Practicing Guitar Without The Guitar.?

[zbalz]

Hey. I was a bit bored at school/work today and when I get bored at my house, I just pick up the guitar and practice. I was wondering if you guys know of any ideas for me how to strengthen my guitar skills while at school...such as building up finger muscles or finger stretches. (I have already started printing out those fretboard sheets and rewriting the note names on the fretboard...thanks stone.) Just wondering if there's anything else.

Thanks

-zbalz

[StoneDragon]

Just think of all that free time as practicing your tolerance for frustration http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/wink.gif

Using those neck diagrams is a good idea... but don't restrict yourself to just writing out the notes... do scales, chords, riffs ... you name it.

I used to always carry a notebook around with me... whenever I was bored or didn't feel like concentrating on school work, I would write lyrics. I never came up with anything spectacular, but at the time I thought I was really doing something.

I also used to to practice finger movements with my left hand... just trying to get more coordination between my brain and fingers.... and by placing my right hand on top of my desk and acting like I was picking my guitar, I could excercise those muscles as well.

Not really great substitutes... but you do what you can.

[MrSpeedz]

believe it or not, typing has really helped me get faster and more accurate.
i touch type, so hunt/peck isnt what i do.
so if you spend alot of time on the computer and can touch type, work on getting fasterhttp://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif
i do alot of internet chat through icq and have found that my initial slow typing is up to about 60 words per minute. that has really imporved my guitar scales and accuracy.

my 2 cents

[StoneDragon]

I can definitely see that connection. I find that just about anything that gets my fingers and/or wrist moving helps me to keep my chops up on the guitar. On the other hand... I find that static things (such as hour upon hour of mouse usage) tend to stiffen my hands and wrists. Gotta keep a balance.