Warming up...

[dudeiferous]

I have recently noticed that I cant just pick up a guitar and play to the best of my ability straight away anymore...I actually have to warm up now...and not just physically either, I need to get 'in the zone'...its a bit disconcerting. Maybe I need to ingrain the learnt technique so far in to my subconciousness that I can use it without thinking....

Anyone else get this problem?

[lespaulgb]

Me too, I have to start with some gentle picking, like chromatics up the neck, first. Mind you I've always had some sort of warm up so I've never been able to pick a guitar up 'cold' and start ripping.

[frankus]

How is it a problem?

I do 5 minutes stretching before and after I jog. I do 5 minutes stretching when I get up and when I go to bed. I do 5 minutes stretching before and after the gym and on the punchbag I change my moves to loosen different parts; my arms first then back and shoulders then hips and legs.

When I get to work I read my email for a few minutes before I start coding.

When I'm in the kitchen I get the utensils out first and think about what I'm going to do.

I do sometimes think people expect to be like some Neal Cassady type figure able to do anything at a moments notice - so wired that they're working in the present whereas the rest of us are interpreting history.

[lespaulgb]

Originally Posted by frankus

How is it a problem?

I do 5 minutes stretching before and after I jog. I do 5 minutes stretching when I get up and when I go to bed. I do 5 minutes stretching before and after the gym and on the punchbag I change my moves to loosen different parts; my arms first then back and shoulders then hips and legs.

When I get to work I read my email for a few minutes before I start coding.

When I'm in the kitchen I get the utensils out first and think about what I'm going to do.

I do sometimes think people expect to be like some Neal Cassady type figure able to do anything at a moments notice - so wired that they're working in the present whereas the rest of us are interpreting history.

RSI, dude? It's just a bit of prep for the fun you are gonna have.

[Danny1969]

I like to warm up with a few Stella's before starting a gig, and I'm sensible enough to warm down after the gig with a few more
The young drummer kid we have with us now takes a practice pad to gigs and starts diddling away 15 mins before kickoff to warm up.

[Noobshire]

Check out youtube for guitarist tutorials, they're always talking about warm ups they do. Even the greats need a bit of a warm up before hitting the stage.

[tensity1]

Yeah, definitely need to warm up to play the way that I want (which isn't saying much right now). Besides the physical warm up, gotta have the ritual, the routine, to get "in the zone," as with any other endeavor requiring concentration and creativity (like hitting a frakking golf ball straight more than 10 yards). Maybe some NLP techniques might help to recall and get into a deep, optimal flow state faster. Become Cassady!

Back to the physical side, many guitarists generally think of warming up as just finger exercises, but look into doing finger/hand/arm/shoulder stretches, massages, and power points to loosen and prime those parts for playing.

[tensity1]

Okay, I just had to share this. I don't know how many takes/how edited this thing is, but I think this dude has probably gotten down how to focus and "be in the zone."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsprnrfQji8

[EveBattle]

Stretching should always be part of your practice routine.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=hywld4xFHiM

The next thing I do is playing chromatic exercises or scales with a metronome. Usually at a slow speed setting and working my way up to my normal speed. If you keep on practising the following list up and down the neck, I garantee that you'll get better regarding your finger independance, speed and right and left hand synchronisation.

1-2-3-4 2-3-4-1 3-4-1-2 4-1-2-3
1-2-4-3 2-4-3-1 4-3-1-2 3-1-2-4
1-3-2-4 3-2-4-1 2-4-1-3 4-1-3-2
1-3-4-2 3-4-2-1 4-2-1-3 2-1-3-4
1-4-2-3 4-2-3-1 2-3-1-4 3-1-4-2
1-4-3-2 4-3-2-1 3-2-1-4 2-1-4-3

[Nik Harrison]

Originally Posted by EveBattle

Stretching should always be part of your practice routine.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=hywld4xFHiM

The next thing I do is playing chromatic exercises or scales with a metronome. Usually at a slow speed setting and working my way up to my normal speed. If you keep on practising the following list up and down the neck, I garantee that you'll get better regarding your finger independance, speed and right and left hand synchronisation.

1-2-3-4 2-3-4-1 3-4-1-2 4-1-2-3
1-2-4-3 2-4-3-1 4-3-1-2 3-1-2-4
1-3-2-4 3-2-4-1 2-4-1-3 4-1-3-2
1-3-4-2 3-4-2-1 4-2-1-3 2-1-3-4
1-4-2-3 4-2-3-1 2-3-1-4 3-1-4-2
1-4-3-2 4-3-2-1 3-2-1-4 2-1-4-3

That's pretty much what I do, except I do about 5 minutes warming up without the instrument before I play.

Finger independance, speed, and right and left hand synchronisation are not actually developed by using these exhastive patterns of fingers alone. What these serve to acheive is the co-ordinative control of your fingers.

Also, you can actually economise these patterns into one 43 note stream which will warm up every combination of fingers (assuming you are warming up four fingers and prioritising sequential completion). This saves time while warming up, because you only need to play this about 3 or 4 times to get a re-inforced co-ordinative sequence into the warm up as an exercise.

1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-3-2-4-1-3-2-4-2-3-1-4-2-3-1-2-4-3-1-2-4-3-4-2-1-3-4-2-1