This is a great finger exercise for guitar you can use to build speed and strength. The best part of this exercise is that you really don’t need to focus that much. It can be done with ease while watching TV or reading or even chatting with a friend.
So here is what you do. You are going to “trill” (rapidly hammer on and pull off) on the high E string (you can start at any fret, I normally start around the 5th) as fast as you can using various finger positions. Sound easy? Well guess what, it’s not. You are going to trill for 15 seconds straight in each position pictured below. And you are going to do it was fast as you can. And you can’t rest until you go through all 8 positions below. That’s two minutes of straight of trilling. And this is just to start off. The goal is to work up to a minute straight with each position.
The different positions to use are pictured below. Be sure that you can hear all of the notes clearly when you play, especially for exercises 4,5, and 8. If you need to slow down a bit for those ones, you should. Also, if your hand starts hurting at any point, stop and take a break. You don’t want to hurt yourself.
The numbers after each picture represtent the fingers you are using (1= pointer and 4=pinkey, you can figure out the other two)
(1, 2, 1, ect...)
(2,3,2,etc)
(3,4,3 etc)
(1,2,3,2,1, etc)
(1,2,3,4,3,2,1..)
(1,3,1 etc)
(1,4,1 etc)
(2,3,4,3,2 etc)
Try some other combinations as well. For example: 2,4,2,4 etc. Or 1,3,4,3,1, etc. Or, 1,2,4,2,1 etc. You can even make up some more complicated ones. if you want.
After a week of doing these for 15 seconds each every day, move up to 30 seconds each for a week, then 45 seconds, for a week, then a minute. You will really notice an improvement in your finger speed, strength and stamina. It will also greatly help your legato playing. You can also use this as a warm-up exercise for guitar before you play a gig.
Excellent! I will try it out, I bought a book on speed mechanics but it went to the bottom of my reading list pretty darn fast. It covered a lot of techniques like this.
Sometimes I just don’t have the patience, and all of the finger movements make me want to jam on the guitar…not trill
more difficult please
good.!!!thanks for the tips. can you please post some scales written in tabs like the 7 modes of the guitar? I just wanna practice them..tnx.!
this is a lot of what dimebag used to exercise..
thanks,this is great stuff
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[...] Trilling Terror – Finger strength and speed exercise for guitar [...]
Great exercise – The pics helped – maybe video would be good for beginners? Thank You
This kind of reading material isn’t something I’m usually interested in. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your content. It’s obvious you put a lot of work into this. Good work.
love these excercises but was wondering if you want all the sound to come from hammering and pulling or are we surposed to be picking at any time. great job!!!!!
sound from hammering and pulling or from picking or both?
I can tell the you went above and beyond in your research for this information. I’m really impressed with your writing ability and thought process.