Looking to increase picking speed and accuracy, drills?

Hey all,

(Sorry if this isnt the right spot to post but this subforum seems to be the most active. Hope thats ok!) I know the quick answer here is "practice" and I know thats the key, but I was wondering about any particular drills or exercises I can do to increase my speed in finger picking. The strange part is I'm a righty, and just doing random things like waggling my index and middle finger up and down my left fingers move way quicker than my right.

If anyone has any recommendations for drills or something like that, even if its without a uke, like something I can do at work or school, that would be fantastic. I've heard of the spider drills for guitar, but those seem more for left hand dexterity, and I also havent seen one for uke yet.

Thanks in advance!

I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, and this isn't an endorsement because I haven't tried this book yet, but by way of sharing information, have you seen this?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/147681306X...qmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9jziwz6bj1_e

That's the one.

If you haven't already, I recommend joining ukulele underground plus. Within, are courses which focus on finger dexterity and mastering the fretboard. It really helped me!

Tommy B said:

I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, and this isn't an endorsement because I haven't tried this book yet, but by way of sharing information, have you seen this?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/147681306X...qmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9jziwz6bj1_e

Click to expand...

I havent heard of this book but the reviews are great! I'll definitely take a look at it.

Icelander53 said:

That's the one.

Click to expand...

referring to the book posted above? lol

jksk8in said:

If you haven't already, I recommend joining ukulele underground plus. Within, are courses which focus on finger dexterity and mastering the fretboard. It really helped me!

Click to expand...

I've looked into it when I was wanting to learn more about ukulele music theory (or i guess music theory in general), but I'm not sure I can afford the monthly expense on a student income. I will definitely consider it further.

The advice I give was handed down to me from a friend who was a guitar god. Learn to play cleanly while playing slow turn off the effects and really learn how to play clean slowly. Speed comes with time and weeding out bad habits now while playing slowly things will work themselves out when you gain speed.

My own way of doing things.

When younger my organ lessons included exercises of just running up and down the keys forcing your fingers to preform proper technique. Last week I started walking up each string one fret at a time leaving my fingers down. 1 2 3 4 lift all but my pointer slide then 2 3 4 5 life slide 3 4 5 6 all the way up the fretboard. I then tried doing this in reverse placing all fingers down and only lifting each as needed and let me tell you that's a workout for me starting at 12 11 10 9 slide place four fingers 11 10 9 8 etc. When this starts getting easier I'll skip a fret like 1 3 4 5 slide 2 4 5 6 and any variation of such things. This is what we did for keyboard 36 years ago.

I learned an easy way to fake dueling banjos just finger picking through the three chords I'm getting much faster in the last week. In fact I'm really in the leaps and bounds stage for my beginnerish level. I'm doing such exercises to hopefully stave off the next plateau before I reach it.

And what a dork writing all this about left hand exercises and just realizing you're still looking for right hand exercises. La la la.

My last statement hit on the right hand, playing dueling banjos even an easy version has helped my right hand finger picking. My go to song is Please dont talk about me when I'm gone and since I really still dont sing I've tried every finger picking thing my hand can do naturally. Find a song you like to finger pick and "own it"!

My old guitar buddy would say, "Nothing teaches you to play an instrument like playing an instrument".

After watching this I have a lot to learn still.



There are videos like this all over youtube for free.

Good luck

Art.Vandelay said:

I've looked into it when I was wanting to learn more about ukulele music theory (or i guess music theory in general)...

Click to expand...

You might look into "Fretboard Roadmaps", "Ukulele for Dummies" and "Ukulele Exercises for Dummies".

A few free downloads for you:

Hanon for Uke

Campanella Scales

Gratis Etudes

Try using a metronome on scales, picking patterns etc. I recently added this to my routine and use it for 10-15 minutes of scales and tricky patterns. Set it on a slower tempo and gradually add 5 bpm until you reach your desired speed. I've also used it on some of the Aaron Keim clawhammer pieces. It's helped quite a bit.

+1 for Ukulele Aerobics

Isn't this being discussed here in your other thread?

Anyway I just remembered an excellent drill for the right hand specifically for learning tremolo.

When you at driving or even sitting find a seam on the seat of the passenger side seat or on your chair jeans etc. And use that as a "string" to pluck and practice tremolo or other finger picking. This will help with finger independence and muscle memory.

Think of it this way. Learning dexterity for any musical instrument is no different than say training for track and field. Except that you are training smaller "limbs" and muscles... Your fingers and hands.

So if you look at it this way you can be creative but careful not to overdo it. And use the same concepts and discipline of any athletic training but at a smaller scale.

its amazing how much training can give you. When I started classical guitar about 7 years ago I could barely find the right strings or reach more than 2 or 2 frets. Now I can reach a lot more, play tremolo at full speed after warming up and play complicated pieces with my eyes completely closed.

Training, discipline, and time will yield the results of what you put into it over time. There are no shortcuts to serious and reliable technique.

It is said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master anything and boy I believe that!

Inksplosive AL said:

After watching this I have a lot to learn still.



There are videos like this all over youtube for free.

Good luck

Click to expand...

Thank you for your extensive reply!

itsme said:

You might look into "Fretboard Roadmaps", "Ukulele for Dummies" and "Ukulele Exercises for Dummies".

A few free downloads for you:

Hanon for Uke

Campanella Scales

Gratis Etudes

Click to expand...

I'll look into all that, thanks!

peanuts56 said:

Try using a metronome on scales, picking patterns etc. I recently added this to my routine and use it for 10-15 minutes of scales and tricky patterns. Set it on a slower tempo and gradually add 5 bpm until you reach your desired speed. I've also used it on some of the Aaron Keim clawhammer pieces. It's helped quite a bit.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input!

Kayak Jim said:

+1 for Ukulele Aerobics

Click to expand...

Hmm guess it might be worth it then!

Olarte said:

Isn't this being discussed here in your other thread?

Anyway I just remembered an excellent drill for the right hand specifically for learning tremolo.

When you at driving or even sitting find a seam on the seat of the passenger side seat or on your chair jeans etc. And use that as a "string" to pluck and practice tremolo or other finger picking. This will help with finger independence and muscle memory.

Think of it this way. Learning dexterity for any musical instrument is no different than say training for track and field. Except that you are training smaller "limbs" and muscles... Your fingers and hands.

So if you look at it this way you can be creative but careful not to overdo it. And use the same concepts and discipline of any athletic training but at a smaller scale.

its amazing how much training can give you. When I started classical guitar about 7 years ago I could barely find the right strings or reach more than 2 or 2 frets. Now I can reach a lot more, play tremolo at full speed after warming up and play complicated pieces with my eyes completely closed.

Training, discipline, and time will yield the results of what you put into it over time. There are no shortcuts to serious and reliable technique.

It is said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master anything and boy I believe that!

Click to expand...

Hahha Yep, just figured I'd try to gather as many opinions as possible. Hope that's not frowned upon! I've heard the 10,000 hours figure as well. Hopefully it's much less to just be "pretty good" Hahaha