[atonement]

Hello,
I just started attempting to learn to play guitar a few days ago. All I have been doing so far is a finger exercise, where I place my fingers on the top E string, playing one note at a time, and then moving one finger down at a time until I've went down to the bottom E, and then back up. Trying to stretch my fingers, and build strength... getting used to the strings, etc.

It's pretty difficult for me to do without my pinky or ring finger hitting another string.
A friend of mine who plays guitar told me to do this, that it will help me a lot.

That's pretty much all I've been doing since Sunday... The first two days it went decently, the second day it seemed like I was improving and hitting strings less. The day after that it seemed to go worse than the first two.

Right now it's really the only thing I know to practice, is an exercise like that real valuable to a beginner? And what else should I be doing?
Also... is it normal for me to feel like the first couple times went better?

I want badly to play, but don't know what else I should practice right off the bat.

[allthumbs]

Take a look at these mini lessons to start with.
Brand new to playing the guitar?...read this first.
A lot of beginners start with learning chords. You can sound more musical much faster than starting with individual notes. Once you have 3 chords down, you can play many tunes. Progress is most often measured in weeks, months and years. Be patient with yourself. Good luck and welcome.

[starsailor]

+1 to allthumbs, use the exercise your friend has given you it's a good warm up and keep it as part of your practice, but spice things up a bit with a few chords, it's important to keep your practice interesting, and you're at the stage where you're getting used to the feel of your guitar so it does take patience, keep up the good work atonement you will have ups and downs when you start, we all experience times where we hit a brick wall it's part of the learning curve, and nothing unusual, I have good days and bad days, I think a lot of players do even the pros so don't worry about that too much you're doing ok

[johnnydoxx]

I suggest:
Have a cache of things to practice.
For example, scales (with intervals if you're familiar with that concept), chords (and changing them fluently), songs (easy three chord ones), strumming technique, finger exercises such as you mentioned, playing with the radio (even badly, just to get the strumming and chord changing into your 'things I am getting into my brainwaves'), single note melody, and rock star stances/gestures.

Then depending on your mood or sense of adventure or 'step backward' on one aspect, this gives you something else from which to choose for practicing, thus to save the day.

[atonement]

Thanks for all the advice. My friend returned home last night and taught me e minor, e major, and a minor chords.

I'm going to keep the finger exercise going, then try to learn more chords and try switching back and forth, and add more to my routine like you guys mentioned.

thanks again!

[Stratrat]

The finger exercise will help both your dexterity and your picking skills - but you have to start playing chords to develop the "muscle memory" so your fingers know where to go without having to think about it.

Progress takes time and effort - three days isn't even a drop in the bucket as far as playing time goes. It will come to you if you keep at it!