Get Faster Fingers in Just a Few Days: The ‘Ladder’ Exercise for Guitarists

Welcome back to 30 Days of Guitar! Today is all about how to get a good strumming sound. I have some tips for smoother and cleaner chord shapes, as well as a finger exercise that will give you faster fingers in a matter of days. We also discuss wrist pain and a process for learning new chord shapes.

Four tips for better chord shapes

1. Press your fingers as close to the frets as possible. This will ensure accuracy when you strum.
2. Keep your thumb upright. This helps provide stability for your hand as you strum
3. Curl your fingers more. This keeps you from muting adjacent strings and creates cleaner chord shapes
4. Apply JUST enough pressure. You want your fingers to press firmly against the strings, but not so hard that it changes the sound of the chord.

Fingertip pain is okay – wrist pain is NOT!

If your wrist hurts when you strum, take a break and reset your posture. Make sure your elbow is close to your body and that your wrist is correctly angled when you strum. Practice different wrist and hand positions and allow your wrist to rest if it still hurts after adjusting your posture.

Process for learning new chord shapes

1. Pick 2 chords
2. Practice silent switching
3. Play the chord-switching game
4. Use them in a simple 2 chord song on guitar

“Ladder” exercise. Awesome guitar warmup for building dexterity!

Play the following frets on a single string (the thinner strings are easier for beginners). Your index plays the 5th fret, your middle finger plays the 6th, ring finger plays the 7th and your pinky plays the 8th.

5-6-7-8—8-7-6-5