The Best Acoustic Guitar Exercises (For Speed and Accuracy!)

Does it sometimes feel like your picking hand is out of sync and your fretting hand’s accuracy is all out of whack?

Below, I’ll teach you an acoustic guitar exercise that will introduce speed, accuracy, independence, and control to both your fretting and picking hands.

This exercise will help you increase your fretting hand accuracy and finger independence as well as your picking hand’s accuracy and overall control.

I’ll also include several extra exercises for beginners that will teach you to:

• Nail barre chords
• Learn chicken picking
• Build pinky strength
• Transition smoothly between chords
• Perfect your pull-offs

Each exercise focuses on a different aspect of learning guitar, so you can build a range of guitar skills without getting bored.

Think of all of these exercises as a taster of what I teach at Tony’s Acoustic Challenge – more on this later!

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Originally published on December 22, 2018, this post was republished on January 19th, 2024.

How to Practice Acoustic Guitar Exercises

Below, I’m going to break down the first and primary exercise step by step.

Follow along with the video as you go through it the first time, and don’t be discouraged if it takes a while to get up to speed.

These exercises are all about taking it slow, getting the movements into your muscle memory, and challenging yourself from there.

You can call it “The In and Out Exercise” when you’re just starting. But when you’ve got the basic sequence down and you’re ready for a challenge, call it “The Annihilator!”

Step 1: Learn the First Part of the Sequence

This first part of the sequence uses the B string and the high E string. Keep in mind that for this part of the sequence, you will always be picking down on the B string and up on the high E string. 

The first part of the in & out exercise looks like this:

1. First fret of the B string [downstroke]
2. Second fret of the high E with your middle finger [upstroke]
3. Third fret of the B string with your ring finger [downstroke]
4. Fourth fret of the high E string with your pinky finger [upstroke]

Step 2: Flip It for the Second Part of the Sequence

The second part of the sequence is essentially the first part in reverse:

• First fret of the high E string [downstroke]
• Second fret of the B string [upstroke]
• Third fret of the high E string [downstroke]
• Fourth fret of the B string [upstroke]

During this part, you’re always going down on the high E string, and up on the B string.

Step 3: Combine for the Full Sequence

Now perform both parts of the sequence together – ideally with a metronome if you have one on hand – in a loop over and over again. 

It’s going to sound weird, kind of like music in a horror movie, but remember, this exercise isn’t about the musicality of the notes – it’s about training your hands to work in unison while picking and fretting accurately.

Step 4: Move Down the Strings

Awesome – you’ve nailed the sequence and shape that you’re going to use for the rest of the exercise!

Now it’s time to move that shape so that your fingers get used to performing this exercise on multiple pairs of strings.

Here’s how it goes:

• Start on the low E and A strings and perform the full sequence. 
• Drop it down and play the full sequence on the A and D strings.
• Drop it again and play the full sequence on the D and G strings.
• Continue with this pattern through all the strings!

Step 5: Move up the Fretboard

Now, you can play the whole thing in reverse, going back up the strings, but on a different fret.

• Shift all of your fingers forward one fret.
• Perform the sequence back up the strings, finishing on the low E and A strings.
• Shift your fingers forward again.
• Play the sequence, moving down the strings, finishing on the high E and B strings.
• Rinse and repeat! 

Keep playing the sequence up and down the strings, shifting up a fret each time you get to the top and bottom.

Practice it until you can play comfortably at a consistent speed – then ramp up your metronome a few BPMs and keep going!

5 Extra Easy Guitar Exercises for Beginners

Now that you know how to play the Annihilator, let’s take a look at a couple of other exercises that will help you hone a variety of different guitar skills:

1. Develop a Strong Index Finger for Barre Chords

Making a barre chord involves using your index finger to press down across multiple strings of a single fret, so having a strong index finger is important.

With this exercise you’ll get the index finger used to feeling the pressure of the strings, how they feel, and where the best contact points are for a clean tone. Here’s how to do it:

1. Barre all the strings across the first fret
2. Next, play a downstroke across the low E, A, D, G, B, and high E strings
3. Note how much pressure you’re applying to play all of the notes correctly
4. Next, move your index finger to the second fret and repeat the above exercise in reverse order – high E, B, G, D, A, and low E strings
5. Repeat this along all the frets of the guitar neck, alternating between ascending and descending

After trying this out a couple of times, you should have a good grasp of how much pressure you need to apply with your index finger when playing barre chords.

2. Speedy Chicken Picking

Another excellent tool to add to your guitar exercise toolbox is chicken picking, also known as hybrid picking. It’s a technique characterized by rapid, precise plucking or picking of the strings, often associated with country and bluegrass music.

Here’s a great exercise to learn it:

1. Start by forming a basic C chord
2. While holding the C chord, strike the A string with your pick
3. Pluck the G string with your middle finger
4. Pick the D-string
5. Pluck the B string with your ring finger
6. Start playing this slowly and then increase your tempo as you get more confident

One of the key goals of this exercise is to get you used to the feeling of moving your pick finger, your middle finger, and your ring finger independently.

3. Dusting Off the Digit to Increase Pinky Strength

The pinky finger is overlooked by many guitar players. While it’s our smallest finger and often the weakest, it’s still really important when it comes to fretting and even picking strings.

To help strengthen your pinky finger, I’ve developed an exercise called “Dusting off the digit.”

It focuses on two very important aspects of your pinky – mobility and strength. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Place your pinky on the 4th fret of the low E string and play a downstroke
2. Place your pinky on the 5th fret of the low E and play an upstroke 
3. Replicate this same pattern one by one on all strings – A, D, G, B, and high E
4. Next, move your pinky up to the 6th fret of the high E string and play a downstroke
5. Then, play an upstroke on the 5th fret of the high E string
6. Replicate this same pattern one by one on all strings – B, G, D, A, low E

This exercise can be tricky, so before focusing on speed, make sure you prioritize clear notes and solid movement of your pinky. 

As soon as you get more comfortable with this, you can start to up the tempo a bit.

One thing to note is to keep the thumb of your fretting hand in the same spot the whole time during this exercise – solidly planted behind the neck of the guitar. This will help to lever your pinky effectively.

4. Transitioning Smoothly Through Chords

After learning your first chord shapes, the next step is to figure out how to transition from one chord shape to another – we call these chord transitions.

In this exercise, I’ll show you a couple of tips and tricks to make chord transitions easier. 

To do so, I’ve divided chord transitions into two main categories – transitions where one finger stays the same between two chords and transitions where finger placement changes completely.

1. Transitions With One Finger in Common

Let’s take the G chord and the D chord for our first transition.

To play the G chord place your:

• Pinky finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string
• Ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string
• Index finger on the 2nd fret of the A string
• Middle finger on the 3rd fret of the low E

When transitioning to the D chord, your ring finger is going to stay put on the 3rd fret of the B string. Lift all the other fingers and start to place them in the D chord shape.

As you transition, place your:

• Middle finger on the 2nd fret of the high E string
• Index finger to the 2nd fret of the G string

You can also try transitioning back from the D chord to the G chord while keeping your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.

2. Transitions Where Finger Placement Changes Completely

Chord transitions that require completely new finger placement can feel a bit like jumping off a cliff!

Although it can be a bit trickier, here’s a little trick to help you.

Let’s start again with the G chord. 

Then, lift off your fingers and slowly make them into the shape of a C chord by placing your:

• Ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string
• Middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string
• Index finger on the 1st fret of the B string

This technique uses an anchor finger, meaning that instead of placing all fingers immediately in the shape of your next chord, you place them one by one instead. In this example, the anchor finger is the ring finger. 

While the above is the order I suggest, you might find it easier to use, for example, your index finger as the anchor finger that’s placed first. 

5. Snappy Pull-Offs

A pull-off is a technique where you pluck a note and, without re-picking, use your finger to sound a lower-fretted note on the same string. They’re an awesome way to take your guitar playing to the next level. 

However, there are several pitfalls that beginners often encounter. 

Maybe the sound of your pull-offs diminishes directly after you’ve pulled off? Or maybe the sound gets distorted as you brush against other strings? 

Whatever the issue, we’ll get to the bottom of it with this easy guitar exercise for beginners.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Start by placing the fingers of your fretting hand on the first four frets of the high E string
2. Pick the string then, starting from the fourth fret with your pinky finger, pull off to the third fret, then to the second, and then to the first
3. Move your fingers up to the fifth fret of the high E string then repeat the sequence of pull-offs
4. Repeat this down all the frets of the high E string, then start the whole sequence again from the first four frets of the G string. 

Don’t Stop at These Exercises: Join TAC

If you enjoyed a couple of these exercises, you might find yourself wanting to learn way more about playing the guitar.

It’s for this reason that I created my online workshop – Tony’s Acoustic Challenge (TAC). It’s a bite-sized daily guitar challenge that I developed to help you play more and have fun at the same time.

Watch the FREE guitar class to learn the three things that will help build a life of consistent guitar playing in just 10 minutes a day.