Fret-Hand Stretches Overview

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Stretching Out the Fret Hand

Start with a D^maj7 closed position chord with the root on Fret XII. Play the chord notes one-by-one.
Walk back the 7^th to a ♭7, maintaining the other three notes. Play the chord.
Walk back the 5^th to a ♭5, maintaining the other notes. Play the chord.
Walk back the 3^rd to a ♭3, maintaining the other notes, play the chord.
Finally, walk the root down a half-step to arrive at D♭^maj7 repeat to C^maj7 and continue all the way down the neck.

Being able to stretch comfortably will make all aspects of playing the guitar feel easier.

Many great chords require a big stretch of the fretting-hand to reach all of the notes. Some melodies also will require big stretches as well. Guitar yoga takes a long time to develop, but we can speed up the process by deliberately exercising our fretting-hand stretching.

Let's start this exercise with a D^maj7 chord starting on Fret XII. Use your pinky on the lowest note, then third finger, second finger and first finger. Play each note individually and make sure they're ringing clearly.

Stretch Starting Position

When you're ready, walk the first finger down one fret. The seventh is flatted, and the result is a D⁷ chord. Play each note carefully and make sure they all ring clearly.

Stretch Part 1

After this stretch, you're ready to follow with your second finger. Keeping the other three fingers carefully in place, walk down with your second finger. The seventh and fifth are now flatted, so this is a D^7♭5.

Stretch Part 2

Make sure to play the chord carefully and don't let any notes buzz. When you're ready, walk your third finger down to follow the other two. The next chord is a D^m7♭5.

Stretch Part 3

Finally, after playing all of these notes carefully, you can walk your pinky down, too. This resolves the stretch and the chord is back to the same structure it began as, but a half step lower: now you're playing a D♭^maj7 chord.

Stretch Part 4

Now that you've completed one round of this stretch, you can continue moving each note downwards by half step in the same fashion, until finally you've arrived at the G♭^maj7 chord on the fourth fret of the fourth string.

Notice that the stretch gets gradually more challenging as you move towards the headstock of the guitar—the frets are getting larger and larger.

Stretching Tip

Even if you can reach all of the notes you need, you may not always be able to reach them comfortably, or quickly enough. During hasty passages, this can result in placing the fingers down too forcefully as the fingers struggle to stretch to the notes. This can create a glassy sound as the strings strike the frets and fretboard, and is undesirable. So a well-conditioned hand can improve your playing and your tone.

Key Exercises

Repeat this stretch slowly and gently, every day for about a week. After that, you should be able to decide what kind of position you want to give it within your practice routine.