I am following the Blues 1 course and loving it. But I fear I have hit a wall at playing the blues riff up and down the neck. My hands are not so big and I can barely make my fingers stretch across 5 frets holding down the root note and hitting the high note with the pinky. Anyone have a tip to train the fingers to make that reach?

Hey, there! Glad you are enjoying the blues course. Anders does a great job on it!

Originally Posted by: Spiezer

I fear I have hit a wall at playing the blues riff up and down the neck. My hands are not so big and I can barely make my fingers stretch across 5 frets holding down the root note and hitting the high note with the pinky. Anyone have a tip to train the fingers to make that reach?

I think Anders suggests an alternate voicing of that kind of riff later in the course. Or in another course?! Anyway, it is a huge stretch. So here are two possible alternate voicings you can use instead.

1. Just use the power chord, but let go of the root when you need the 6th.

|-------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------|

|---3---3----5---5---3---3----5---5----|

|---1---1-------------1---1---------------|

2. Move the root up an octave. Thi is the exact same chord, but with a slightly different voicing.

|-------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------|

|---3---3----3---3---3---3----3---3----|

|---3---3----5---5---3---3----5---5----|

|-------------------------------------------|

Those are perfectly valid substitutes for those difficult stretches.

I also have these exercises that can help develop pinky strrength & dexterity.

Trill Drills

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1829

Building Pinky Strength & Dexterity

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1292

Hope that helps. Please ask more if necessary. Best of success with the blues!

My all time favorite exercise for increasing stretch is found at Justin Guitar and he has also placed it on YouTube;

https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/finger-stretching-exercise-te-101

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zm_ho26O2U

I used this exercise for years as a practice warm-up. See my comments about it at one of my old GT posts here;

https://www.guitartricks.com/forum/thread.php?goto=lastpost&t=43405#latest post #2.

Have fun.

Thank you both for the tips and exercises. This is what's great about the forum. There is a real community here. Much appreciated!

Originally Posted by: Spiezer

Thank you both for the tips and exercises.

You're welcome! Best of success with them!

Originally Posted by: Spiezer

Thank you both for the tips and exercises. This is what's great about the forum. There is a real community here. Much appreciated!

You bet! The Forum is a super part of GT. Member contributions are often tremendous in their knowledge and experience and Christopher's posts are so good and detailed that I often print them for later study.

Shake out your hands for a few minutes beforehand (pun haha).

Getting the blood flowing before really helps in my experience.

this is something I actually took a lot of time to work on early in my guitar playing career, to this day, I can spread my fingers on my left hand significantly further than my right hand hahaha.[br][br]Honestly, just spend some time stretching each finger the opposite direction of the adjacent finger, using your opposite hand to hold the stretch in place. It shouldn't be painful but it will feel tight, do it up, down, sideways, and just repeat the process maybe once or twice a day for a while, after a while, you'll notice an increase in range of motion on your hands that will make the longer reach much easier, then before you know it, you're gonna be doing some seven fret stretches haha.

just came across this & will now start to do the stretches & follow all advice.

Just came to the boogie blues riff in blues L1 , found the 12 bar turnaround painfully difficult

1.Start with your hand palm down and flat on a firm surface.[br]2.Gently lift each finger, one at a time, off the table high enough so that you feel a stretch 3.along the top of your finger.[br]4.After you have stretched each finger, repeat the exercise 8 to 10 times.[br]5.Then repeat with your other hand.

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