Trilling Terror - Finger strength and speed exercise for guitar

Trilling Terror - Finger strength and speed exercise for guitar

Trilling Terror - Finger strength and speed exercise for guitar


This is a great finger exercise for guitar you can use to build speed and strength. The best part of this exercise is that you really don’t need to focus that much. It can be done with ease while watching TV or reading or even chatting with a friend.

So here is what you do. You are going to “trill” (rapidly hammer on and pull off) on the high E string (you can start at any fret, I normally start around the 5th) as fast as you can using various finger positions. Sound easy? Well guess what, it’s not. You are going to trill for 15 seconds straight in each position pictured below. And you are going to do it was fast as you can. And you can’t rest until you go through all 8 positions below. That’s two minutes of straight of trilling. And this is just to start off. The goal is to work up to a minute straight with each position.

The different positions to use are pictured below. Be sure that you can hear all of the notes clearly when you play, especially for exercises 4,5, and 8. If you need to slow down a bit for those ones, you should. Also, if your hand starts hurting at any point, stop and take a break. You don’t want to hurt yourself.

The numbers after each picture represtent the fingers you are using (1= pointer and 4=pinkey, you can figure out the other two)

(1, 2, 1, ect...)

(2,3,2,etc)

(3,4,3 etc)

(1,2,3,2,1, etc)

(1,2,3,4,3,2,1..)

(1,3,1 etc)

(1,4,1 etc)

(2,3,4,3,2 etc)

Try some other combinations as well. For example: 2,4,2,4 etc. Or 1,3,4,3,1, etc. Or, 1,2,4,2,1 etc. You can even make up some more complicated ones. if you want.

After a week of doing these for 15 seconds each every day, move up to 30 seconds each for a week, then 45 seconds, for a week, then a minute. You will really notice an improvement in your finger speed, strength and stamina. It will also greatly help your legato playing. You can also use this as a warm-up exercise for guitar before you play a gig.