The amount you practice is an essential factor in how quickly you develop your skills, but not all practice time is equal. Some exercises are better than others at developing certain skills. It really depends on the kind of music you want to play.

Before getting into specific drills, it should be noted that a very reliable way to practice is to repeatedly play the music you want to play. This will require your fingers to move in literally the ways you need them to. But it’s also true that athletes train their bodies in countless ways aside from enduring the sports they play.

If you’re a beginner, a good one is to simply play four notes using your first, second, third, then fourth finger. This exercises each finger equally. Also, stress that the right hand should be alternate picking, that is doing an upstroke followed by a down over and over. Coordinating the two hands is essential in guitar, but if you’re just beginning you can choose to focus on one hand or the other until you get better at each. Also, use your imagination to make the drills a little more challenging as you get better: play 1-2-3-4 then switch to the string below, and when you can do that easily alternate between 1-2-3-4 then 4-3-2-1; go up a fret upon each completed series until you cover the whole guitar neck; use a timer as a means of competition and as a way to gauge your improvement. Remember, even when you’re making these drills harder the point is always to be in control and making sure your notes are even and clear.

You’ll also want to get better at strumming. This may be done by repeating certain strumming patterns at first until you can do them in your sleep. Then, once they’re mastered, practice them more. Strumming must become second nature to you. You can practice by rigorous training, of course, but playing a lot of songs is more enjoyable and better because you’re more likely to stick to it.

For more advanced players, practice arpeggios. This helps with dexterity but it’s a very musical drill. It’ll greatly help your sense of playing in harmonies. After a certain point playing ascending and descending scales is easy, but arpeggios will keep you in your toes. For those who don’t know, arpeggios are the notes from your scale but skipping a note each time, so you’ll play the 1st,3rd,5th,7th notes, then the 2nd,4th,6th,8th, etc. You can begin by doing two note arpeggios, then three, then four. There are books you can purchase which have many different arpeggio workouts, and in general there are many books of this nature outlining different finger workouts. A big hindrance for many players is skipping strings. Get good at this while alternate picking and you’re off to another realm of soloing. Once your fingers work quickly and independently, and your two hands are coordinated, you can finally say that your finger exercises have paid off.

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