Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post

Perun said:
Social media is full of memes and posts about people realising they've "grown up" or they are "old" when something mildly humiliating happens.

To me, the real moment when I realised that was when I noticed it's become a common occurrence to hear that someone you know has died.
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Also counts for people becoming seriously ill and "never going to be the way they were again".
 
Guitarists of MaidenFans, any of you got any tips or advice for how to play with less tension and/or strengthen your muscles, particularly in the fretting hand? I've been playing a fair bit over the last week in preparation for a gig on Saturday and an area around the tendons in my left wrist (my fretting hand) has become sore, slightly swollen up and the skin has turned a little red, it almost looks like it's starting to bruise.

I can pinpoint a few things that might've done the damage. Playing some songs with rock-n-roll shuffle stretches, playing some more steel string acoustic (ironically in an attempt to strengthen my hand <_<), trying to do the legato run in Alice in Chains' Nutshell solo, doing those fuck-off stretchy chords in Purple Rain. At least three of them involve using my pinky finger more, so maybe that could do with some strengthening/dexterity training too?
 
Edington said:
Guitarists of MaidenFans, any of you got any tips or advice for how to play with less tension and/or strengthen your muscles, particularly in the fretting hand? I've been playing a fair bit over the last week in preparation for a gig on Saturday and an area around the tendons in my left wrist (my fretting hand) has become sore, slightly swollen up and the skin has turned a little red, it almost looks like it's starting to bruise.

I can pinpoint a few things that might've done the damage. Playing some songs with rock-n-roll shuffle stretches, playing some more steel string acoustic (ironically in an attempt to strengthen my hand <_<), trying to do the legato run in Alice in Chains' Nutshell solo, doing those fuck-off stretchy chords in Purple Rain. At least three of them involve using my pinky finger more, so maybe that could do with some strengthening/dexterity training too?
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Without seeing what you're doing it's hard to give specific advice, but I would say start by making sure that you're positioning your wrist in a way where you're not doing any weird contortions. You don't need to hold yourself to "proper" thumb technique, but I do think starting with your thumb parallel with the neck and your fingers properly arched at least sets you up for better hand placement and then you can let your thumb naturally rest wherever it might go.

How you warm up and cool down is important. It's the first exercise that everyone learns, but I think the caterpillar/spider walk chromatic exercise is really good for building finger strength and practicing stretches. Do it slowly and practice keeping your fingers as close to the fretboard as possible. Also pay extra attention to how you cross strings as this is where a lot of unnecessary added movement happens.

I like these stretch chord exercises for cooling down at the end of playing. They're tricky voicings but if you go through them slowly and try to practice getting each note out clearly it's a good way to wind down your practice and also works on building good habits in terms of wrist and finger placement.
 

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Mosh said:
Without seeing what you're doing it's hard to give specific advice, but I would say start by making sure that you're positioning your wrist in a way where you're not doing any weird contortions. You don't need to hold yourself to "proper" thumb technique, but I do think starting with your thumb parallel with the neck and your fingers properly arched at least sets you up for better hand placement and then you can let your thumb naturally rest wherever it might go.

How you warm up and cool down is important. It's the first exercise that everyone learns, but I think the caterpillar/spider walk chromatic exercise is really good for building finger strength and practicing stretches. Do it slowly and practice keeping your fingers as close to the fretboard as possible. Also pay extra attention to how you cross strings as this is where a lot of unnecessary added movement happens.

I like these stretch chord exercises for cooling down at the end of playing. They're tricky voicings but if you go through them slowly and try to practice getting each note out clearly it's a good way to wind down your practice and also works on building good habits in terms of wrist and finger placement.
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My thumb placement is OK I think, though it does shift over the top of the neck to mute the low E string when I'm playing open chords that don't need it, which does sometimes put my hand in some awkward positions. My bigger problem with the thumb is using it to grip the neck, it's like I'm pushing the neck into my fingers with my thumb instead of using my finger strength to fret the strings.

I will try those stretch exercises out, thanks for sharing them.

Mosh said:
It’s also nice to see some discussion in this once legendary thread.
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Yup, we're now five posts closer to our goal :lol:
 
SixesAlltheway said:
Just move it to music discussion.

Only 993,497 pages to go!
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Whooooooo are the thread police?


Edington said:
My thumb placement is OK I think, though it does shift over the top of the neck to mute the low E string when I'm playing open chords that don't need it, which does sometimes put my hand in some awkward positions. My bigger problem with the thumb is using it to grip the neck, it's like I'm pushing the neck into my fingers with my thumb instead of using my finger strength to fret the strings.

I will try those stretch exercises out, thanks for sharing them.



Yup, we're now five posts closer to our goal :lol:
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It sounds like you’re using too much pressure. Are you leaving space between your hand and the neck? Maybe lighten your grip and make sure the corner between your thumb and index finger isn’t touching the neck.
 
I’ve been interested in practicing a lot of Symphony X stuff lately. It has always blown my mind how guys like Yngwie and Romeo have such precision with really large hands/fingers. They look like they’re hugging the neck constantly but are some of the most precise players with more finesse than most. Shawn Lane too.
 
Pond - Rock Collection (1997)

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