37th Guitar Snake Exercises: Adding Playing below the 5th Fret Pt. 18 Open, Ring, Index, Pinky in 4s

Note:  If at any time you are experiencing pain during the playing of this exercise or any other exercise I give, then stop immediately!  Please!  It doesn’t help me as a teacher to gain students with tendonitis, or other guitar injuries.

Note2:  Palm muting refers to muting the actual string that you are playing, and all the other strings.

Note3:  Without palm muting refers to not muting the string your are playing, while you are playing it, but then muting it after each note, while muting all the other strings.

Note4:  Down strokes refers to playing a string only with a downward motion of the pick.  Thus, the pick starts high hits the string and bounces off, and instead of picking the note with an upstroke of the pick on the rebound, return to a position with the pick above the string before making another down stroke.  This is a style of play Metallica commonly uses.  Generally, a down stroke sounds heavier than an upward stroke, such that using all downward strokes makes for a heavier sound.

Note5:  Alternating strokes refers to picking with upward strokes and downward strokes.  The purpose of alternating strokes is usually to gain speed while picking.

36:1  The first set of exercises I gave was primarily so that one doesn’t injure their fretting hand by stretch too much.  Next, I increase the amount of “jiggas,” to give a picking hand work out.  The lesson-blogs from 30 to 39 will be on strengthening one’s left hand, such that it is better able to reach.  It is probably a good idea not to start here.

36:2  The exercises in this blog will involve the ring finger, the index finger and the pinky finger.

36:3  On string 6, at the 12th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 14^th fret with your ring finger, 12^th fret with your index finger, and 15^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:4  On string 6, at the 11th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 13^th fret with your ring finger, 11^th fret with your index finger, and 14^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:5  On string 6, at the 10th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 12^th fret with your ring finger, 10^th fret with your index finger, and 13^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated. 

36:6  On string 6, at the 9th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 11^th fret with your ring finger, 9^th fret with your index finger, and 12^th fret again with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:7  On string 6, at the 8th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 10^th fret with your ring finger, 8^th fret with your index finger, and 11^th fret again with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:8  On string 6, at the 7th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 9^th fret with your ring finger, 7^th fret with your index finger, and 10^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:9  On string 6, at the 6th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 8^th fret with your ring finger, 6^th fret with your index finger, and 9^th fret with your middle  finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:10  On string 6, at the 5th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 7^th fret with your ring finger, 5^th fret with your index finger, and 8^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:11  On string 6, at the 4th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 6^th fret with your ring finger, 4^th fret with your index finger, and 7^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:12  On string 6, at the 3rd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 5^th fret with your ring finger, 3^rd fret with your index finger, and 6^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:13  On string 6, at the 2nd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 4^th fret with your ring finger, 2^nd fret with your index finger, and 5^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:14  On string 6, at the 1st fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 3^rd fret with your ring finger, 1^st fret with your index finger, and 4^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:15  On string 6, at the 2nd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 4^th fret with your ring finger, 2^nd fret with your index finger, and 5^th fret  with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:16  On string 6, at the 3rd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 5^th fret with your ring finger, 3^rd fret with your index finger, and 6^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:17  On string 6, at the 4th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 6^th fret with your ring finger, 4^th fret with your index finger, and 7^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:18  On string 6, at the 5th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 7^th fret with your ring finger, 5^th fret with your index finger, and 8^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:19  On string 6, at the 6th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 8^th fret with your ring finger, 6^th fret with your index finger, and 9^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:21  On string 6, at the 7th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 9^th fret with your ring finger, 7^th fret with your index finger, and 10^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:21  On string 6, at the 8th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 10^th fret with your ring finger, 8^th fret with your index finger, and 11^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:22  On string 6, at the 9th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 11^th fret with your ring finger, 9^th fret with your index finger, and 12^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:23  On string 6, at the 10th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 12^th fret with your ring finger, 10^th fret with your index finger, and 13^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated. 

36:24  On string 6, at the 11th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 13^th fret with your ring finger, 11^th fret with your index finger, and 14^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:25  On string 6, at the 12th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: open, 14^th fret with your ring finger, 12^th fret with your index finger, and 15^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:27  Repeat exercises 36:3 – 36:25 on the string 5.

36:27  Repeat exercises 36:3 – 36:25 on the string 4.

36:28  Repeat exercises 36:3 – 36:25 on the string 3.

36:29  Repeat exercises 36:3 – 36:25 on the string 2.

36:30  Repeat exercises 36:3 – 36:25 on the string 1.

36:31  Repeat exercises 36:3 – 36:30 using alternating strokes (up and down) instead of just down strokes.

36:32  Repeat exercises 36:3-36:5 except instead of repeating the each numbered verse 4x; play them 1x, repeating exercises 36:3-2:23 4x and work on the fluidity of your playing.  The first time, do it without palm muting and down strokes.  The second time, do it with palm muting and down strokes. The 3^rd time do it with alternating strokes and without palm muting.  The 4^th time do it with alternating strokes and with palm muting.

36:33  If it feels comfortable, this pattern can be played at higher frets than the one’s listed.  For example, on string 6, at the 13th fret, play the following: open, 15^th fret with your ring finger, 13^th fret with your index finger, and 16^th fret with your pinky finger.  Repeat this pattern 4x counting to 4 each time the pattern is repeated.

36:34  Follow the pattern in 36:33 as far up is as still easy or playable on your guitar. 

36:34  Then,  feel free to work your way back to the 12^th fret using the same pattern.  Possibly consider moving the pattern down the fret in whole steps.  For example, start at the pattern at the 19^th fret, then the 17^th fret, then the 15^th fret, then the 13^th, then the 11^th fret.