Is This the Mother of All Finger Exercises?

(Image credit: Edwin van Buuringen/Flickr Creative Commons (cropped))

Finger independence and hand synchronization are essential skills for guitarists to develop.

In this instruction video, Paul Davids throws down a challenge for all guitarists who want to improve in these areas. See if you can perform this drill that he calls “the mother of all finger exercises.”

“This is a real challenge for your left and right hand and the synchronization between the two,” Paul says. “Also, you need to have excellent finger independency. So if you’ve got trouble with one or more of these, this is the perfect exercise for you to try to master.

“This one is good not only for your technique but also touches the field of music theory. We’ll be playing arpeggios of the harmonized major scale in the key of C in seventh chords, so all the shapes we’re playing are really used a lot. They’re good for improvising, writing melodies and so much more.”

Paul includes tab for this lesson right in the video. Tab for the other exercises he discusses is available on his Patreon page.

You can find this video and much more on Paul’s YouTube channel.

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Christopher Scapelliti

Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar WorldGuitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.