The 1 Exercise Every Guitarist Needs

This might sound crazy…

Especially given the fact that I’m a classically trained guitarist with a masters degree.

But I don’t regularly practice scales or technique exercises.

I know…. blasphemy!

This is a very intentional decision, though, and one that I don’t take lightly. I want to spend my practice time playing real music, not slaving away at scales and drills for hours.

But of course, to play that music well, my technique still has to be developed. So how do I hone my technique if I’m not hitting exercises every day?

I take sections from real pieces of music that hit specific techniques, and turn those into drills.

That being said, there is 1 particular finger independence exercise that I believe every guitarist should incorporate into their practice routines (myself included!).

Finger independence is so fundamental to playing guitar, and unfortunately does not come naturally at all, so we need to give that area of our technique some extra attention.

This exercise only takes a few minutes a day and cleans up a ton of troublesome areas in your playing, that would normally keep you stuck scratching your head for weeks. 

I want to hear from you. What’s your favorite drill or exercise, or do you subscribe to my philosophy and primarily turn sections of your pieces into drills? Let me know in a comment below!

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