It is important to develop strong control over left hand finger independence on classical guitar. This exercise from CGC Faculty Member Nicoletta Todesco will help in no time! This workout helps develop strong control over the left-hand fingers when facing repertoire that uses different voices and requires complicated left-hand finger preparation. This exercise can be difficult to control at first, but don’t give up—it will soon give a lot of satisfaction!

By the way, this exercise comes from Italian guitarist and teacher Bruno Giuffredi. Go here to hear some of his wonderful playing

The Exercise

First of all, we will be playing this exercise all in the 7th position. The stretch between the fingers is much more manageable here and you don’t have to be familiar with playing in 7th position to learn this exercise. To find 7th position, move your first finger in the left hand up to the seventh fret. Now line up your 2, 3, and 4 fingers one each successive fret. 

This exercise focuses on independence in the left hand fingers so how you use the right hand is not as important. However, to be consistent, you might focus on i-m alternation for the trebles and thumb for the basses. 

The Process

To start, hover your left-hand fingers above the third string on the seventh fret. Just touch the string and make sure not to put any pressure on the string. We want the fingers to be nice and curled toward the strings and as relaxed as possible. 

Next we will keep two fingers touching the string (but not pressing!) while your other two fingers are moving and playing on different frets and different strings. Go slowly to keep the fingers not moving as relaxed as possible. 

To begin let 3 and 4 touch the string and then we will play the following in the 1 and 2 fingers: Open, 1, 2, 1. Next, move to the second string: Open, 1, 2, 1. Keep doing this all the way to the sixth string and back. Follow along with the provided worksheet. 

Next, you will let 1 and 2 touch the string while 3 and 4 move. Do the exact same procedure you did above. You can then cycle through all the different finger combinations while two fingers are resting and the other two are moving.