If you practice frequently and for more than an hour at a time, you will be able to build up decent finger strength on your own. But if you’re looking to quickly build finger strength and stamina, there are an unlimited number of exercises you can do to speed up the process. Most finger exercises are difficult as well, which adds a second degree of practice. The following samples are exercises that sound terrible but produce great results if used actively. The purpose of these exercises is you help your mental skills and your physical finger skills.brbrScalesbrbrThe best way to get quality practice time is to practice your scales up and down. Start with a simple major or minor scale and play it up and down without stopping for about 5 minutes. While you’re playing, focus on making clear, crisp notes and keeping both hands in time. Also focus on how the scale feels and sounds. Make sure that our fingers are between metal frets. Keep your fingers down on the fretboard until you have to move them to a new string. When you move to a new string, donrsquo;t lift your fingers off the fretboard farther than you have to. This is a very common mistake in brass horn players and can happen to guitarists as well. Only move your fingers as far as you must so you can avoid wasting time moving your fingers farther than you have to. With ALL of these points in mind, let’s move on to the next exercise.brbrStaircase ExercisebrbrThis is a popular John Petrucci exercise. It involves playing a staircase like pattern and inverting it and playing it again. To start on the first fret use your index finger to start and fret frets 1, 2, 3, and 4 and each finger sound be on a different string. Index finger on the E string 1st fret, Ring finger on the 2nd fret A string and so on. Pluck each string and once you get to the G invert the shape so that the index finger is on the 1st fret and the G string and pluck the strings from G down to E. After plucking the E string on the 4th fret invert the shape again and move the shape up a fret and repeat. This exercise is difficult at first but if you can get to a point where you can play this quickly and fluently you will find it a lot easier to play certain chords and even some solo lines.brbrChromatic ExercisesbrbrAnother great exercise is the chromatic scale, or any chromatics for that matter. Running up and down the chromatic scale can help speed, accuracy and of course finger strength. Do this often to keep your fingers synched up. And of course, if you have some favorite guitar solos with long eighth- or sixteenth-note runs, you can practice them over and over as well.br———-brFor more lt;a href=http://www.guitarlessoninsider.com/electric/gt;Electric Guitar Lessonslt;/agt;, please visit our site for lt;a brhref=http://www.guitarlessoninsider.comgt;Free Online Guitar Lessonslt;/agt;