Hands the daily wake-up

Short loops for the two hands before any music: one finger per fret, a pick locked to the click, then the two together. These are not songs. Evenness beats speed — start the metronome near 60. Which of these to play today, and for how long, is on Today.

Where a drill is a shape or a picking pattern, TAB sits next to the explanation (high e on top). How to read it: Foundations · TAB. Naming the notes under your fingers is its own lesson: Notes on the neck.

Wake-ups Left hand Right hand Together Method books By style

Play becomes Stop on the same button. Click it again to silence. Tempo follows the metronome in the practice bar.

Golden rules: (1) Slow first — only speed up when it is clean. (2) Metronome on. (3) One new motion a day — not all of them. (4) Stay relaxed — shake out tension; never play through pain.

Wake-ups — four minutes

One fret per finger: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky. Keep unused fingers hovering over their fret. Use Play to hear the model. Under each TAB: LH finger, RH D/U, then the note name. A moving bar follows the sounding note.

Chromatic 1-2-3-4

On each string: frets 1-2-3-4, low E up to high e. Reverse is 4-3-2-1, high e down to low E. Standard Hal Leonard / Berklee warmup.

Low E → high e · 1-2-3-4 on every string

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1---2---3---4
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------1---2---3---4----------------
G|---------------------------------------------------1---2---3---4--------------------------------
D|-----------------------------------1---2---3---4------------------------------------------------
A|-------------------1---2---3---4----------------------------------------------------------------
E|---1---2---3---4--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LH   1   2   3   4   1   2   3   4   1   2   3   4   1   2   3   4   1   2   3   4   1   2   3   4
RH   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
     F  F#   G  G#  A#   B   C  C#  D#   E   F  F#  G#   A  A#   B   C  C#   D  D#   F  F#   G  G#

High e → low E · 4-3-2-1 on every string

e|---4---3---2---1--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B|-------------------4---3---2---1----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-----------------------------------4---3---2---1------------------------------------------------
D|---------------------------------------------------4---3---2---1--------------------------------
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------4---3---2---1----------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------4---3---2---1
LH   4   3   2   1   4   3   2   1   4   3   2   1   4   3   2   1   4   3   2   1   4   3   2   1
RH   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
    G#   G  F#   F  D#   D  C#   C   B  A#   A  G#  F#   F   E  D#  C#   C   B  A#  G#   G  F#   F

Spider

One finger per fret on four adjacent strings, then reverse: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1. Walk that shape down the neck (e–B–G–D, then B–G–D–A, then G–D–A–E). Classical coordination primer.

e|---1---------------------------1----------------------------------------------------------------
B|-------2-------------------2-------1---------------------------1--------------------------------
G|-----------3-----------3---------------2-------------------2-------1---------------------------1
D|---------------4---4-----------------------3-----------3---------------2-------------------2----
A|-----------------------------------------------4---4-----------------------3-----------3--------
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------4---4------------
LH   1   2   3   4   4   3   2   1   1   2   3   4   4   3   2   1   1   2   3   4   4   3   2   1
RH   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
     F  C#  A#  F#  F#  A#  C#   F   C   A   F  C#  C#   F   A   C  G#   E   C  G#  G#   C   E  G#

Stretch

Index on fret 1, pinky on fret 4 of the same string. No buzz, no collapsed wrist. Walk it low E to high e, then try 5–8 when 1–4 feels honest.

e|-------------------------------------------1---4
B|-----------------------------------1---4--------
G|---------------------------1---4----------------
D|-------------------1---4------------------------
A|-----------1---4--------------------------------
E|---1---4----------------------------------------
LH   1   4   1   4   1   4   1   4   1   4   1   4
RH   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
     F  G#  A#  C#  D#  F#  G#   B   C  D#   F  G#

Alternate picking

One open string, down-up-down-up locked to the click. Same pitch every time — the drill is the right hand. Then cross: low E to D to high e and back.

Open low E · one bar of eighths · ↓↑↓↑

e|--------------------------------
B|--------------------------------
G|--------------------------------
D|--------------------------------
A|--------------------------------
E|---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
LH   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
RH   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
     E   E   E   E   E   E   E   E

String cross · low E → D → high e → D → E

e|-----------0--------
B|--------------------
G|--------------------
D|-------0-------0----
A|--------------------
E|---0---------------0
LH   0   0   0   0   0
RH   D   U   D   U   D
     E   D   E   D   E

Left hand — legato and variants

One finger per fret: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky. Unused fingers hover over their home fret. Even volume beats speed. Once the four wake-ups above are even, keep the fingers honest with unpicked notes and with orders they do not expect.

Hammer-on / pull-off cell

Pick G string fret 5, hammer 7, pull back to 5. Only the first note is picked. This is the legato seed before lead phrasing — unpicked notes must match the picked one in volume.

G|-5h7p5-|   pick, hammer, pull

Deeper: Lead · hammer-on and pull-off.

Left-hand variants

Same finger discipline, many shapes. Pick a pattern, string, and starting fret — then Play.

Pattern Start string Start fret

Right hand — mute and feel

The click owns the right hand. Lock down-up to the metronome before you chase speed. Stamina and syncopated mute: Rock. Gallop and muted chug: Metal.

Palm-mute eighths

Palm on the bridge, open low E, two hits per click. Pitch stays; ring dies. Too far forward and the note is gone; too far back and nothing is muted.

E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-   P.M.

Deeper: Rock · palm mute.

Pick variants

Change the subdivision and the string. The left hand stays out of the way — open string only.

Feel String Mute

Gallop feel is here as a subdivision. The dedicated gallop gym is Metal.

Hands together

The guitar twin of piano “syncing”: each hand keeps its job while the other does something different. Master each side alone first, then combine at half tempo. See Piano · hand syncing for the keyboard version.

Eighths plus changing fretted note

Right hand keeps alternate eighths on open low E. Left hand holds a fretted note on the A string that changes every two beats: fret 2, 3, 5, 7. Count “1-and 2-and” — the fretted note lands on the numbers, eighths fill every subdivision.

RH  E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|   ↓ ↑
LH  A|-2-------3-------5-------7---|

If the fretted note flams the open string, slow down until they lock.

Boom-chick through G→C→D

Keep boom-chick running while the left hand moves G→C→D. The right hand must not pause for the change. Arrive on beat 1 with at least the bass note fretted.

G                 C                 D
(right hand boom-chick never stops)

Same loop as Folk · G–C–D — practise here when hands-together is the goal.

Thumb bass + i–m treble

Thumb keeps a steady bass pulse on open D while i and m alternate on the high e string. Two rhythms, two registers — the classical independence seed applied hands-together.

    1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
e|----0-------0---   i / m
B|----------------
G|----------------
D|-0---0---0---0--   p
A|----------------
E|----------------

Deeper: Classical · Classical drills · independence.

Method books — guitar’s daily gym

Piano has Hanon. Guitar has public-domain studies you open on IMSLP — we name the doors; we do not print the notes. Pair a card from this hub or from Classical with one short study.

Sor Op. 60 nos. 1–3 — progressive lessons; melody above a simple bass. First-piece door on Classical · first pieces.
Carcassi Op. 60 nos. 1–3 — melodious etudes; No. 1 in C is the usual door for planted arpeggios.
Giuliani Op. 51 nos. 1–3 — progressive studies; same right-hand family as the classical pattern library.
Giuliani’s 120 (1812) — the pattern family for pima, not a study to copy numbered here.

Hal Leonard Book 1 and Berklee lab practice cover the pick / chromatic spine. Resources: method checklist.

By style

Once the hands are awake, each style has its own gym page: a suggested order, the drills, variants on any chord or root, and a practice note. Pick one per session — four focused minutes beats a tour of all five.