Drills
Short practice loops that wake the hands and name the neck. These are not songs. Evenness beats speed. Use the metronome — start near 60. The style-specific drills now live on their own pages, linked below.
Technique path: Drills · Exercises · style pages (Folk · Classical · Island · Fingerpicking)
Where a drill is a shape or a picking pattern, TAB sits next to the explanation (A string on top · four lines). How to read it: Foundations · TAB.
Hands Notes Folk Classical Island Fingerpicking
Ten-minute path: pick a track. One new motion a day is enough.
Beginner
2 min chromatic · 2 min open-string names · 4 min island or folk boom-chick · 2 min stretch. Stay near 60.
Intermediate
2 min chromatic reverse · 2 min find-every-natural · 4 min Classical i–m or fingerpicking · 2 min hammer-ons. Click at 80 when even.
Advanced
2 min 16th pulse on open C · 2 min first-position scales at tempo · 4 min movable shapes or independence · 2 min clean changes. Silence between notes counts.
Play becomes Stop on the same button. Click it again to silence.
Hands — wake the fingers
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. TAB has A on top (GCEA).
Chromatic 1-2-3-4
On each string: frets 1-2-3-4, G string up to A string. Reverse is 4-3-2-1, A string down to G string. The standard left-hand warmup on four strings.
G → C → E → A · 1-2-3-4 on every string
A|---------------------------------------------------1---2---3---4
E|-----------------------------------1---2---3---4----------------
C|-------------------1---2---3---4--------------------------------
G|---1---2---3---4------------------------------------------------
LH 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
G# A A# B C# D D# E F F# G G# A# B C C#
A → E → C → G · 4-3-2-1 on every string
A|---4---3---2---1------------------------------------------------
E|-------------------4---3---2---1--------------------------------
C|-----------------------------------4---3---2---1----------------
G|---------------------------------------------------4---3---2---1
LH 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
C# C B A# G# G F# F E D# D C# B A# A G#
Spider
One finger per fret across all four strings, then reverse: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 (A→E→C→G). Classical coordination primer for GCEA.
A|---1---------------------------1
E|-------2-------------------2----
C|-----------3-----------3--------
G|---------------4---4------------
LH 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1
RH D U D U D U D U
A# F# D# B B D# F# A#
Stretch
Index on fret 1, pinky on fret 4 of the same string. No buzz, no collapsed wrist. Walk it G string to A string, then try 5–8 when 1–4 feels honest.
A|---------------------------1---4
E|-------------------1---4--------
C|-----------1---4----------------
G|---1---4------------------------
LH 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4
RH D U D U D U D U
G# B C# E F G# A# C#
Alternate / strum pulse
One open string, down-up-down-up locked to the click. Same pitch every time — the drill is the right hand. Open C is the lowest pitch on high-G uke. Then cross all four strings.
Open C · one bar of eighths · ↓↑↓↑
A|--------------------------------
E|--------------------------------
C|---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
G|--------------------------------
LH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RH D U D U D U D U
C C C C C C C C
String cross · G → C → E → A → E → C → G
A|---------------0------------
E|-----------0-------0--------
C|-------0---------------0----
G|---0-----------------------0
LH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RH D U D U D U D
G C E A E C G
Notes and the neck
Name what you play. Note names sit under each TAB. Then try Quest · fretboard ID as a game. Soprano/concert frets usually stop near 12–15 — learn 0–12 first.
Open strings — G C E A
G (reentrant) · C (lowest) · E · A, then back down. Say the name before the attack lands.
A|---------------0------------
E|-----------0-------0--------
C|-------0---------------0----
G|---0-----------------------0
LH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RH D U D U D U D
G C E A E C G
Natural notes on every string
Whole steps sit two frets apart; B–C and E–F are the half steps (one fret). Walk each string 0–12, then try the first-position scale walks below.
G string · 0–12 · G A B C D E F G
A|--------------------------------
E|--------------------------------
C|--------------------------------
G|---0---2---4---5---7---9--10--12
LH 0 2 4 1 3 1 2 4
RH D U D U D U D U
G A B C D E F G
C string · 0–12 · C D E F G A B C
A|--------------------------------
E|--------------------------------
C|---0---2---4---5---7---9--11--12
G|--------------------------------
LH 0 2 4 1 3 1 3 4
RH D U D U D U D U
C D E F G A B C
E string · 0–12 · E F G A B C D E
A|--------------------------------
E|---0---1---3---5---7---8--10--12
C|--------------------------------
G|--------------------------------
LH 0 1 3 1 3 4 2 4
RH D U D U D U D U
E F G A B C D E
A string · 0–12 · A B C D E F G A
A|---0---2---3---5---7---8--10--12
E|--------------------------------
C|--------------------------------
G|--------------------------------
LH 0 2 3 1 3 4 2 4
RH D U D U D U D U
A B C D E F G A
First-position scale walks
On ukulele these are open-position scale walks across GCEA — not guitar CAGED boxes. Move the same idea up the neck on Movable shapes.
Figure 1 · C major · first position
A|-----------------------------------0---2---3
E|-----------------------0---1---3------------
C|---------------0---2------------------------
G|---0---2---4--------------------------------
LH 0 2 4 0 2 0 1 3 0 2 3
RH D U D U D U D U D U D
G A B C D E F G A B C
Figure 2 · G major · first position
A|---------------------------------------0---2
E|---------------------------0---2---3--------
C|---------------0---2---4--------------------
G|---0---2---4--------------------------------
LH 0 2 4 0 2 4 0 2 3 0 2
RH D U D U D U D U D U D
G A B C D E E F# G A B
Figure 3 · F major · first position
A|-------------------------------0---1---3
E|-----------------------1---3------------
C|---------------0---2--------------------
G|---0---2---3----------------------------
LH 0 2 3 0 2 1 3 0 1 3
RH D U D U D U D U D U
G A A# C D F G A A# C
Figure 4 · A minor · first position
A|-----------------------------------0---2
E|-----------------------0---1---3--------
C|---------------0---2--------------------
G|---0---2---4----------------------------
LH 0 2 4 0 2 0 1 3 0 2
RH D U D U D U D U D U
G A B C D E F G A B
Find every natural
Pick one letter. Say it before you play. Landmarks: open strings, fret 5, fret 7, fret 12 (octave of the open string on that course).
Every C
All Cs in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|-------------------3
E|---------------8----
C|-------0--12--------
G|---5----------------
LH 1 0 4 4 3
RH D U D U D
C C C C C
Every D
All Ds in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|---------------5
E|----------10----
C|-------2--------
G|---7------------
LH 3 2 2 1
RH D U D U
D D D D
Every E
All Es in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|-------------------7
E|-----------0--12----
C|-------4------------
G|---9----------------
LH 1 4 0 4 3
RH D U D U D
E E E E E
Every F
All Fs in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|---------------8
E|-----------1----
C|-------5--------
G|--10------------
LH 2 1 1 4
RH D U D U
F F F F
Every G
All Gs in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|------------------10
E|---------------3----
C|-----------7--------
G|---0--12------------
LH 0 4 3 3 2
RH D U D U D
G G G G G
Every A
All As in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|---------------0--12
E|-----------5--------
C|-------9------------
G|---2----------------
LH 2 1 1 0 4
RH D U D U D
A A A A A
Every B
All Bs in frets 0–12 on GCEA.
A|---------------2
E|-----------7----
C|------11--------
G|---4------------
LH 4 3 3 2
RH D U D U
B B B B
Quick quiz
Hear a note in frets 0–5. Name it.
By style
Each style has its own page with a suggested order, a fuller set of drills, and a practice note. Pick one per session — four focused minutes beats a tour of every door.
drills.html#rock or #solo land on this list.
Practice paths are Folk · Island · Fingerpicking · Classical (Break rut is optional).
Folk
Boom-chick through Travis seed, walk-downs, lok with a change, and a first-pieces map (public-domain folk, Nepali lok, famous titles — chords only).
Island strum
Down–down-up–up-down-up and friends over C–Am–F–G. Build the right hand on Strumming, then loop songs on Play along.
Fingerpicking
Thumb + fingers, Travis-ish patterns, and classical pima on four strings. See also Classical drills.
Classical
The pima method: two strokes, planted arpeggios, the Giuliani-style pattern family, rest-stroke scales, slurs, independence, a tremolo seed, first pieces, and concert-hall names from Vivaldi to Wagner (IMSLP, no printed notes).
Melody & scales
First-position scales, movable shapes, and short melody walks — fills and intros, not shred boxes.