The Steve Stine Podcast

Four Proven Techniques to Improve Your Guitar Playing Precision

• Steve Stine

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Steve Stine shares four practical methods to improve finger dexterity that can be practiced in short bursts throughout the day without overwhelming yourself. These focused exercises target specific skills with both hands while emphasizing quality over speed, helping you develop control and synchronicity between your fretting and picking techniques.

• The "20-second exercise" develops fretting hand strength through hammer-ons and pull-offs between different finger combinations
• Start with strong finger combinations, then work on weaker ones like third finger to pinky
• The "two-minute exercise" improves picking hand coordination with metronome-synced down-picking
• Find the right tempo where you're challenged but can maintain technique for the full duration
• "Spider walk" exercises develop synchronicity between both hands across multiple strings
• Apply these techniques to actual songs that feature the skills you're trying to develop
• Focus on quality, control and cleanliness rather than just speed
• Remember that guitar playing starts in the brain, not just the fingers

If you need help setting up a proper practice routine or getting from where you are to where you want to go, check out GuitarZoom Academy and set up a call with one of our instructors to see if it's a fit for you.


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Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
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Steve:

Hey everybody, Steve Stine from Guitar Zoom Academy here. Thank you so much for joining me. What we're gonna be doing today is talking about four different ways to improve your finger dexterity. The way we're gonna do this is we're gonna break down some things that you can do with your fretting hand, with your picking hand, and then some synchronicity that you can do between the two of them. What I want you to be aware of as we talk about this is I want you to be careful not to overwhelm yourself. The point of what we're going to be talking about today is that these skills that we're going to try and work on can be short enough to where you could do it in a matter of five minutes or something like that. You could do it multiple times throughout the day. But what I want you to be careful of is that you're not taking these simple ideas that are really, really valuable, really getting to the core of what the struggles are with many guitar players and their skill set, and then, all of a sudden, taking these simple things and making 350 different exercises out of these things. So now what you've done is you've created a monster that you don't want to practice or it's overwhelming, and now you're not doing any of it. So don't do that, just keep things nice and simple.

Steve:

So we're going to talk about fretting hand, picking hand and then synchronicity between the two. So let's talk about the first thing, which is going to be our fretting hand. Now, one exercise that I like to tell people to do literally daily, if not multiple times a day, is to simply work on your strength skills of your fretting hand fingers, the independence of the fingers, developing strength in all four of your fingers your first finger, second finger, third finger and your pinky. Okay, most people do really well with their first and second or their first and third, but things start failing when they do their middle finger to their pinky or the third to their pinky. You know that kind of combination. Things get a little more difficult.

Steve:

So I have a technique that I teach people called the 20 second exercise. Now, it might be 10 seconds when you begin heck, it might even be five seconds when you begin, but the better you get at it, the longer you're going to be able to do that. And it isn't just about longevity. What it is is doing a series of hammer-ons or pull-offs. When we put those together, we call it a trill, and what you're going to do is you're going to try and do this trill. So the first note and the second note of the trill sound similar in terms of volume, dynamics. The tempo is kind of similar between the two.

Steve:

Right, you're not getting some sort of offset thing. You're trying to make sure that, as you're doing it, at whatever speed you're doing it, you have control. You want to remember when you're doing these exercises too, all of these things just guitar playing in general you want to find the balance of if you relaxed any less, you wouldn't be getting what you want. If you were to press or stress yourself even more, you're just wasting your energy and you need to try and find that line. So, with this 20 second exercise or 10 second exercise, whatever you want to call it, what you're going to do is you're going to choose a fret and a string to start on. So let's just say it's the fifth fret of the third string. So we put our first finger on the fifth fret of the third string and we do a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs to the middle finger, the second finger, okay, for 10 seconds or 20 seconds, and we're trying to give it everything we've got. We're trying to, you know, make it comfortable, make it smooth, make it sound clean, you know, make sure you're not pulling the string awkwardly or you know, if you really struggle with the actual technique of a hammer-on or a pull-off, that's the first thing that you need to work on is just developing the actual skill of doing an effective hammer-on or effective pull-off right. Once you get that developed, now what we can do is we can put that into this exercise. So we're doing a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs we're trying to do as fast as we can but yet get a great sound from both the hammer-on and the pull-off.

Steve:

Okay, relaxing as much as we can from the fingers to the wrist, to the forearm, to the shoulder, that whole thing and I know that might seem silly, but it really does make a huge difference in your efficiency, okay. So you have to remember efficiency, okay. So this you have to remember this isn't just about speed, okay, it's about control, it's about sound, it's about feel right, not just how fast you can go. Does it sound good? Does it sound smooth? Are you relaxed when you're doing it?

Steve:

So, for 10 or 20 seconds, whatever you start off doing, you're just doing this series of hammer-ons and pull-offs from the first finger to the middle finger. Then what you do is without stopping. Without stopping, you simply transition from the first finger and the second finger to the first finger and the third finger. So the first finger stays where it is on the, in our example, the fifth fret of the third string, for instance and you just start doing a hammer-on pull-off to the first and third for 10 seconds or 20 seconds or whatever, and create some strength, speed, stamina, you know all of those kinds of things in a clean, comfortable, controlled way. And then when you get done with that, that first finger still stays there and you head over to the pinky. So now you're doing first finger to fourth finger and you do the same thing 10 seconds or 20 seconds, whatever you can do. You give it your all, but make it sound good, make it feel good, but give it your all, make it as good as you can make it right. Again, if you're not very good with hammer-ons, you're not very good with pull-offs, or you know, the hammer-on pull-off timing is inconsistent. You try and work on those things. It isn't just about speed, it's about quality. And then let's worry about the speed.

Steve:

Now here's the big transition is once you get done with that. You're not done. Okay, what you're going to do is, without stopping, as best you can, you're going to simply set that middle finger down now, which would be on the sixth fret of the third string, because your first finger was on the fifth fret. So you're just going to set that middle finger down now and you and you do that. Now it's going to start getting a lot more difficult. You're going to do that the same way for 10 seconds or 20 seconds or whatever, and then, without stopping, you're going to go from your middle finger to your pinky and then, without stopping, you're going to set your ring finger down now it would be at the seventh fret of the third string and you're going to do a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs from the third finger to the pinky.

Steve:

So it doesn't take a long time, and what really needs to happen is, if you do this correctly, by the time you get to the last one, you're going to be struggling Like physically. Your fingers won't be working as well. So you have to be okay with the fact that when you get to the end of this, it doesn't sound as good as you want it to. It doesn't feel as good as you want it to. You're pretty tense by that point. That's okay, you get done, you stretch out, move on with your day. Or maybe, if you're in a practice zone, you're going to take five minutes stretch out. You know, do whatever, going to come back and you're going to hit it again.

Steve:

Now, what I tell people, the best thing that you can do, is throughout the day. If you do this multiple times a day, the next time you practice, maybe you start with the weaker fingers, which is the third and the pinky, and you work your way backwards. Okay, and then, or maybe you do that tomorrow, maybe that's what. Again, you have to figure out what works best for you. I like to do this multiple times a day because it literally takes me, you know, three minutes to go through this thing, and it's not. It's over.

Steve:

The last one you want to do and this is really important to make a variety of these things going forward, going backward, but the last one I really want you to be aware of is isolating the ones that you're struggling with most, which is almost always going to be your third and pinky, and then your middle finger and third finger, and your middle finger and your pinky the good ones all the time and then end, you know, fatigued in failure at the end of this, because that's what's going to happen. That's okay, that's what we all do. But if you always start with your strong fingers and then with your weak fingers, you're never really fully developing your weak fingers. Okay, so that's what I want you to think about with your fretting hand, great little exercise. You don't have to make it crazy. You just practice this thing in those three different ways.

Steve:

The second thing that you do is we move over to the picking hand and we start doing what I like to call the two minute exercise. So what you're going to do is you need to find a tempo on a metronome that works for you, and what you're going to do is you're going to try and do two picks per click, which would be like eighth notes. Okay, it's okay if you don't know what eighth notes are, but that's what you'd be doing. So, if you set your metronome and your metronome is doing this, you want to play and you can slow it down or speed it up to whatever you need, but what you're going to do is you're going to palm, mute and down, pick that sixth string for two straight minutes and then, when you get really really good with that, we can expand it out to three minutes, but let's start with two minutes, okay. So what you wanna do is find a tempo where you can focus on the tempo, you can concentrate on the tempo and you're able to pick in time with the tempo without getting lost. Now you might fall off a little bit and then get back on Again. That's human nature, but you don't want to get lost.

Steve:

What's happening now is not only you're developing the technique of the down pick with the palm mute, but you're also developing the technique of being able to concentrate on the metronome while you're inputting the listening of the metronome, while you're outputting the pick of the sixth string or the fifth string or whatever it is you decide to do. So it's not just the technique, but it's actually having to concentrate and line up with the click of the metronome. And what happens is, instead of just doing this, you know, for 30 seconds or something like that, you want to do it for a longer period of time. That really forces you to do two things to concentrate for a longer period of time and to work on that technique, because what often happens is, once you find the right tempo to set your metronome at, what ideally you want to have happen is this First of all, you don't want to be able to do it for two minutes, and it's easy and there's nothing physically enduring about it. The second thing you don't want to do is you don't want to set it and you can only last for 30 seconds, and then you're faking it for the next minute and a half while you're trying to do this finger exercise, this finger exercise. What you want to do is find the tempo where, after you know 30 minutes, 30 seconds or 45 seconds or even a minute, you're starting to really feel this Okay, but you're grinding it out for the next minute to get to the end of this, this picking exercise Okay, that's the right tempo.

Steve:

And then remind yourself that some days are going to be better than others. Some days you're not going to be at the tempo that you were at yesterday and, yes, it's frustrating mentally, but that's the reality of things. Some days you're going to do a little bit better. If you do a little bit better today, that doesn't promise that tomorrow's going to be that same speed. So I like to tell people that if you are going to do this exercise, you really want to develop your down picking and we can even do this with alternate picking as well.

Steve:

But let's start with down picking. You might start at a slower tempo just to get your mind and your body synchronized to what you're trying to do and then start building your way up. So if you're at 140 or you're at 160 or whatever, it might be 120, it doesn't matter. You might not start there for the day. You might start a little bit slower. Make sure that you're synced to the metronome, your body, you're picking all that stuff. And I even tell people set the metronome and just listen to the metronome for a little bit before you try and play along. Make sure that your brain is in sync with the click of that metronome before you start trying to play along.

Steve:

Remind yourself all the time that guitar playing doesn't start in the fingers. It just doesn't. It starts with the brain and then goes to the fingers, and the better you get at something, that transition is very quick. But it's not like your fingers can just figure it out without your brain. You can't sleep and then you know do these picking exercises. It doesn't work. So you've got to make sure that your brain is in sync first, and then bring your body into it, bring your fingers and your picking into it and then develop this.

Steve:

The third thing I want to talk to you about is developing some synchronicity exercises. So doing things like 1, 2, 3, 4 on the sixth string, on the first fret, you go 1, 2, 3, 4, next string. 1, 2, 3, 4, next string, 1, 2, 3, 4, next string, 1, 2, 3, 4. Often called a spider walk. Okay, basically, you're just going one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. And now what's happening is you're trying to get used to being able to synchronize the hands, minimize the noise, optimize the transition between each finger as well as the transitions to each string as you move along.

Steve:

Okay, so it's a lot more going on than just playing. You know you don't want to go da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, like trying to play as fast as you can, but then you have to stop when you change strings. The point of this entire thing is you want it to be a large motion that sounds smooth, it sounds even, it sounds clean. You're minimizing the noise of the other strings. You're working on not only the connection of each note on that string but transitioning to the next string and then connecting each note of that and then transitioning to the next string, while you're picking everything and keeping the strings quiet.

Steve:

There's a lot going on there, a lot more than people realize, and there's a host of ways that you can do this exercise. Like you might go one, two, three, four from sixth string to first string and then you move up one fret and then you keep going one, two, three, four back down to the sixth string. So you just keep going one, two, three, four in the turn type. Sometimes people will do one, two, three, four to the first string, move up a fret and and then they'll go four, three, two, one and then move back to the sixth string and then move over head down to the first string, going one, two, three, four, move over four, three, two, one. I mean there's a lot of different ways that you could do this.

Steve:

And again my point is is don't make 400 exercises out of it. Just get something going that works, where you're working on the cleanliness, the sound, the feel, and then you're working on the technique. Don't try and go any faster than you're capable because you just wind up with a mess. Our goal is not to pretend. Our goal is to play right. Stop pretending Just because your buddy or your wife or something says that your husband says that you're doing amazing. Maybe you are, but you're more in tune with yourself than anybody else is. So don't just try and do something to pretend like you're doing it Really. Do it and reap the benefits of what you're actually trying to do.

Steve:

Okay, the next thing I want to tell you about is finding a musical application for some of these things. You might find a song or a riff just a riff out of a song, like, if you want to work on your alternate picking, you might work on Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks. Or if you want to work on your down picking, you might work on Highway Star by Deep Purple or Master of Puppets or something like that. If you were working on Pentatonic, maybe you're working on Sunshine of your Love by Cream. Or if you're working on single note, picking and moving between strings, maybe you work on Day Tripper by the Beatles Power Chords. Maybe you're working on Smells Like a Teen Spirit. Again, it doesn't matter. It's finding real world examples of what it is that you're trying to develop and not, again, not get crazy.

Steve:

You don't need to learn the entire song necessarily, unless you want to, but if you're learning the entire song, you've now. You've now moved on from what your initial intention is to a new intention. That might be good, but that might not be good because, again, what what guitar players do so often that kind of prohibits them from making the success that they want is they're constantly shifting gears. They're just constantly trying to learn something new and something different and they're never really working on those core elements that can really make them a better player. And everything isn't technique.

Steve:

Just today we're talking about technique. There's lots of other things involved, but my point is, instead of just learning songs that you like, which there's nothing wrong with, is instead of just learning songs that you like, which there's nothing wrong with, sometimes what you do is you learn songs because it has some element that allows you to focus on some skill that you're trying to develop. This song has that skill, and so now what you're doing is you're practicing, again with intent. I'm working on Daytripper, because it's got this cool little riff that forces me to play these frets on these strings, and I'm working on these fingers and whatever this might be. So that's what I want to focus on today.

Steve:

Now, please remember that if you need help with setting up a proper practice routine, you're frustrated, you're not motivated or you just need help in getting from where you are to where you want to go, we at Guitar Zoom have this thing called the Guitar Zoom Academy. You can always just look up Guitar Zoom Academy in a search engine and you're going to find it and you can set up a call with one of our instructors, because our instructors take the calls and talk to you and then we can kind of see if it's a fit for you or not and kind of move from there. So, anyway, stay positive, keep practicing and I'll talk to you soon, okay?

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