Why You Won't Build Finger Independence With Guitar Exercises

practiceguitarn...
Now that you've seen how to 'really' build your fretting hand finger independence, go to the page above to learn how to make the most progress out of 'any' exercise you practice on guitar.
• Why You Won't Build Fi...

[@Aaron-or7bs]

Summary: Practice mindfully and fix every single fretting hand mistakes(eg: flying pinky) u notice during your WHOLE practice session and isolate that problem. Practice that isolated part really SLOWLY until its integrated into your muscle memory. Also, don't expect results that soon, give yourself at least a few MONTHS time to get it down.

[@bloodyexec]

"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." -- Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi.

[@adrianchapa6439]

Practice is never perfect

[@aivanjamesreyes3791]

Nah, "practice makes improvement."

[@orange-rv9ek]

I love that part about how all the practice compounds and then eventually it's sort of all connects and things explode because that's been me someone who was born with no natural talent but has played for 17 years I'll go years practicing daily when suddenly the epiphany occurs like I had a modal system epiphany lately and ever since it's like I now have some gift..it's all logical to me now whereas it was so confusing before. Took looking at it in just the right way and being gifted with clarity and understanding.

[@andtothewestamerica]

INCREDIBLY VALUABLE VIDEO. I watched this one year ago and I can't believe what a change it has made in my playing. I never imagined that I'd be able to learn crazy jazz chords as easily as I now can. Thank you.

[@psychedguitar2716]

i see this breakthrough he is talking about. its like a "holy shit did i just do that" feeling, it makes all the exercise well worth it

[@fiogrady]

it literally feels like my ring and pinkie are the same finger, I can't make them move independently aggh!

[@mojolama4597]

you must have improved

[@TheRageCommenter]

@@mojolama4597 or they gave up. We can only hope they improved

[@Eryk.Burkharth]

And you won’t at all cause they are attached, the only way is rip of your tendons 😂😂

[@lexx708]

@@Eryk.Burkharth 💀💀

[@Sravanraz]

It's because those have Common tendon sheath..

[@2nmingo]

that is true i broke through 2 plateau already when i didnt think i was going to get better. i couldnt express melodies before. my ear could keep up with it but my fingers just couldnt. im getting better though i learned that slowly is golden to playing guitar.

[@LighterNumber300]

His approach to tackling guitar playing and practicing is art within itself. Great video.

[@omegapsiphi1911]

WOW! Best video I've seen yet about practice or finger independence. I've been playing guitar for about 4 months and this has helped me TREMENDOUSLY!! Many Thanks Mike!

[@jks3613]

Best advice I have gotten yet! As a beginner working on building the proper technique from the beginning, I found your advice very helpful. My bad case of the flying fingers is getting better everday. Thanks for pointing out the importance of correcting a bad habit before moving on!

[@CryptoSlice]

This is beautiful. Grand thanks! When you said the pinky shoots up, I was ohhh yea thats me lol

[@shaha9]

Probably the best lesson I have ever heard in my entire life. Thanks man.

[@justinmorgan4568]

I JUST started playing the guitar this week. And somehow I just instinctly knew that the thing I was going to have to laser focus on FIRST was my left hand finger independence. It's fun but damn it's a workout.

[@Chainsawmaniacguitar]

You're brought up some good points here for sure! You're dead right about it being more important to know HOW to practise, than to know WHAT to practise. However, I think to a certain extent it depends on the person. Some students do well with this approach and have the patience to focus on the details...others do better with playing pieces and improving that way. That's my experience with my students, anyway. What do you think?

[@damiansonofsantana]

Probably the best guitar vid I've seen on KZbin. Subscribed.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

@guitarrock58, yes, you repeat the motions to make the new habit ingrained into your technique. Do this for as long as it takes until it becomes a subconscious habit. Allocate a portion of your daily practice time to work on this, then move on to play/practice whatever is next in your practice schedule

[@Avensur]

My man, you've absolutely right! The metronome kind of makes you feel like, " hey, come on, hurry up, gonna miss the train.." , and it wants to guide you instead of your brain. Your brain take over and slow down to the lowest or crank up a notch, that makes me feel comfortable. Thx my friend.

[@Micscience]

I agree with you and I am no expert I am a beginner however with that being said when I place my fingers in a chord position such c or g I will pick one finger out of my fret hand and walk up the fret board while the rest of my fingers remain in place. This makes my hand hurt and forearm hurt but I feel that it helps with finger independence because what I am doing feels so unatural so foreign and I usually go for the fingers that are hardest to move. Once I am done with this exercise I notice how it increases my ability to play by a noticeable difference. Maybe this helps when you are new to guitar and doesn't help much as you progress but I felt the need to mention it take care. I like your videos because you get really in depth.

[@alienac5433]

Thank you ive been so frustrated with my playing lately, you are a godsend!!! Xx

[@sinphonyh]

Congrats man, you are a Total Monster -like Tom says- at playing guitar and you've become a great teacher also.

[@silversongwriter5193]

Even if I physically hold my pinkie in place, I still can't keep it from rising

[@mojolama4597]

what about now?

[@lexx708]

Now?

[@SyberiusRex]

Only in this video did I realized my pinky rising up when I use my midle finger to press on the strings. Im actually learning!

[@Graveoffeces666]

And thanks a lot for the lesson Mike, you're one of the best online guitar teachers I've come across.

[@black_squall]

hot damn, i'm not even a guitar player and i found this to be pretty useful general information.

[@Richard-cq4kv]

The point you made about compounding practice resulting in explosive gains, it's like you're struggling playing and all of a sudden, it goes from, you feel like you're struggling, to, it becomes really easy.

[@porconedio]

Thank you very much, i am a bass player and still i found this extremely useful! Also like your relaxing and plain explanation.

[@delicrux]

this is genius i just subscribed because that pinky isolation thing is the exact problem i have , and its been keeping me from sweep picking properly also this saves me alot of time figuring out my problems because i was actually wasting time making up finger exercises thinking it was because my pinky was to weak. now all i have to do is run through my scales while muting my strings looking for errors like missplaced fingers or unnecessary movements. thank you. are the any techniques you recomend for practising scales? i have a book with more scales than can be learned.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

delicrux , yes check this out (how to correctly practice scales): practiceguitarnow.com/guitarscalesandsequences.html

[@djaouedzioueche7133]

This is the best advice I found about finger independence. Thank you so much!

[@_jw_harper]

Excellent advice ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The neurological connection is primary👍

[@matvenable9386]

Very well presented. Concise and clear. Thank you. Infinitely more helpful than 90% of what's out there.

[@matvenable9386]

Scientific. Essential..

[@screamingtoastproductions3609]

Sound advice my friend. May I also add to practice what makes u happy n sounds good to u. That helps as well but as u say...patience!

[@sochixx]

clear, tight and full of common sense.... thanks for this video

[@1961jscofield]

Thanks for all your helpful videos

[@johnnga4496]

Smart man , I'm just beginning and I've seen a lot of videos out here actually too many I've been focusing on I'm going to focus on what you just told me for as long as it takes to get my Independence as you say thanks for your help

[@donovanduguay9176]

wise advice. great lesson.

[@gorcrow]

damn dude you can shred you look like you work in a computer engineering though

[@Huge4Fish]

I have that pinky rising issues...along with a host of others! LOL!

[@SimgoWood]

I really appreciate your channel: It's not "do this and do that" it's more like an approach and a philosophy, that's what i'm looking for

[@RickyRevorc]

super helpful thanks so much bro! your so right dude my pinky finger flicks up every time its so hard to stop it. thanks again bro! I got some work to do!!

[@samiazaman5240]

You just spoke my mind Thanks so much. Exactly what I needed ! :')

[@expat2010]

Radically different instructions from most teachers, but it makes and is extremely well presented. I will try it and subscribe as well. Thanks.

[@jericopaoloignacio8603]

this is true :) everytime i practice. i always feel that im not getting all my goals in playing guitar. but thats because of my hands is adjusting to what im doin, or it is getting tired, and when i take a short rest and try again,i can notice the changes :)

[@merto5582]

Check pumping nylon fingers exercises, helps a lot! And yes, it takes lots of time, I’m still not there but since PN I’m much better.

[@blairefox]

These are the advice every beginner guitar players are looking for including me. Very simple yet very detailed. As I watch this video I realized lots of things. More power to your channel!

[@nikhilck629]

This makes complete sense. Thanks so much. Also, you're a very good speaker.

[@vijaybhaskar799]

Wonderful guitar technique, a necessity

[@chadwickpainter8212]

Thank you for this video. This helps a lot.

[@steveblake144]

you repeat the motions to make the new habit ingrained into your technique. Do this for as long as it takes until it becomes a subconscious habit. Allocate a portion of your daily practice time to work on this, then move on to play/practice whatever is next in your practice schedule. Your words can also be applied to speech therapy, that of which I'm going through. I have subscribed to your channel but on hearing this I'm definitely going to apply your guitaring theory to my speech therapy. Just a thought. Is my speech influency linked to my guitar influency?

[@AdityaVerma-br3im]

Great video!

[@melmel6253]

1st Step: Patience 2nd Step: Focus on a specific problem 3rd Step: Take out the metronome

[@saladinallah5299]

I’ve come to believe your theory of how to practice. Scales are very difficult for fret hand but I make great music practicing to play music. Fingers are acclimating to chord progression much better.

[@tomference4618]

..helpful, very helpful.

Good practical advice.

[@thanoseolios8281]

Great tips! Well done bro and many thanks!

[@MarkAndrewZwartynski]

Very good information! Realistic and true!

[@joeheape221]

Thanks, Mike - that pretty helpful and good common sense.

[@LostSoulAscension]

quick question, do you have to continue to keep up the practices to keep finger independence? or does it at some point just become muscle memory habit after you've developed it well enough, and of course, any time you'd run into a hindering of dependency, just practice again, but does it remain a muscle memory permanence? given that you play every day anyway.

[@pizzalovingtrashpanda8604]

awesome advice brother thank you

[@mesabman]

Is keeping your pinky from flipping up really a significant issue? The reason I ask is because I do it frequently and yet still have extremely fast playing abilities. I've also noticed a lot of world-class players have the pinky problem but still are phenomenol players. What do you think?

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

Good Joe , if you are happy with your technique and can play whatever you want to play, then you don't need to do anything at all. If, however, you are not able to play something and the lack of finger independence is the reason why you aren't able to do it, then you do need to fix the problem in that case.

[@Matchless48]

Yes! I agree totally Thank you very much

[@ArtjomPorsh]

@HowToPracticeGuitar, I totally agree with what you are explaining here. I am not a guitar player, but I do yoga. And same approach/mindset applies to doing yoga postures. And I assume same approach applies to everything you want to get/achieve in life. Thank you, @HowToPracticeGuitar

[@ray3mondo]

Very good. Thanks.

[@LostSoulAscension]

At 0:02 you have your pinky curled... Please do a video on how finger independence and bending strings, and hammer ons can be better executed. PLEASE... Seriously no one does it... It would be cool if you answered my question below as well.

[@zoofiliaconsofia]

Thanks mike, very useful

[@DJOrbitable]

when you said pinky I was yup I need this lesson. what happens when your pinky is too stiff?

[@hectortorres-ramos260]

Good advice.

[@dougtelfer6686]

You make some controversial statements, but you make a lot of sense. I suffer from FPS - flying pinky syndrome, and I've been playing over 30 years. I'm going to give your suggestions a try!

[@yudipitre5720]

He holds his guitar like a classical player. Awesome

[@rishidiwute3604]

that breakthrough I think is application.

[@benhart2973]

Awesome video dude!

[@taylorphillips5189]

Practice makes permanent

[@kittenro6362]

I don't really see anyone talking about the "little finger independence function" as a problem on you arm/hand muscles. What I mean it's, personally i don't have independence on my little finger because of something on my arm muscles that doesn't allow me to move my ring and pinky fingers independendently from each other. I don't see anyone talking about this and read it's not thaaat rare. So I don't know what to do

[@kennyjb42]

I have a question about increasing speed and I am not sure it is even a 'thing'. I am not at all fast at playing guitar and have been muddling along for decades but finally started trying to fix my speed issues. I picked what I thought would be a pretty straight forward solo to play (Queens These are the days of our lives) which is more or less a run down a pentatonic with hammer ons and pull offs on the way. And I was wondering , should I be lining up my index finger early when my ring finger does a pull off to the index finger (as in , all on the same string). Because trying to get my index finger to the string just prior to the pull off occurring means I don't get there in time. This seems really tricky as the finger would have to move independent of the timing of the song just moving as soon as it is no longer ringing on the previous string instead of just as it is needed. Sorry for the long explanation.

[@domagoj19zg]

We train our nerve system and our brain to control muscles of our hand...so max concentracion during playing does give best results. But still it takes a long time to develop. I learned that using too much force or should I say pushing strings too hard with fingers may drasticly slow you down. That s what I ve experienced.Playin guitar should not be hard work.

[@DanielDeakin]

When you are first getting started how would you recommend practising to get good guitar skills as well as playing lots of songs? What do you need to allocate sections of your practise for?

[@neiljcunningham]

Thats a really intuitive video.Thanks. i have a huge problem hitting the wrong string on my picking hand, its been happening since I started about 4 years ago,in the middle of a solo and BANG hit the wrong string, then get lost as to my hand position on the strings,solo over. Any ideas on how to fix this ?

[@MrHikkikomori]

Do you have advice for legato playing? i don't have any questions in particular, just looking for advice in general. I'm learning songs by this band Psycroptic, and the guitarist utilizes legato quite a bit in his playing, which i haven't encountered much. An example of what i'm trying to do Psycroptic - Unmasking the Traitors (2012) Right at the beginning and at 43 secs are good examples. Thank you

[@JordanTheImpaler69]

1] That song is awesome and 2] I would also like to see a good legato video.

[@Graveoffeces666]

Psycroptic is the shit.

[@HowToPracticeGuitar]

MrHikkikomori , Yes watch this video about legato: 3 Mistakes To Avoid When Playing Legato On Guitar

[@thordiesel6.7]

I think you have the best guitar teaching videos I have seen so far. \m/

[@Sazabiiiiii]

Mike, is your course downloadable or is it only on DVD?

[@songbook1625]

all well and good , but i do think you should do finger stretching exercises it inturn aids finger independence

[@jacksaintjack2844]

I have fair independence with the ring and pinky, but as I work across the fretboard from the high e to the low e, my pinky wants to curl UNDERNEATH my ring finger. It doesn't want to reach towards the next fret towards the end of the fret board.

[@tracylankford7617]

Thank you so much .I learned so much from you ,and I am taking my time .slow and easy ..It works ...lol

[@Sztermel]

Could you please give us some more advices or exercises on pinky shooting up, going too high off the fretboard while playing certain patterns? I've been searching a lot about it and found very little of information, I even saw some recordings of guitarists having the same issue and thought about abandoning this topic, but it still bothers me.

[@securethebag1613]

my fingers become more independent as i learn more and more chords

[@xdvantx]

I just wanted first to thank u your instruction has given me a whole new perspective on how to practice u made me realize I wasn't actually practicing at all thanx again...

[@leeb55]

what he says about it seeming like going nowhere is right tbh its like lifting weights if you're bulking you get to a certain point and you hit a wall and you can't move past it for weeks or months then bang your strong as shit and the weights you lift go up and up and up

[@NexxZt]

I know this sounds stupid as hell, but would you consider an expert Guitar Hero player a person with good finger independence? :P (And not the easy GH-songs. Through the Fire and Flames etc.)

[@halfabee]

My issue is. :- My fingers close sideways together as they wrap around the fretboard. With the fingers outstretched I can spread them. As soon as the hand is closed the fingers all come together.

[@Barbro247]

Could you just tell me really quick. When playing lets say a chromatic type scale or whatever you should "frankenstein" your fingers while playing from the first fret of the first string downwards but how about when you go up "backwards" on the guitar. Do you understand? How should i approach lifting the fingers then, im trying to play a solo with some triplets in it and i just want to know how to approach it.

[@ACABSTUDIOS]

Start out with the lightest stings possible and work your way up

[@robrippen]

I dont fully agree that there are not techniques that teach players finger independence. Spanish flamenco players are taught finger independence. Im not in any way undermining this teacher. Pinky issues are very common with many guitar players. In my playing over the years, I learned alot of finger style songs and I'm certain that helped me with dexterity yet I still had the pinky issues when playing scales and I'd say my speed is average & not as polished as im determined to achieve. I started doing spider walks and I stress correctly as I had done them incorrectly previous with absolutely no improvement. After realizing I was doing it incorrectly I've began to do them correctly and have made more improvement in 4 months than I did in 5 years. I think just to dismiss that there are exercises & yet they are ineffective is just not all together accurate at least not for me as an individual. Spanish flamenco players focus on finger independence on both hands and their playing is very percussive and rhythmic. There dosent seem to be much indepth focus on this topic on KZbin. Very little. I do know it's a discussion in classical playing and there's some videos on here that show young students as young as 7 years old that display amazing finger independence skills. I think it a very important topic to be addressed among novice players as bad technique or bad habits are very difficult to reverse down the road. This teacher seems like a very good teacher and I'm not here to suggest he's wrong in his ideas. Every player is different. All I can say is every great player I've seen has talked about finger independence. I will also stress I am not there yet but I've played for a long time and only recently started seeing improvement with spider walks moving one finger at a time. Im determined to research this intensively. I have considered paying for a lesson from an amazing Flamenco player on you tube named Lucas imbradda.. ?? I'm sure I didn't spell his last name correctly but he is truly inspiring to watch. Plays with much passion, very expressively, and extremely precise. Again I'm not here to undermine this teacher as it is very kind to invest time teaching free lessons. And I can say as good as the spider walk is, it's not the only exercise that will get you there yet in my opinion and from my experience it is an extremely effective exercise to get that pinky under control. 2 months of practicing made huge improvements for me. And I've played for a very long time. Also speed is not required to play well but it is something that will help all aspects of your playing as it requires precision that can only be achieved with proper hand position and economy of motion. As a student you can't efficiently progress if you don't realize your technique is off. You can't get from point a to point b advancing with guitar if you don't have a solid map to get there. To suggest that it will just happen with time hasn't been the case with me.

[@robrippen]

I have to add that in watching this teacher play, his playing is solid and his technique seems solid

[@zappasmoustache23]

is there any advantage at all to the chromatic exercise, even just for warming up, or is it just a total waste of time?

[@marknorman706]

what kind of Ibanez are you playing? it seems like an OD set-neck -through design RG

[@MarcG7424]

I literally have to look at and will my left ring finger to move like Uma Thurman did with her toe in Kill Bill and sometimes I still wont move

[@AsheshVignesh]

So hold on, Basically, I practice exercises...BUT, I completely change the WAY i play those exercises...? Like basically, I must follow whatever you have mentioned in this video yea?

[@guitarrock58]

okay so we need to isolate our movement problems, and fix them, but once that is done do we just repeat patterns? or play just anything with all 4 fingers, or like improvising on a certain tempo. I would like to know exactly what to do during a practise time. thank you

[@thisisjixxi]

nice vid

[@caesq_r]

why is my left pinky always inclined towards me when it's curved on the guitar fretboard? why won't my pinky be straight? because when its inclined it hits the other strings

[@charlesburai1355]

Subscribed...thank you!

[@jimmy56100]

Does anyone elses middle finger move up and down while using the other fingers?