Excerpt from Mastering Diatonic Scales – Preparatory Exercises for Scales

Right- and left-hand finger coordination is ultimately developed through scale practice, but keep in mind that both hands already prefer to act together in a coordinated fashion. It is useful to develop this natural coordination further, but it is actually the counter-coordination that requires some practice to fully realize finger independence. Therefore, the construction of simple coordination exercises involves left-hand groups of 2, 3, and 4 finger movements with right-hand fingerings.

An example of a movement with natural coordination would be a left-hand movement of finger 1 to finger 2 plucked with right-hand fingers i and m. In other words, both index fingers act together, followed by a movement where both middle fingers act together. Or another way to think of it is that the finger movements in each hand are both directionally moving toward the finger 4 (pinky) side of the hand.

An example of a movement with counter-coordination would be a left-hand movement of finger 1 to finger 2 plucked with right-hand fingers m and i. Here, the finger movements in the hands are moving in the opposite direction: the left-hand fingers move toward finger 4 (pinky) while the right-hand fingers move toward the thumb.

Practice the following basic natural and counter-coordination movements starting on C on string 3 (fret 5). Explore these in various positions. I prefer to use the non-wound strings to minimize nail wear. Numbers correspond to left-hand fingers (1=index, 2=middle, 3=ring, 4=pinky).

Exercise 1 – Two Finger Movements

Natural Coordination

12, 23, 34, 13, 24, 14 paired with im, ma, ia (use rest and free stroke)

21, 32, 43, 31, 42, 41 paired with mi, am, ai (use rest and free stroke)

Counter-Coordination

12, 23, 34, 13, 24, 14 paired with mi, am, ai (use rest and free stroke)        

21, 32, 43, 31, 42, 41 paired with im, ma, ia (use rest and free stroke)

Exercise 2 – Three Finger Movements

Natural Coordination

123, 234, 134, 124 paired with ima (use rest and free stroke)

321, 432, 431, 421 paired with ami (use rest and free stroke)

Counter-Coordination

123, 234, 134, 124 paired with ami (use rest and free stroke)

321, 432, 431, 421 paired with ima (use rest and free stroke)

For Exercises 3-7 check out Mastering Diatonic Scales.