The 2 Fret Stretch - advice wanted

JK, Thanks for bullet 4. I have been doing it near the beginning, after hammer ons.

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Thanks, JK. The decrease in finger/brain coordination is fascinating. It makes sense when you think about it- good to know.

Yes! Thank you!

Hi, Alexey. A video? Hmm, that might be a stretch (couldn’t resist the pun- sorry).

Since I’ve been at it a few days now, I seem to be making some progress. With this riff there are two challenges- (1) making the stretch with fingers 1&3 and then (2) moving the 2nd finger over to the G string without lifting up fingers 1&3. For me, moving the 2nd finger has been the the hardest of the two.

I have found that if I don’t stretch 1&3 as far as I should then I can get my 2nd finger to cooperate. So now I’ll work on slowly increasing the stretch. It’s a process.

Thanks,

Al

Are you familiar with “spider” exercises? There are several, with the main principle - keep 3 fingers pressing strings while moving the 4th one and making a sound with it. For example: https://youtu.be/RHfzegyFTmI?si=rUbqP1KqZMbHoreR

@AlinFlorida Al I’d certainly agree with JK and use Justin’s Finger Stretching Exercise, especially Ex 3 and 4. I do general 4 fret chromatic runs E to e to E from 7th to 1st fret but also on each string horizontally but that is more about coordination than stretching. Ex3 and 4 really open up the finger span and I use this to increase flexibility.

Another no-guitar exercise is to put your left and right hand finger tips together, fingers apart, I guess like an open prayer position, And then press the hands together keeping both forearms in line at chest height. Again this opens up the span and can be done anywhere anytime. You can gently pulse to start then press and hold, the more pressure the wider the span but start slowly.

:sunglasses:

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I use quite a tough one for stretching which when I first started I couldn’t get the notes to ring out due to adjacent string muting, over time it really works.

Pinky finger on D string 12th fret, ring finger on G string 11th fret, middle finger on B string 10th fret and index finger on e string 9th fret, now play all four fretted notes cleanly.

Now move your index finger down a fret (to e fret 8) keeping others fingers unmoved and play those four strings again. Then move middle finger down a fret, then ring and finally the pinky down a fret. Now you are in the starting position again but each finger is a fret lower. Rinse and repeat with a target of reaching the first four frets !

NOW WITH FINGER DESCRIPTORS IN THE CORRECT ORDER, APOLOGIES FOR THE ERROR.

@Gregba
Tough ?? It’s impossible!

That - or one of us has weird hands or a weird guitar. :astonished:

Agreed. Unless I reading that wrong my picky will not get anywhere close to the 9th fret!

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It’s also very unnatural, isn’t it? I mean, you would never use those fingers to fret those strings. Seems to me an exercise, even if focused on stretching, should have fingerings that make some sort of sense.

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Are you left handed or do you play the guitar upside down. This would be impossible for anyone fretting with their left hand unless they dislocated their wrist first. :thinking:

I know this is a typo but an apt description of how the fingers would appear.

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Oops :joy: no I’m right handed and I got my fingers mixed up, so pinky on d string and index on e :rofl:

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Phew , was going to send an ambulance !

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Tough due my typo or tough corrected ? Either way I agree, when I was first shown it I couldn’t manage position 1 starting at the 12 fret, I can now Dow it down to index on the 8th fret without muting anything, like most things guitar the only way to make seemingly impossible things possibly is practice.

You’re right it’s purely for stretching, but then most stretching exercise I know are only for stretching, you’d never play 4 consecutive frets frets a string across all strings but plenty use the spider walk amongst others.

I use the stretch I mentioned to try and stretch across 5 frets

I often tell my tutor I need to be a contortionist with some of the stuff he shows me :joy:

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I’m back home now!

Down at A&E they suggested I take up knitting instead…!

I’m sure a few people had stitches after seeing the fingering for that suggested exercise

I get TAB upside too but cause it’s written upside down :joy:

Not a bad idea, far less complicated.

Ah! That explains it! LOL Like everyone else I had my guitar out trying to make it work. (Still LOL)