This exercise uses your 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers and is working the stretch between your 1st and 2nd fingers.

Exercise 5:

This one is the toughest. Using a 1,3,4 fingering, you’ll be playing the stretch that you’d find in a 3 note per string Harmonic Minor scale.

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 5: Using the stretch from the 3 note per string Harmonic Minor scale, this exercises works the stretch between your 1st and 3rd fingers.

At this stage of the game, you should be starting to feel the warm up taking effect. For best results you should keep your metronome on the same tempo and plough through the lot in one go. If you feel the burn in your hands, that is a good thing. Keep going until your muscles don’t respond and you can no longer keep time. Take 5 and you’ll really notice the difference.

The next bunch of exercises start working on moving up and down the strings. Remember to keep your picking even both across the 16th’s and the triplets.

Each exercise focuses on the same 4 stretches so ensure you are using the correct fingering for the exercise. The variations of each exercise is to ensure that you don’t fall into a rhythmic boredom. You will be playing runs as both 16th’s and triplets.

Exercise 6a

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 6a: Back to using your 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers, we start utilising the G string to get your hands moving across multiple strings.

Exercise 6b

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 6b: Swapping the rhythmic patterns around from 6a, you continue working the same three fingers across multiple strings

Exercise 7a

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 7a: Now working the 1st, 3rd and 4th fingers across two strings.

Exercise 7b

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 7b: Once again swapping the rhythmic pattern to ensure you are keeping your picking and fretting hand in sync.

Exercise 8a

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 8a: Working the stretch between the 1st and 2nd fingers as you would find in most 3 note per string scales.

Exercise 8b

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 8b — Guitar Warm up Exercises 8b: Getting your 1st to 2nd finger stretch moving across two strings and 16th note picking pattern runs.

Exercise 9a

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 9a: Start getting used to multiple string patterns using the Harmonic Minor 3 note per string stretch between the 1st and 3rd fingers.

Exercise 9b

Guitar Warm-up Exercises 9b: The most challenging of these exercises, changing up the harmonic minor stretch with a 16th note picking pattern.

This article is from Kris’ complete warm up routine video. The DRILL INSTRUCTOR coming soon to the LICK FACTORY. See all the currently available lessons and e-books here.

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Photo Credit: Nicky Carrall Photography

Kris Petersen is a true veteran of the Australian Music Industry. From clubs to stadiums, Kris has performed on every continent in the world and shared the stage with some of the worlds biggest artists. In the last few years alone, Kris has shared the stage with Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Orianthi, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Matt Sorumn (Guns n Roses), Eric Martin, The Drifters, Buckcherry, Daryl Braithwaite, The Living End… read more

Guitar warm-up exercises

These 13 invaluable Guitar Warm-up Exercises are created to really get your hands moving and ready to play anything. This snippet is from the LICK FACTORY’s forthcoming ‘THE DRILL INSTRUCTOR’ Video .