The 5-Step Perfect Warm-Up Routine
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Before we begin - let’s get one thing straight…
Most warm-up routines are an absolute waste of time.
Most guitarists use their warm-up routines as an excuse to procrastinate and avoid
practicing the things they actually need to practice.
An effective warm-up routine is simple and quick. Get in, get the blood flowing in
your hands, get your fingers reacquainted with the strings, and get out - so you can
get to work on your practice goals for the day ASAP and spend the majority of your
practice time playing actual music.
That’s what we’re going to accomplish with this simple yet effective 5-step warm-up
routine.
Grab a timer and spend no more than 1 minute on each of these steps.
Let’s go!
Step 1. Prepare Your “Preventive Practice” Mindset
Before you play a single note on your guitar - you need to pause for a moment and
prepare the mindset that will set the tone for your entire practice session.
You need to commit to a mindset of preventive practice rather than reactive
practice.
Most of us spend our practice time constantly reacting to mistakes. You make a
mistake, you try to fix it… you make another mistake, you go back and try to fix it…
The problem with this approach is that - every time you make that mistake, it’s
already getting ingrained in your muscle memory making you more likely to make
that same mistake again!
When you adopt a preventive practice mindset - you make it your top priority in
your practice to prevent those mistakes from ever happening in the first
place. This is how you build strong consistent muscle memory and ultimately
eliminate mistakes in your playing.
So at the beginning of your warm-up, you need to reflect on these 3 statements to
prepare your preventive practice mindset:
“I will isolate a few notes at a time - and refuse to bite off more than I can chew.”
“I will play slow enough that it feels easy.”
“I will temporarily pause between notes if I have to - it’s better to hesitate than to
err.”
Step 2. Wake Up Your Plucking Hand
The goal with this exercise is to “wake up” your plucking hand - to get the blood
flowing and to “reacquaint” your fingers with the strings.
If you’ve ever had blood drawn before - the nurse often asks you to repeatedly
make a fist. This helps get your blood pumping. That’s what we’re achieving with
this exercise.
Play each chord as loudly as you can - with an exaggerated follow-through so
that each finger touches your palm at the end of the stroke, making a fist.
Focus on your fingers’ contact point with the strings as they return back to their
starting position - making sure they plant accurately and consistently on the strings
before plucking the next chord.
This helps “reacquaint” your fingers with the strings - reminding you of the position
of each string under your hand and the exact spacing between them.
Step 3. Arpeggios
This exercise builds on what we started in the first exercise - warming up the hands
and fingers and reaquanting them with the strings, but we’ve ramped things up a
notch with more movement, courtesy of some ascending arpeggios.
Speed is not a priority here! Remember, this warm-up routine is meant to also
set the tone for the rest of your practice session by prioritizing preventive practice.
So keep things slow and relaxed.
Start training your fingers to snap into place on the strings quickly and accurately
by planting all 3 of your i (index), m (middle), and a (ring) fingers on their
respective strings immediately as your thumb (p) plays at the beginning of each
arpeggio.
We’re starting to warm the fretting hand fingers up here as well with this moving
bassline melody. Keep the fretting fingers relaxed by feeling like you’re “hanging”
on each note with the weight of your arm - rather than squeezing between your
thumb and fingers.
Step 4. Sequential Planting
I’m breaking my general rule here because I prefer practicing real music over
exercises, and if I do practice exercises - I want them to at least sound musical.
Although this little chromatic scale exercise is a far cry from “beautiful” - it’s
powerfully effective in its simplicity. The simple sequence of your finger placement
(1,2,3,4) allows you to focus primarily on your technique, rather than the notes
themselves - which is crucial for an effective warm-up.
The key with this exercise is to play each note “staccato”: short and disconnected.
You do this with sequential planting. As soon as your “i” finger plucks the first
note, your “m” finger immediately plants on the string - ready to pluck the next
note. When it plucks, your “i” finger returns to plant on the string in preparation for
the next note. Rinse and repeat this plucking-and-planting for the duration of the
exercise, alternating between your “i” and “m” fingers.
If done correctly, this sequential planting will cause each note to sound short and
disconnected. Planting like this trains your plucking fingers to stay close to the
strings at all times (improving the efficiency of your movements) and to snap onto
the strings quickly and accurately.
When you incorporate sequential planting into your warm-up routine, you’ll feel the
benefits in the accuracy of your plucking hand throughout the rest of your practice
session.
Step 5. Synchronization
* You can keep repeating this exercise up at the 7th fret (as seen in the first 2 measures) or choose to move the
pattern down a fret after each repetition (as seen in the last 2 measures) to gradually increase the stretch
This is the final piece of our perfect warm-up puzzle and will really get the blood
flowing in your fretting hand.
But this exercise isn’t just about warming up those fretting fingers - it’s about
getting your fretting and plucking hands synchronized.
The main reason your playing sounds choppy is because your 2 hands are not
synchronized.
If your fretting hand lets go of a note before you’re ready to pluck the next note -
the note dies and you’ll hear a disconnected silence between each note.
If your plucking hand is late and plucks the next note with a delay after it’s already
fretted - again, you’ll hear a disconnect.
Your 2 hands have to be in perfect sync - plucking and fretting at the exact
same time.
That’s what we’re striving for with this final warm-up exercise. Unlike the previous
exercise - you don’t want to hear any silence between each note. But you also don’t
want to hear any overlap - meaning, when you move on to the next note, make
sure your fretting hand releases the previous note.
Practicing synchronization in your warm-up routine will ensure it’s a priority for you
throughout the rest of your practice session - and will train your ear to listen for
those subtle choppy silences between notes, so you can eliminate them.
This quick and easy warm-up routine is all you need to hit the ground running in
your practice with the right mindset, prioritizing preventive practice, and an efficient
and accurate plucking hand - perfectly synchronized with your fretting hand.
Get in and get out in no more than 5 minutes so you can spend the majority of your
practice time playing actual music that you love!
Happy practicing, my friend.
-Nathan
Want to learn how to master fingerstyle guitar while skipping
the boring drills and playing actual beautiful music?
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