guitar excersizes to do without a guitar

[Tuneman]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

[cthrubuoy]

Get a girlfriend.

[rumborak]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

[BlobVanDam]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

That's a great way to train the ear, but I'm sure he meant the fingers.
But I use that technique to learn bass. I play air bass along with a song and learn to work out songs as I go. Then when I pick up a real bass guitar, I can actually play the bass having never played the song on a real bass before. If only I'd done some legit finger practice so my fingers could keep up with the speed of the song though

[Ryan Dougherty]

get a stressball (not too squishy and not too... huhuh.. stiff) and use both your whole hand to repeatedly squeeze, and then several reps per finger.  do both hands so that one is not overly stronger than the other.  I do this at work a lot... not to mention typing seems to help with guitar fingering, and vice versa

do a "1234" motion with your fingers on your thumb and then "4321" like you are doing a chromatic lick

also, in order to strengthen your pinky you might just do finger lifts until you feel the burn, then rest.

doing these things especially when you must go a few days without practicing is highly critical, lest you lose muscle mass and density in your hands, which makes for sloppy playing the next time you pick up your axe.

but do be careful, you may develop a figity habbit or carpal tunnel if you overdo it 

[brakkum]

well first off i hope you know the notes on a guitar, if not, learn that NAO.

but what i was going to say is start building chords in your head, start triads then move to 7ths and so on, then think of every single place you can play it, inversions included.

with sclaes its easier to get stuck with shapes, so think to yourself which notes are in a scale, and where those notes may be located on the neck.

[Tuneman]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

Holy shit that sounds difficult.

[brakkum]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

this is a great one, i do that all the time now, and it seems to be helping.

[Fuzzboy]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

Holy shit that sounds difficult.

It's not so bad. You get used to things like that. Perfect pitch helps  .

[BlobVanDam]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

Holy shit that sounds difficult.

It's not so bad. You get used to things like that. Perfect pitch helps  .

Perfect pitch helps you find the absolute key / starting note, but actually the most useful thing is a well trained ear with a good sense of intervals and scales.
And this comes from someone who is pitch perfect.

[Gwii]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

this is a great one, i do that all the time now, and it seems to be helping.

+1

i write most of the music for my band now just using a transcription program, with no guitar in hand.  after getting used to it, i almost prefer this method.

its a bitch though, because a lot of the stuff i write, i can't play on guitar right away (tech-death metal can be challenging).  for our newest song, i wrote the entire guitar solo without a guitar in hand, then learned it afterward.

[Jamesman42]

What I have done for a while now is to keep my fingers limber when not playing or anywhere near my instruments. I will move the fingers of my fretting hand as if I was playing a chromatic scale as fast as I can, and, since bass is my main thing, I act as if I am plucking the strings with my other hand. I do this stuff in the car with music as well, since the tempo of the music acts as a metronome. I also generally stretch out my hands when possible. When it comes time to actually practice, I am usually limber enough to just hop right into without practice (although I still warm up with chromatic scales).

[austin]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

When at school and writing the music for my musical project, I'd write out all the guitar and bass parts (in tab) in a notebook from melodies and rhythms I had in my head. When I got home to play the stuff, it sounded alright. Pretty good, I guess, but it wasn't as catchy as like something I'd work out through jamming/improv. Maybe I just need to get better.   Good technique.

[Tuneman]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

That's a great way to train the ear, but I'm sure he meant the fingers.
But I use that technique to learn bass. I play air bass along with a song and learn to work out songs as I go. Then when I pick up a real bass guitar, I can actually play the bass having never played the song on a real bass before. If only I'd done some legit finger practice so my fingers could keep up with the speed of the song though

Ok so how do I start with this method? I have no idea what an open E sounds like, so I can't figure out where to start

[brakkum]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

That's a great way to train the ear, but I'm sure he meant the fingers.
But I use that technique to learn bass. I play air bass along with a song and learn to work out songs as I go. Then when I pick up a real bass guitar, I can actually play the bass having never played the song on a real bass before. If only I'd done some legit finger practice so my fingers could keep up with the speed of the song though

Ok so how do I start with this method? I have no idea what an open E sounds like, so I can't figure out where to start

sing something, then just find the notes on the guitar. repeat. it gets easier, then main thing here is taking time o actually try and get better at it.

[Tuneman]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

That's a great way to train the ear, but I'm sure he meant the fingers.
But I use that technique to learn bass. I play air bass along with a song and learn to work out songs as I go. Then when I pick up a real bass guitar, I can actually play the bass having never played the song on a real bass before. If only I'd done some legit finger practice so my fingers could keep up with the speed of the song though

Ok so how do I start with this method? I have no idea what an open E sounds like, so I can't figure out where to start

sing something, then just find the notes on the guitar. repeat. it gets easier, then main thing here is taking time o actually try and get better at it.

so sing it, and then guess where it would be on the guitar, then look it up the tabs?

[brakkum]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

That's a great way to train the ear, but I'm sure he meant the fingers.
But I use that technique to learn bass. I play air bass along with a song and learn to work out songs as I go. Then when I pick up a real bass guitar, I can actually play the bass having never played the song on a real bass before. If only I'd done some legit finger practice so my fingers could keep up with the speed of the song though

Ok so how do I start with this method? I have no idea what an open E sounds like, so I can't figure out where to start

sing something, then just find the notes on the guitar. repeat. it gets easier, then main thing here is taking time o actually try and get better at it.

so sing it, and then guess where it would be on the guitar, then look it up the tabs?

noooo no no no, make something up in your head. just a little simple melodic line.

now find the first note of that on your guitar.
from there on out try and figure out the whole melody that you came up with, and see how those intervals are related to each other.
try it with songs you know as well, thats a great excersize i do a lot now too. take a song you know, and just take one simple part. think about it, and see if you can figure it out by yourself on the guitar, without the use of any tabs.
this really helps to get you independent and will help you come up with your own lines and help you express yourself more easily.

[Tuneman]

What can you do if you don't have a guitar but have some time to kill? Try to look at some scale patterns? Any finger excersizes?

The best exercise: Think of a melody, and try to figure out in your mind how to play it.

rumborak

That's a great way to train the ear, but I'm sure he meant the fingers.
But I use that technique to learn bass. I play air bass along with a song and learn to work out songs as I go. Then when I pick up a real bass guitar, I can actually play the bass having never played the song on a real bass before. If only I'd done some legit finger practice so my fingers could keep up with the speed of the song though

Ok so how do I start with this method? I have no idea what an open E sounds like, so I can't figure out where to start

sing something, then just find the notes on the guitar. repeat. it gets easier, then main thing here is taking time o actually try and get better at it.

so sing it, and then guess where it would be on the guitar, then look it up the tabs?

noooo no no no, make something up in your head. just a little simple melodic line.

now find the first note of that on your guitar.
from there on out try and figure out the whole melody that you came up with, and see how those intervals are related to each other.
try it with songs you know as well, thats a great excersize i do a lot now too. take a song you know, and just take one simple part. think about it, and see if you can figure it out by yourself on the guitar, without the use of any tabs.
this really helps to get you independent and will help you come up with your own lines and help you express yourself more easily.

ah i see, thanks I'll definitely try that