Up-the-Neck Octave Exercises

Learn to connect the fingerboard positions you know so you can move up and down the neck more smoothly.

Excerpted From: Weekly Workout: Move It On Up

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This workout starts with octaves on the E and D strings and continues with octaves on the B and A and then G and E strings. You’ll notice that some of the octaves on the G and E strings (measure 3) require a bit of a stretch. But we can also play octaves on string sets with only one string between them, as in the second half of this workout (measures 4–6). Notice that we have to start with octaves four strings apart down by the nut to get all the notes in.

Musical examples for Week 3 of this Weekly Workout lesson, showing the octave scale exercise in standard notation as well as TAB (tablature)

For all four weeks of exercises and accompanying video instruction and demonstrations, download Weekly Workout: Move It On Up.


weekly workout - get your fingers moving with a series of interesting technical exercises
Scott Nygaard
Scott Nygaard

Grammy-winning guitarist Scott Nygaard has decades of teaching, performing, and recording experience. He is a former editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine and the author of Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs.

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