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Warmup Exercises

I do not assume any responsibility for frustration, injury or death resulting from the application of these exercises.

A particularly good way to start the day's session is to grab a few extended chords and play them in sequence, getting the fingers to spread out a bit. I would recommend voicings that force you to do a bit of reaching, but not too much. As a suggestion, try these voicings, moving them up or down depending on how they feel:

X#7sus4  Xadd9add4  Xmadd9   Xmaj9
|o|o||    |o|||o    |o|||o  o||||o
||||||    ||||||    ||||o|  ||||||
||o|||    ||o|||    ||o|||  |o||||
||||o|    ||||o|    ||||||  ||||||
||||||    |||o||    |||o||  ||ooo|
|||||o    X12431    X13421  124441
X12134

Another trick is to borrow the easier practice exercises and play them at a moderate tempo to get the fingers moving at a brisker pace:

E-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4-|-2-3-4-5--------------
B---------------------------------1-2-3-4---------|---------2-3-4-5------
G-------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------|-----------------etc.-
D-----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------|----------------------
A---------1-2-3-4---------------------------------|----------------------
E-1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------|----------------------
  1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4   1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 etc.
E-------------------------|-------------------------|------
B-------------------------|-------------------------|------
G-------------------------|-------------------------|------
D-------------------------|-------------------------|------
A-------------------------|-------------------------|------
E-1-2-3-4-3-2-(repeat 3x)-|-2-3-4-5-4-3-(repeat 3x)-|-etc.-
  1 2 3 4 3 2               1 2 3 4 3 2
E-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----
B-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----
G-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----
D-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----
A-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----
E-15-14-13-12-13-14-(repeat 3x)-|-14-13-12-11-12-13-(repeat 3x)-|-etc-
   4  3  2  1  2  3                4  3  2  1  2  3

If you want to leave your left hand out of it, there are exercises that focus solely on the picking hand:

E-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------etc--
G-------------------------------------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------
D---------------------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-----------------------
A-----------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---------------------------------------
E-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------------------------------------------------------

For this exercise, the rhythm and the pick stroke are the vital issues. If performed properly, there should be no noticeable break in the rhythm, and perhaps it goes without saying that your pick shouldn't get tangled in the strings! In that case, you're trying to do it too fast. Back down and take it easy.

The right-hand exercise above can indeed be expanded upon. After playing it through using alternate picking, try moving on to using down-strokes only, or down-down-up or whatever combination your imagination can come up with.