How to practise guitar without a guitar

**buddroyce** · 01-06-2007, 05:52 PM

Socratic question:
Here's a question for ya, how do you practise playing guitar to improve your left hand playing WITHOUT a guitar and WITHOUT any of those exercising devices like the gripmaster??

Do you move your fingers like your shredding away on an air guitar?? Do you fret on your arm like it's a fretboard? Or do you have some other ingenius method?? I'd like to hear everyone's method if you have one.

Here's a little known method I learned from an old Jazz/Banjo player that came to the shop I was managing some years ago. (photo's attached).

Basically, all you do is extend your index and ring finger kinda like you would if you were to do that metal hand sign you know, the one that you'd do with your index and pinky extended out. From there you switch to fully extending your middle and pinky fingers and then switch back to your index+ring fingers. It's harder to do over and over than you might think. You have to do it so your fingers are fully extended and not just partially extended.

If you can build up speed doing this, I can almost guarantee that your left hand will be more dexterous and limber when you play guitar. Unlike using a gripmaster which improves the strength of your fretting, this improves the dexterity of your fingers.

This has been a method I've used when I don't have a guitar and don't have one of those gripmaster things when I'm travelling on business. I hope you all like my tidbit of an exercise.

I'd love to hear your methods if you have one and any comments on this method you may have.

(sorry for the craptacular pictures. I just decided to take a quick break from doing some fret work on my new PRS and post this little exercise).

Cheers,

Budd