
I’m going to show you some of my favourite guitar exercises that work out your right hand, stretch your left hand and are guaranteed to improve your ability and dexterity even when you only have 5 minutes to practice in the day.

We all have those days where you haven't had time to practice guitar but want to feel like your fingers are progressing and these guitar exercises are all about getting the best results in the shortest amount of time.

These exercises are easy to learn and the great thing about them is that once you've learned them you only need to spend 5 minutes a day playing to see some real benefits in terms of your finger strength, dexterity, independence and reach!

If you're not a member already, check out [School of McRock](https://schoolofmcrock.com) which features hundreds of hours worth of online guitar lessons. You can even [take a free 14-day trial](https://schoolofmcrock.com/join) for full, instant access.

### The Staircase guitar exercise

This guitar excercise is all about the stretch! For this one, we start off higher up the fretboard (where the frets are closer together) and gradually move down the neck which stretches your fingers more and more as the frets get further apart.

<VideoBlog videoId="WIi_vHW7WUI" />

The fingering for this exercise is very straightforward - you essentially make a 'staircase' shape with your hand before moving each finger down independently by one fret at a time.

This movement alone will increase your finger strength and dexterity. The added difficulty as the frets get further apart and the stretch becomes larger will give your fingers a real workout and improve your reach.

To make sure you get the most benefit from this exercise, you should pluck all four strings together using the thumb and three fingers of your picking hand and listen for clean, ringing notes.

If you can't quite make a stretch, your finger will partially mute a note and you'll hear the fret buzzing - if this happens just reset your fingers and try again. Eventually, over time the stretches will become easier and you'll be able to make it further down the fretboard all the way to the bottom!

**BONUS TIP:** Once you've mastered this exercise going down the neck, try going back up from low to high - or alternating directions - it gets very hard!

### The Spider guitar exercise

The Spider guitar exercise is a great way to blow the cobwebs off your hands and give them an amazing workout!

<VideoBlog videoId="NstyVJYOhVs" />

The reason that this exercise looks and sounds so crazy is because it's actually two patterns played at once. If you separate them it's a bit easier to understand what's going on - you can also download the [Spider guitar exercise tab from this page](https://schoolofmcrock.com/lesson/my-favourite-guitar-exercises/the-spider).

Once you've got those two patterns down, what we do is move one of the patterns down a string at a time, whilst continuing to play the other on the highest string. As the distance between the two gets larger the stretch becomes more difficult.

In this exercise, you're stretching your fingers vertically across the fretboard which works to improve your reach, dexterity and finger independence across strings - which is exactly what you need when you're playing scales and improvising in real playing.

You can play this exercise by plucking the two strings you're using with your thumb and finger on your fretting hand, or it also makes a great alternate picking exercise if you decide to use a plectrum - just remember you want to ensure every note rings out nice and cleanly!

### The Cramper guitar exercise

This exercise is great when you want to improve your picking speed, finger indepedence and the synchronization between your left hand and right hand. It follows a really simple fingering pattern of: 1, 4, 3, 4, 2, 4, 3, 4 with your fretting hand and it's played entirely on one string.

<VideoBlog videoId="jpAhcvCjzJ8" />

Don't let the simplicity fool you, this exercise is difficult and I guarantee it will cramp your hand up very quickly! The constant switching between fingers 3, 4 / 2, 4 and back again is what makes this guitar exercise so tough, but stick with it and you'll see some very real benefits in your own playing!

### Want more guitar exercises?

If you're not a member yet, [sign up for a free 14-day trial](https://schoolofmcrock.com/join) of School of McRock to get instant access to hundreds of hours of online guitar lessons, as well as dedicated support from professional guitarists and access to a community of likeminded players.

If you're interested in learning the location of different scales around the fretboard, our [Guitar Scale Finder app](https://schoolofmcrock.com/scale-finder) features over 200 different guitar scale and arpeggio patterns with detailed charts, tabs and scale diagrams for each scale, pattern and key.

<VideoBlog videoId="NvPae-OMYOk" />


The 3 Best Guitar Exercises To Improve Your Playing Right Now


You may have heard the term 'guitar scale' get used but aren't sure exactly what it means. The answer is actually very straightforward - Guitar scales are a sequence of notes played through in ascending (low to high) or descending (high to low) order.

You can think of a guitar scale as a pattern or shape to help you learn the location of notes on the guitar fretboard and practicing guitar scales will also help you to develop your finger strength and dexterity as well as your musical ear.

If you're interested in learning the location of different scales around the fretboard, our [Guitar Scale Finder app](https://schoolofmcrock.com/scale-finder) features over 200 different guitar scale and arpeggio patterns with detailed charts, tabs and scale diagrams for each scale, pattern and key.

[School of McRock](https://schoolofmcrock.com) also features hundreds of hours of online guitar lessons for players of all levels, as well as dedicated support from professional guitarists to help you take your playing to the next level. You can even [take a free 14-day trial](https://schoolofmcrock.com/join) for full, instant access.

### What are guitar scales used for?

Guitar scales are used by guitarists in many different ways, from improvising solos and riffs to writing melody lines, chord progressions and entire songs.

Some scales are more common in certain genres of music, for example blues and rock guitarists will commonly use pentatonic guitar scales to improvise lead lines and solos, whilst the harmonic minor scale is often used in classical, jazz and metal music.

There are many different guitar scales that you could learn, but it's generally recommended that you should learn the Major Scale first, as this forms the basis for all of the other scales and modes in music theory. However, many guitarists will learn the pentatonic or blues scales first due to their straightforward shapes when laid out on the fretboard.

### The easiest way to learn guitar scales

A useful technique that beginner guitarists can use to learn guitar scales is to memorise the interval patterns of the scale - which is the space between each note on the fretboard. The notes of most scales are usually a either a half-step (1 fret) or whole-step (2 frets) apart, so you could visualise the Major Scale as whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half (or W W h W W W h).

<ImageBlog src="/static/articles/scales/g-major-scale-notes.png" width="1309" height="612" alt="G Major Scale Notes" />

If you were to follow this sequence starting from the 3rd fret of the low E string (G), you'd play the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and 14th frets to form a complete G Major Scale.

You can move the starting position to any fret on any string, and as long as you follow the same scale pattern across a single string, you'll be able to play the Major Scale in any key.

If you want to learn more about this technique,[check out this lesson on School of McRock](https://schoolofmcrock.com/lesson/thinking-in-tones/introduction) or watch the preview below.

<VideoBlog videoId="9_MyHaCdPLs" title="Thinking in Tones guitar lesson preview" />

This technique makes it really simple to learn new guitar scales and it's an excellent way to improve your musical ear relating to how each scale sounds, but on it's own it isn't a very practical way to improvise or write songs on the guitar.

### Guitar scale charts and patterns

A more common way to learn guitar scales is to memorise patterns and shapes that move from the low to high strings, usually by playing two or three notes on each string before moving your fingers to the next guitar string.

These patterns are often written down as guitar scale charts or guitar scale diagrams, where you can see a top-down view of the fretboard with markers for each individual note that you would play to form the full guitar scale.

<ImageBlog src="/static/articles/scales/g-major-scale-chart.png" width="1798" height="824" alt="G Major Scale Chart" caption="G Major Scale Chart" />

The numbers on the above scale chart represent the fingers you should use to fret each individual note. Alternatively you might see notes labelled by their name (eg. C, D, Eb...) or the degree of the scale (eg. 1, 2, b3...).

You can find scale charts for over 200 different scale and arpeggio patterns in our [Guitar Scale Finder app](https://schoolofmcrock.com/scale-finder) which also lets you toggle between note names, degrees and recommended fingering.

### Major guitar scales

You can play the major scale in many different ways on a guitar. Each position of the major scale will contain the same notes arranged in the same order, the only difference is the fingering pattern you use to reach them.

The most popular approaches to learning the major scale in different locations around the fretboard are the CAGED system (5 positions) and 3-note-per-string system (7 positions).

The CAGED system may seem more straightforward to learn because there are fewer positions to remember, but the 3-note-per-string system can be easier to play - especially at fast speeds - since there are 3 notes played on each string you are always following the same picking pattern.

<ImageBlog
  src="/static/articles/scales/c-major-scale-caged-g-shape.png"
  width="1278.5"
  height="438.5"
  alt="C Major Scale - CAGED G Position"
  caption="CAGED - C Major Scale (G Position)"
/>
<ImageBlog
  src="/static/articles/scales/c-major-scale-3nps-position-5.png"
  width="1279"
  height="429.5"
  alt="C Major Scale 3NPS Position 5"
  caption="3NPS - C Major Scale (5th Position)"
/>

In the two scale charts above, all of the notes from C Major have been highlighted as well as the actual scale pattern, which makes it easy to see how both scales contain the same notes.

Ultimately there is no right and wrong method to learn, so you should choose the approach that makes the most sense to you.

### Minor guitar scales

The minor scale is closely related to the major scale, but it contains several flat notes, e.g. instead of **1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7**, you have **1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7**. So, by playing a major scale but shifting the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes down by 1 fret you will transform it into a minor scale!

<ImageBlog src="/static/articles/scales/g-major-vs-minor-scale.jpg" width="1200" height="366.5" alt="G Major vs G Minor Guitar Scale" caption="G Major vs G Minor Guitar Scale" />

In the charts above you can see which notes have been moved to transform the major scale (left) into the minor scale (right). You will also notice that the scale pattern looks quite different on the G, B and high E strings. This is because after the notes have been moved, the fingering required to play the original scale pattern becomes more awkward to play. Since the same notes can be found on different frets and strings of the guitar, a simpler pattern has been formed using the same notes in alternative locations.

### Major pentatonic scales

A pentatonic scale contains only _five_ notes instead of the _seven_ that most guitar scales commonly feature. The most popular type of pentatonic guitar scales are the Major Pentatonic Scale and Minor Pentatonic Scale.

Whilst the full Major Scale contains 7 notes (**1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7**), the major pentaonic scale drops the 4th and 7th notes, leaving only **1, 2, 3, 5, 6** remaining.

This provides a different sound to the standard major scale and also simplifies the scale pattern, making it easier to remember and play:

<ImageBlog src="/static/articles/scales/c-major-pentatonic-1.png" width="1279" height="431" alt="C Major Pentatonic Guitar Scale" caption="C Major Pentatonic Scale" />

### Minor pentatonic scales

The minor pentatonic scale drops the 4th and 7th notes from the minor scale, leaving only **1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b7** remaining.

<ImageBlog src="/static/articles/scales/a-minor-pentatonic-1.png" width="1279" height="425" alt="A Minor Pentatonic Guitar Scale" caption="A Minor Pentatonic Scale" />

### Blues guitar scales

The blues guitar scale is a variation of the minor pentatonic scale that adds two extra notes back into the scale (**b5 and b7**). These notes are commonly referred to as "blues notes" and give the scale a distinctive bluesy sound.

<ImageBlog src="/static/articles/scales/a-minor-blues-scale-1.png" width="1279" height="432.5" alt="A Minor Blues Guitar Scale" caption="A Minor Blues Scale" />

### What is the best way to learn guitar scales?

If you're not a member yet, [sign up for a free 14-day trial](https://schoolofmcrock.com/join) of School of McRock to get instant access to hundreds of hours of online guitar lessons, as well as dedicated support from professional guitarists and access to a community of likeminded players.

If you're interested in learning the location of different scales around the fretboard, our [Guitar Scale Finder app](https://schoolofmcrock.com/scale-finder) features over 200 different guitar scale and arpeggio patterns with detailed charts, tabs and scale diagrams for each scale, pattern and key.

<VideoBlog videoId="NvPae-OMYOk" />


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The 3 Best Guitar Exercises To Improve Your Playing Right Now

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What other guitarists are saying about

Robin

SoM Student

Tony

SoM Student

Nikos

SoM Student

214,000+ Instagram Followers

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214,000+
Instagram
Followers

54,000+
Facebook
Followers

41,000+
YouTube
Subscribers