Try this exercise out to get your fingers loosened up. Let's see what we have:

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And now for the details

The exercise shown below is based on the m/maj+11 scale, in case you're interested. If you play it, like I did, starting at position 7, then it will end up being Am/maj+11. This scale contains A B C D# E F# G#

The exercise is color coded. Each note coded in RED should be played with the first finger. Each note coded in GREEN should be played with the second finger. Each note coded in BLUE should be played with the third finger, and the fourth finger is used with each note coded in BROWN.

Additionally, each note is coded with an arrow following it indicating the direction in which the string should be picked.

Finally, the notes are shown as a number inside a circle. The notes are ordered 1 - 8 in the order that they should be played.

As is with most guitar diagrams, this diagram has the high E string situated at the top of the diagram.

Follow along as we go through the diagram starting at the seventh fret:

Note 1 sits at fret 7 on the high E string. It is red in color, indicating that it should be fretted with the first finger. The arrow next to it indicates that the pick should move across the string in the direction from low to high strings. This is a downwards stroke. Note 2 is shown at fret 11 of the high E string. Since the note is shown in blue, it should be fretted with the third finger. The picking direction is shown moving from the high string towards the low strings. We have reversed the direction of the picking stroke here, so this is an upwards stroke. Note 3 sits on fret 9 of the B string. It is shown as green in color, which means that it should be fretted with the second finger. The picking direction is the same as the previous note, except that now we have switched to the B string. This picking motion is a upwards sweep pick motion starting across the E string and continuing across the B string. Note 4 sits at fret 12 on the B string. It is color coded as brown, meaning that it should be fretted with the 4th finger. The picking direction has reversed again, and is now downwards again. Similar patterns exist for the remaining four notes of the exercise. For the entire exercise, we reverse the picking direction every two notes, sweep pick across the two high strings and reverse again, etc., etc. We fret two notes on each string coordinating with the opposing picking directions. We will use all four fingers with a pretty good stretch. Try to play the exercise without moving your hand. Move it up higher on the fretboard if you have to until you get to a place where you can play it comfortably. You can control the PAIN/GAIN factor by moving the exercise up and down the neck.

This is a MEAN lick, and if you can play it REAL fast you will BLOW some people away.