Two Essential Exercises to Get Your Technique Optimized

Send Steve a Text Message

Tired of a stubborn pinky, tangled timing, and runs that fall apart when you speed up? We walk through a compact, repeatable practice plan that fixes the real causes of sloppy playing: uneven finger strength and poor synchronization between fretting and picking.

First, we break down a focused 20-second hammer-on and pull-off cycle that you can do anywhere on the neck. You’ll learn how to pair index–middle, index–ring, index–pinky, then middle–ring, middle–pinky, and ring–pinky without stopping, so every weak link gets direct attention. We explain how to rotate your starting point, overload problem pairs, and keep unused strings quiet for a clean, punchy sound on both acoustic and electric.

Then we shift to synchronization with the classic 1-2-3-4 exercise. The aim is quality over speed: even notes, steady time, consistent volume, and relaxed hands. We unpack alternate picking fundamentals, pick angle, and efficient string tracking so you can move across strings without noise or tension. Along the way, we highlight the two transitions that break most lines—finger changes and string changes—and show how small adjustments create big gains in clarity and control.

By the end, you’ll have a simple daily routine that builds strength, dexterity, and timing in minutes, not hours. If you’ve been stuck at the same tempo for months, this approach gives you a clear path forward: measure evenness first, then add speed gradually. Ready to hear cleaner riffs and smoother scales? Follow these steps today, subscribe for more practical guitar training, and share your one-week progress—with your toughest finger pair—in a review.

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Episode Transcript

Steve (00:00):
All right, so we're going to be talking about two really
important essential daily fingerexercises that I think would be
really beneficial for you tojust make part of your routine,
everything that you do, okay?
What I find with a lot ofplayers is that what they
struggle with is either fingerstrength in one or more of their
fretting hand fingers.
And the other thing that theystruggle with is synchronicity.

(00:22):
So what I want to do is giveyou a couple things to think
about, a couple of exercisesthat you can work on.
So the first exercise we'regoing to do just requires your
left hand, and you don't, yourfretting hand, right?
If you play the guitar theother direction, it would be
opposite of that.
But your fretting hand.
And what I want you to focus onis a technique that I call the
20-second exercise.

(00:43):
I think it's really powerful,especially if you can be, if you
can do it multiple times a day.
You know, it takes very littleof your time, but it's very,
very effective.
Because if we think about it,what we're usually dealing with
is, you know, maybe a couple offingers that are very, very
strong, but then we have acouple fingers that are
relatively weak.
And what this does is it triesto focus on developing all of

(01:04):
those.
So let me show you somethingthat you could do.
So let's say, for instance, Ijust find a fret and a string
that I want to go to.
It doesn't matter where it is.
Let's just say I go to thefifth fret of the third string
here.
And what I'm gonna do is I'mgonna start doing a series of
hamrons and pull-offs to mymiddle finger.
Okay.
So you need to make sure thatyou're working on hammer ons and
pull-offs.
Right?

(01:27):
And learn the effective way ofdoing a hammer on and pull-off,
right?
So it sounds good, it's clean,it's even, you know, you're
keeping those other stringsquiet, all that kind of stuff is
all kind of happening at thesame time.
This exercise, what you want todo is try and do that hammer-on
and pull-off as fast as youcan.
I don't want to say as hard asyou can, but try and make it

(01:48):
sound as good as you can.
Now, if you're playing anacoustic, it's obviously gonna
be a lot harder to do on anacoustic than it would be on an
electric guitar with distortion,right?
So it's okay either way.
Like you're not trying to hurtyourself.
You're just trying to do anice, solid, steady, fast hammer
on and pull off like this.
And the goal is to do that forabout 20 seconds.

(02:10):
Now, again, you don't have tobe, you know, perfect about it.
When you first start doingthis, you might only do each one
for 10 seconds because it be itdoes become a bit fatigued.
You're gonna get fatigued andand uh your your muscles might
hurt a little bit.
So let me show you how this isgonna work.
So, what we're gonna do iswe're gonna start off doing
hammer on and pull off fromfirst to middle like this.
For however long, 10 seconds orwhatever it might be.

(02:33):
And then without stopping, whatyou're gonna do is you're gonna
move to your third finger.
So you're doing your first andthird.
Now remember, you're notstopping in between, you're just
going from here to here.
And then without stopping,you're gonna go to your pinky.
Again, for 10 seconds orhowever long it would be.
Now, when you get done withthat sequence, you're not done.

(02:55):
You need to continue on withoutstopping.
So when you get done with one,two, one, three, and one, four,
you're gonna immediately dropyour middle finger down.
Now, your first finger mightstay, it might leave, whatever
it is comfortable for you, itdoesn't matter.
But you're gonna start doinghammer-ons and pull-offs from
middle to third.
And that's when things aregonna get a little more
difficult.
And then you're gonna go toyour middle and pinky.

(03:17):
And then without stopping,you're gonna set your third
finger down.
And again, these other fingerscould either come up or stay
down, whatever works for you.
And then you're gonna startdoing hammer-on, pull-off into
your pinky.
So the entire sequence goesone, two, one, three, one, four,
two, three, two, four, and thenthree, four.
Now, if you do these for 10seconds each or 20 seconds each

(03:40):
without stopping, and you dothem hard and fast, right?
As good as you can, you'reprobably gonna be a little sore
when you get done.
So you want to make sure andtake a break, maybe stretch out
a little bit, you know, whateverit is that you need to do.
And maybe you're done for theday.
Maybe you'll do these a littlebit later this afternoon.
Maybe you'll take a five-minutebreak and continue on with
them.
They're very effective if youdo them every day, maybe even

(04:04):
multiple times a day.
But this is what I want toexplain to you as well.
If you do them multiple times aday, the other thing I want you
to focus on, there's two otherthings actually I want you to
think about.
Number one is don't alwaysstart with the strong fingers
and end with the weak fingers,like I just did.
Sometimes start backwards.
Start with your third and pinkyand then work your way back.

(04:27):
And the third way of doing thisis sometimes just focus on this
the problem spots.
You know, focus on this andthis and this.
Like maybe you just do thirdand pinky for longer than 10
seconds or 20 seconds.
Maybe you'll do that one for 30seconds or even a minute,
right?
Of just that that fingergrouping.
So get used to building aroutine using all three of

(04:50):
those.
So the other thing I want youto think about is some
synchronicity.
Now, there's other things thatwe can learn.
Um, and you know, we can alwaysdiscuss more of this.
One thing I would highlyrecommend for you is if you're
if you're looking at finallybreaking out of this, you know,
struggle that you might behaving with your guitar playing,
you check out Guitar ZoomAcademy.
You know, you can always lookat what it is, talk to one of um

(05:12):
our instructors about how itworks, all that kind of stuff.
Maybe this is something thatwould really, you know, set you
on the pace to finally get towhere you want to go.
But the the next exercise Iwant to tell you is just a
simple exercise that you can doto try and work on
synchronization.
You've probably seen this amillion times before, but I
would highly recommend you doingthis.
So basically, all you're gonnado is you're gonna start working

(05:33):
on playing, for instance,anywhere you want.
Let's just say I'm at the fifthfret here.
I'm gonna play one, two, three,four, one, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
Nothing fancy.
But what I want to work on isquality.
Okay, I want to work onquality.
So as I'm playing this, I wantit to be nice and even.

(06:00):
It doesn't have to be fast,okay?
Fast is is a byproduct of good,right?
We can work on getting faster,but the first thing we need to
do is focus on are the noteseven?
Both in in timing and involume.
The second thing that we'reworking on is the pick.
Like, are we down picking allof this?

(06:20):
Are we alternate picking?
If you're not comfortable withalternate picking, it's
something you're certainly goingto want to start trying to get
more comfortable with, isalternate picking, okay?
You know, that sort of thingwhen you play.
So all of these components,it's not just how fast can I go
with the metronome, but how doesit feel?

(06:42):
How does it sound, right?
Am I relaxed when I'm playing?
Is everything nice and even,both again in its volume,
dynamics, and in its timing?
We also have to think aboutfinger changes and string
changes as I move from finger tofinger.
Is it nice and even?
And also when I change strings,you know, it's not just how

(07:15):
fast can we go, focus on thoseother things as well.
So hopefully, this is somethingthat can at least get you
started in the right direction.
They're not difficult in interms of, you know, application.
They they can be difficult interms of execution, but you
understand they're they're notoverly complicating.
And I'm not trying to give you500 things, just a couple things
that can help you get startedon developing some strength and

(07:37):
some speed and some dexterity.
Okay.
The more you can develop thosethings in your fretting hand,
the more you can learn how todownpick an alternate pick with
your picking hand and then startsynchronizing those together.
That's kind of how the wholeprocess of being able to play
scales and all of those sorts ofthings in the guitar kind of
works.
So hopefully that helps you.
Again, if you get a chance andyou're interested and you really

(07:59):
want to elevate your guitargame, you know, get over these
roadblocks that have beenstruggling you've been
struggling with for a long time,Academy and see if it's
something that would work foryou.
So take care, stay positive,and uh I'll talk to you soon,
okay?