In need of knocking the rust off my fingers!

[feilong29]

Hey everyone!

So it's been about, 2 months since I last picked up a guitar. I FINALLY got myself a Dellinger, but, I feel so lame trying to play now. I was just wondering, do any of you have a routine/exercise I can use and practice to get my chops back? I know the basics, but, just wondering if there was something in particular you guys do that can get you to proper playing level fairly quickly. THANKS!

Cullen

[Trypios]

3 basic exercises (left hand / right hand / stretching) 15 minutes a day EVERYDAY
and try to learn again the last hard piece you learned.

If you're really serious try Vai's 10 hour guitar workout.

[feilong29]

10 Hour exercise eh? I don't have time for that lol... any alternate suggestions? And as for your other suggestion, what 3 basic exercises are you talking about?

[Trypios]

You don't have to do it 10 hours a day. Could be 10 hours a week. It 'd still be more beneficial than nothing.


This is a quasi chromatic variation from Petrucci for speeding up:
quasi chromatic.jpg

Another one from Petrucci if I remember correctly for stretching:
stretching.jpg
Now this is only the beginning. Start from the 9th position moving up to the first where you need to stretch more. If you think that's easy, try variations like a fret apart between fingers (ex 9-11-12-13 or 9-10-11-13) and do the same descending movement. Hardest part is doing 9-11-13-15 and I can reach VERY SLOWLY up to the 3rd fret on 25.5" guitars. All strings MUST vibrate at the same time.

Last one for the right hand:

|-----------3-|-6-----------|-----------5-|-8-------------|
|-------3-----|-----6-------|-------5-----|------8--------|
|---4---------|---------7---|---6---------|-----------9---|
|---------5---|---8---------|---------7---|---10----------|
|-----5-------|-------8-----|-----7-------|--------10-----|
|-3-----------|-----------6-|-5-----------|-------------8-|

To be done over four bar chords G-Bb-A-C. Strictly alternate picking !!
for instance, the first note of the 2nd bar is downstroke!

[feilong29]

Thanks for this bro! Time to get to work!!