Finger Memory

Posted by akom Saturday, March 19, 2011
What? Strange to think your fingers have memory but what I mean is the coordination between your mind and the muscles in your fingers. The number one reason people give up playing guitar is because they don't get past the finger training stage. Who is the finger trainer than? You are! You are the only one that can make that connection between your brain and your fingers to get them to work together and do what you want them to.

It's just like riding a bike you had to train yourself to balance, shove off and switch to pedaling all the while keeping your balance. I can teach you where to put your fingers but you have to put them there! Only you can make yourself good at it. This is the hardest thing you will ever have to learn! But the teacher is you.. so start teaching yourself now!

Here are a few good exercises to help coordinate your brain and fingers:


Pull-offs/Trills

Pull-offs and trills are great exercises to build hand strength and are a necessary element to lead guitar playing. The idea is to: hold the string with one finger and pull it off the string to the point where it feels as if the meat of your finger is plucking the string... You'll feel the string snap out from underneath the finger and in so doing the note you hold behind the one you just pulled off from will ring.


Finger Memory

A trill is the process of hammering a finger down on a string and pulling of repeatedly. The hammer action causes a note to sound and pulling it off so that the note fingered behind it sounds. The only difference between a pull-off and a trill is that a trill is repeatedly really fast.