Fingerstyle "workout" suggestions?

StumptownUke

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Hi All, I am relatively new to fingerstyle playing and really enjoying it. What are some things I can do to practice moving up and down the fretboard to build up some muscle memory? Any books or videos that might help with this?
 
Check out the spider practice with Craig Chee and Sara Maisel on utube or their site. They have several they suggest.
 
The first thing I bought after my ukulele was the Mel Bay book of ukulele scales. It listed all the scales and their modes for the re-entrant tunings. Those will keep your fingers busy for a while.
 
Hi All, I am relatively new to fingerstyle playing and really enjoying it. What are some things I can do to practice moving up and down the fretboard to build up some muscle memory? Any books or videos that might help with this?

Perhaps you might find some help in Ukulele Aerobics by Chad Johnson, just a suggestion for investigation.
 
Check out Elisabeth Pfeiffer's really good Fingerstyle Etudes book. It is bilingual (English and German), Paul Mansell reviewed it here.
 
1. Download this free bundle of scales: https://liveukulele.com/scales/.

2. Sequence them: https://liveukulele.com/lessons/sequencing-scales/.

3. Report back in five years. :cool:

Force yourself to use different fingerpicking styles (thumb only, index only, thumb/index alternating, PIMA, etc...) to build your right hand facility while you're at it.

Anything you play, no matter who put it together, is going to be useful to improving your skill as long as you're practicing it well. Most people just need permission to go forth and create their own material. What is hard for you to play? Write some exercises around whatever your difficulties are.
 
Hi All, I am relatively new to fingerstyle playing and really enjoying it. What are some things I can do to practice moving up and down the fretboard to build up some muscle memory? Any books or videos that might help with this?

Pretty much any classical guitar tutorial will have you doing warmup exercises before even teaching you how to fret a note; so just look into that.

The warmup that I do (which is the most basic) is to place the fingers on the first 4 frets on string 1, play the 5 notes (open counts as 1), then move the fingers to string 2, play the 5 notes, and so on; once at string 4, reverse and go back to string 1. The key to is to play at constant tempo and with each note ringing clean. Repeat the up/down on the string with faster tempo as your fingers are warming up.
 
Perhaps you might find some help in Ukulele Aerobics by Chad Johnson, just a suggestion for investigation.

I'll second this. Really short exercises that use a variety of skills and come from different styles. I have the kindle edition and it will play the exercises so you know what you should sound like.

Samantha Muir also had "The little Book of Right Hand Technique for the Ukulele" It had about 20 4-8 bar picking exercises. It's been replaced by a bigger book of 100 exercise.

Both books really focus on the right hand. When your learning it can help to separate your focus. Practice the right hand with the left in one position, and then the left with scales, etc with simple rh picking. If you can use each hand well separately, it will be easier to put them together.
 
I will add another vote for ukulele aerobics, because it DOES contain a good deal of short, sweet picking exercises. Sometimes it builds on a previous lesson, sometimes it does not. I tend to use the book as a warm-up starter. Mind you, I haven't progressed far, but that's because I take 1 "week" of exercises and work them until I can play through them without/with minimal mistakes.

I am also working with Fred Sokolow's book Fingerstyle Ukulele and The Beatles For Fingerstyle Ukulele. On the former he also sings, which is not necessarily a plus. But it makes me feel less awkward about my own singing :D
 
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