Fastes Fingers Competition

Valerie

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I've been working on finger picking drills to try and get my fingers in shape, but the drills are a bit boring. So, I thought it might be fun to challenge some people to see who has the fastest fingers.

The prize: Bragging rights.

The rules: Time yourself playing a complete spider drill without mistakes. Post time below. Person with the fastest time is the current leader.
*edit* like MGM said- this is a finger picking drill*

How to do a complete spider drill:
On the G string play the following frets:
0
1 2 3 4
2 3 4 5
3 4 5 6
4 5 6 7
5 6 7 8
6 7 8 9
7 8 9 10
8 9 10 11
9 10 11 12
11 10 9
11 10 9 8
10 9 8 7
9 8 7 6
8 7 6 5
7 6 5 4
6 5 4 3
5 4 3 2
4 3 2 1

Then repeat the pattern on the C, E and A strings.

Here is a video example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XM2jlttZes

My current fastest time is:
1:30.673
(timed using this stopwatch)

My goal is to get that time down to under a minute.
 
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Thats a hot uke, lanikai flamed maple tenor?

now im hesitant on the kala archtop.

good job!
 
Nope, it's a concert- I'm just a small person.

And Dane, come on! Where's your competitive spirit? Even if you play it as slow as I did in the video- it only takes about 4 minutes to do the whole drill.
 
that is a sexy uke. ill give it a try.
 
This looks really interesting and no doubt you'll get better at picking. I'll give it a go.

To MGM: thanks again for sending out my Kala KA-S last month. Got here just in time to help me pass the time in the hospital during my Gallbladder surgery.
 
Your time of 1:30 was for all four strings?? I'll give it a try. I need to work on my picking anyway. Do you know any other picking drills or exercises?
 
My favorite finger exercise is Flight of the Bumblebee -- sorry, I know I've posted that before. I got it from ukulelezoo.com. It's a killer, but it takes you all over the fretboard. It's supposed to go super fast, but I can't go that fast and still keep a good tone. It's pretty fun, try it.

Valerie's exercise reminds me of Aldrine's warm-up exercises from a couple of months ago.
 
There is another picking exercise that is called the inchworm drill.

You play frets
G: 1 2 3 4
C: 1 2 3 4
E: 1 2 3 4
A: 1 2 3 4
A: 3 2 1
E: 4 3 2 1
C: 4 3 2 1
G: 4 3 2 1

Then slide up so that you start the same pattern again but on the 2nd fret rather than 1st. And you repeate that moving up and down the fretboard.

When I took guitar my teacher would make me do these drills with my eyes closed- lol- but I'm not that good with my uke.

I am totally going to check out flight of the bumblebee, though! Like I said before, these drills tend to be a bit teadious.
 
Yay. I can do the spider drill on my soprano in less than a minute!
 
Under a minute? Awesome! That's my goal: so... have you timed yourself with a stopwatch? I mean, how fast are we talking?
 
I just used a clock. It was one or two seconds below a minute. I don't know for sure. I just know that when I started and looked back up, it was a tick or two behind a full circle.

EDIT: I just did it again, 53 seconds. w00t!
 
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*bows down*

The fastest I've clocked is 1:09 but that was with a fair number of mistakes.

The fastest without any mistakes is still around 1:30 for me.
 
Great idea. I cant submit a time as my stopwatch only goes to 99:99 - i need one with a bigger screen.

GL UU'ers :bowdown:

I have attached a prediction though :D


I am still trying to get full control of my pinky
 

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