Duke Baker Finger Stretching Guitar Lesson

Let’s try some stretching exercises that involve your other fingers and mostly a way to approach things when you have to stretch. And we’re in this shape, put your middle finger on the fifth fret of the fifth string, ring finger on the seventh fret of the fourth string and your little finger on the seventh of a second. And then come up and get the third fret of the highest string with your first finger. Now, that may feel like a terrible stretch, that’s a pretty big stretch but the thing is I think I can actually work it round now. And I'm going to extend it and make the stretch seem even worst and there we’re going to try to get up. And if I stretch my hand completely apart like that, then when I come back that it seem easy and that may seemed like a joke but in fact, because as I mentioned earlier, the muscles actually stretch. In fact, you’ll find that most people guitar, they can stretch much further this way with this hand than they can with this hand.

Now, I'm going to show you what is called ‘Power stretch’, this is a really horrific thing. If you think while you want something that is going to stretch your hand, I'm going to make you change your mind. I'm going to give you a better stretch than you ever wanted. Low finger on the 12th fret first string, this is the 11th fret of the fourth, 10th fret of the third, 9th fret of the second. So each finger is one string over and one fret down.

Now, move down your index finger. You can play it just to give a terrible soundtrack that corresponds with the feeling you’re going to have soon. Now, the middle finger moves down a fret, ring finger and then your little finger and we’re going to continue down now, middle, ring, little, index, middle, ring, little. Of course it gets to be more fun the further down you go, middle, ring, little, index, middle, ring, little. Sounds just like it feels. Actually that’s a nice chord, little down, index, middle, ring, little. I think this is where I actually get the beat. Fairly I've a pleasant experience but when you get there, stop. You get to go back up which is actually worst.

So now, you’ve gone from your little finger, like up to the fifth fret, ring finger follows little finger, index, little finger again and so on as we crawl back up. Well, that really did stretches—really works on. But now starts to get sort of humanly possible again. To go down to the bottom again, if it gets to be really easy for you then you can try to do it and make sure that you can get the highest string open all the way while you do it which is an even less pleasant experience and I think you’ll find as I said that the power stretch is more stretched than you even wanted to know about.