Finger Independence Exercises Starting on Your Third Finger
In this fourth of five finger independence lessons we continue to focus on solving some of the most common problems for beginning guitarists. The previous posts spoke to the benefits these exercises have in terms of spreading your fretting hand fingers to a proper position and making more difficult licks easier to play.
Another key benefit of these finger exercises, especially for beginning guitarists, is making the scale patterns easier to play and memorize straightaway. This is because you're building muscle memory with each exercise, so going between each finger becomes less and less difficult.
Third Finger Independence Patterns for Guitar
Like the previous posts I'll include both the fret order and the finger pattern; alternate picking should be used as well.
The first two exercises begin with what are usually the most dominant fingers in guitarists just starting out: the pointer and ring fingers. Exercise 1 begins with your third finger on the ninth fret of the low E string. From there it goes to the seventh fret with your first finger, to the eighth fret with your second finger, and finishes on the tenth fret played with your fourth finger. This pattern continues up and down the successive strings.
Exercise 2 is similar, although it changes the order of the pinky and middle fingers. As such, the fret order is 9–7–10–8 in the finger pattern is 3–1–4–2. Another way to think of these exercises is that they are the “Odd-Even” finger patterns.
Examples three and four are “Inside-Outside” finger patterns. By that I mean each exercise begins with your middle and ring fingers and wraps up with a combination of your pointer and pinky fingers. For Exercise 3, starting on fret nine, the fret order is 9–8–7–10, with a finger pattern of 3–2–1–4. Exercise 4, again only makes slight changes, has the fret order of 9–8–10–7 and a finger pattern of 3–2–4–1.
Exercise 5 begins, like all the examples, on the ninth fret with your third finger, then moves to the 10th fret with your fourth finger, to the seventh fret with your first finger and finishes with your second finger on the eighth fret.
Exercise 6 starts on the low E string and has a fret order of 9–10–8–7 that is sequenced up and down the strings. The finger pattern is a slight change from the previous example: 3–4–2–1.
The finger patterns for all of these examples can be played anywhere on the guitar, so take them and make them your own!
If you’ve found this or other posts helpful, please leave a comment below or click the share button to spread the word on your social media channels. As always, keep shredding!
For the other finger independence posts in the series click the links below:
What to do with Your Fretting Hand When You're Beginning Guitar
Finger Independence Exercises Starting on Your Second Finger
Finger Independence Exercises Starting on Your Fourth Finger
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