65th Guitar Snake River Rapids Exercises: Index, Ring, Middle, Pinky, Index in 5s

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.

Note6:  Counting 5s may sound irregular or unusual to the person playing them, and this is only because so few songs actually use 5s, but nonetheless, a good guitar player should know how to play and count 5s.

65:1  The first set of exercises I gave was primarily so that one doesn’t injure their fretting hand by stretch too much.  Next, I increased the “jiggas,” giving a picking hand work out.  The lesson-blogs between 40 to 63  are on strengthening speed and finger motility.  The 5s rapids series deals with the odd time signature 5/5 time, which is usually counted 2 then 3, or 3 then 2, but if you are able I encourage you not to split your counting though I realize that may not be possible.

65:2  The exercises in this blog will involve the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger and the pinky finger.

65:3  On string 6, at the 12^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 12^th fret w/index finger, 14^th fret with your ring finger, 13^th fret with your middle finger, 15^th fret with your pinky finger, and 12^th fret w/index finger.  There are 5 notes in this pattern, and I encourage students to try to count all five of them, not splitting 5 into smaller time signatures.

65:4  On string 6, at the 11^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 11^th fret w/index finger, 13^th fret with your ring finger, 12^th fret with your middle finger, 14^th fret with your pinky finger, and 11^th fret w/index finger.

65:5  On string 6, at the 10^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 10^th fret w/index finger, 12^th fret with your ring finger, 11^th fret with your middle finger, 13^th fret with your pinky finger, and 10^th fret w/index finger.

65:6  On string 6, at the 9^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 9^th fret w/index finger, 11^th fret with your ring finger, 10^th fret with your middle finger, 12^th fret again with your pinky finger, and 9^th fret w/index finger.

65:7  On string 6, at the 8^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 8^th fret w/index finger, 10^th fret with your ring finger, 9^th fret with your middle finger, 11^th fret again with your pinky finger, and 8^th fret w/index finger.

65:8  On string 6, at the 7^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 7^th fret w/index finger, 9^th fret with your ring finger, 8^th fret with your middle finger, 10^th fret with your pinky finger, and 7^th fret w/index finger, and 7^th fret w/index finger.

65:9  On string 6, at the 6^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 6^th fret w/index finger, 8^th fret with your ring finger, 7^th fret with your middle finger, 9^th fret with your middle finger, and 6^th fret w/index finger.

65:10  On string 6, at the 5^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 5^th fret w/index finger, 7^th fret with your ring finger, 6^th fret with your middle finger, 8^th fret with your pinky finger, and 5^th fret w/index finger.

65:11  On string 6, at the 4^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 4^th fret w/index finger, 6^th fret with your ring finger, 5^th fret with your middle finger, 7^th fret with your pinky finger, and 4^th fret w/index finger.

65:12  On string 6, at the 3^rd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 3^rd fret w/index finger, 5^th fret with your ring finger, 4^th fret with your middle finger, 6^th fret with your pinky finger, and 3^rd fret w/index finger.

65:13  On string 6, at the 2^nd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 2^nd fret w/index finger, 4^th fret with your ring finger, 3^rd fret with your middle finger, 5^th fret with your pinky finger, 2^nd fret w/index finger.

65:14  On string 6, at the 1^st fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 1^st fret w/index finger, 3^rd fret with your ring finger, 2^nd fret with your middle finger, 4^th fret with your pinky finger, and 1^st fret w/index finger.

65:15  On string 6, at the 2^nd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 2^nd fret w/index finger, 4^th fret with your ring finger, 3^rd fret with your middle finger, 5^th fret  with your pinky finger, and 2^nd fret w/index finger.

65:16  On string 6, at the 3^rd fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 3^rd fret w/index finger, 5^th fret with your ring finger, 4^th fret with your middle finger, 6^th fret with your pinky finger, and 3^rd fret w/index finger.

65:17  On string 6, at the 4^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 4^th fret w/index finger, 6^th fret with your ring finger, 5^th fret with your middle finger, 7^th fret with your pinky finger, and 4^th fret w/index finger.

65:18  On string 6, at the 5^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 5^th fret w/index finger, 7^th fret with your ring finger, 6^th fret with your middle finger, 8^th fret with your pinky finger, and 5^th fret w/index finger.

65:19  On string 6, at the 6^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 5^th fret w/index finger, 8^th fret with your ring finger, 7^th fret with your middle finger, 9^th fret with your pinky finger, and 6^th fret w/index finger.

65:21  On string 6, at the 7^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 7^th fret w/index finger, 9^th fret with your ring finger, 8^th fret with your middle finger, 10^th fret with your pinky finger, and 7^th fret w/index finger.

65:21  On string 6, at the 8^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 8^th fret w/index finger, 10^th fret with your ring finger, 9^th fret with your middle finger, 11^th fret with your pinky finger, and 8^th fret w/index finger.

65:22  On string 6, at the 9^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 9^th fret w/index finger, 11^th fret with your ring finger, 10^th fret with your middle finger, 12^th fret with your pinky finger, and 9^th fret w/index finger.

65:23  On string 6, at the 10^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 10^th fret w/index finger, 12^th fret with your ring finger, 11^th fret with your middle finger, 13^th fret with your pinky finger, and 10^th fret w/index finger.

65:24  On string 6, at the 11^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 11^th fret w/index finger, 13^th fret with your ring finger, 12^th fret with your middle finger, 14^th fret with your pinky finger, and 11^th fret w/index finger.

65:25  On string 6, at the 12^th fret, play the following pattern using all down strokes: 10^th fret w/index finger, 14^th fret with your ring finger, 13^th fret with your middle finger, 15^th fret with your pinky finger, and 12^th fret w/index finger.

65:27  Repeat exercises 65:3 – 65:25 on the string 5.

65:27  Repeat exercises 65:3 – 65:25 on the string 4.

65:28  Repeat exercises 65:3 – 65:25 on the string 3.

65:29  Repeat exercises 65:3 – 65:25 on the string 2.

65:30  Repeat exercises 65:3 – 65:25 on the string 1.

65:31  Repeat exercises 65:3 – 65:30 using alternating strokes (up and down) instead of just down strokes.

65:32 Repeat 65:3 – 65:30 without palm muting w/down strokes.

65:33 Repeat 65:3 – 65:30 w/palm muting and w/down strokes.

65:34 Repeat 65:3 – 65:30 w/alternating strokes, w/palm muting.

65:35  If it feels comfortable, this pattern can be played at higher frets than the ones listed.  For example, on string 6, at the 13^th fret, play the following: 13^th fret w/index finger, 15^th fret with your ring finger, 14^th fret w/your middle finger, 16^th fret w/pinky finger, and 13^th fret w/ index finger.

65:36  Follow the pattern in 65:3 - 65:33 as far up the frets is as still easy or playable on your guitar. 

65:37  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.