5 Guitar Warm Up Exercises That Make You A Better Guitarist

Guitar Warm Up Exercises Tip #1:

This is super obvious, but it needs to be said: Kill 2 birds with one “guitar warm ups stone”.

Meaning:

Look for guitar warm up exercises that warm up your picking hand and your fretting hand (at the same time).

It’s pretty simple to find guitar warm up exercises that satisfy this rule (as you saw in the video).

But the best guitar warm ups also follow the 4 tips below.
 

Guitar Warm Up Exercises Tip #2:

Base your guitar warm ups on the music you play in real life. For example: Guitar warm ups using fragments of exercises, songs and solos from your practice schedule.

Just find ways to make them challenging while warming up and playing slowly. (The next tip explains how to do it.)
 

Guitar Warm Up Exercises Tip #3:

What’s the worst thing that can happen during your warmup?

The answer is...

...your brain falling asleep and going on autopilot. This causes mindless practicing and creates bad habits in your playing.

How do you stop this from happening?

Make sure your warmups force you to concentrate to play them correctly.

Simply ask yourself: “How can you make your warmup drill more challenging (without playing fast)?”

Check out these ideas for some cool drills you can warm up with (and improve your creativity at the same time):

Guitar Warm Up Exercises Tip #4

You should become a better guitar player even while warming up. “How is that even possible?”, you may ask.

Simple:

Warm up with something you know you should practice anyway, but you typically ignore. (Because it’s hard or boring.)

For example: Practice memorizing notes on guitar. You can set a metronome and challenge yourself to find a random note on every string, while playing in time.

This challenges your brain, involves both hands and is something you have to do in real life.

Another example: figure out an unfamiliar scale sequence in a familiar scale (watch me do this at 5:19 in the video).
 

Question: “But Tom Hess, earlier you said to use guitar warm ups made from things I have in my practice schedule! Why are you now saying to practice things I usually don’t work on?”

Answer: Use guitar warm ups that make you better. Period.

This often means the exact things in your practice schedule… but it can also mean:

- exercises you used to practice but aren’t practicing today.

- drills you plan to practice a few days from now (that are not in your practice schedule today).

- exercises that you know you should practice, but often ignore (for whatever reason).

Focus on the principle – not the example :)
 

Guitar Warm Up Exercises Tip #5:

Start with guitar warm ups that integrate (combine) 2 or more skills together.

For example: double pick the notes of your warmup drill.

Simple? Yes.

Effective? Yes x 1000.

Double picking forces your hands to be in sync and keeps your fretting hand from playing faster than it should.

Another idea is to create a sequence from your warmup exercise. (Watch the video from 16:25 to see how.)
 

Question: “Tom Hess, how much time should I spend warming up?”

Answer: Warm up for as long as it takes to get your fingers ready to play at your faster speeds. You will typically play guitar warm ups longer in winter months than during the summer months (that is normal).

Want to see even more guitar warm ups?

Check out this guitar practice video by Guitar Practice Expert Mike Philippov:

Now that you know effective guitar warm up exercises, the next step is to overcome the #1 enemy of your guitar technique – excess muscle tension. Tension keeps you from playing guitar as fast and accurately as you want. Download this guitar technique eGuide & make your playing feel easier than cutting butter with a hot knife.