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The importance of warming up before playing

12/26/2013

2 Comments

 
You cannot play at your full capacity without a proper warmup. If you sit down and start playing something complex you will play it poorly. Your fingers will not reach the required positions in time or fret the notes effectively; your picados will stutter and tone suffer. Doing a bad job is the least serious of the problems brought on by playing with cold hands. Your fingers will hurt. And if your push ahead and try to work your way through the pain, it will get worse. Even if you manage to warm up after a while, the pain and the unpleasant feeling from hearing yourself slaughter the piece will stay for the rest of your practice. By the time you are warmed up, you will have wasted precious time trying to play the piece without paying attention to your tone or timing. Therefore you will not benefit from this activity in terms of progress.

There are cables inside your hands that connect the muscles to the bones. These cables are called "tendons." Tendons transmit the contractions of the muscles to the bones. Playing guitar is a predominantly tendon activity, more significantly in the left hand because it involves lots of pushing. Every time you fret a note you are putting some weight on a particular tendon. Tendons slide back and forth inside tendon sheaths. Imagine a metal wire snugly placed within a plastic pipe… Whenever you move your fingers, the tendons will rub on the insides of the sheaths that hold them. So, it is extremely important to get this narrow tendon passage "lubricated" without causing small tears and abrasions due to friction. And how is this done? Through a proper warm up. When your hands are cold, the tendons are dry and they will rub against the sheaths causing tiny tears especially when you perform stretches. If you insist on playing difficult stuff with no proper lubrication you may generate so much damage that the scar tissue on the tendons and the sheaths will prevent you from moving your fingers, it will hurt like hell and you'll end up with the much dreaded "tendonitis." How do I know all this? Because it happened to me. Preparing for an album recording, I practised very complex stuff without proper warmup and then I had to stop playing for 6 months. Once you get tendonitis, you cannot get rid of it completely. It will flare up every time you force your hands or play a long gig, etc.

The only way to lubricate your tendons and prepare them for heavy-duty playing is warmup. When you pick up your guitar for practice, start playing passages that require almost no effort. I always begin by slowly placing my fingers on the frets, hammering a few notes, doing some legatos and slides. Gradually increase the force you put on the fretboard. Do not do any stretches at the beginning. Ease yourself into difficult positions. It takes me about half an hour to start playing pieces properly at half speed. Only at the end of an hour do I manage to use my full technique.

The following video is a brief sample of my left hand warmup routine:

2 Comments
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  • Home
  • Join
  • Total Training
  • Beginners
  • STORE
  • Flamenco Practice Loops Library
  • Skype Lessons
  • Flamenco Guitar Articles
    • The Alien Technique - Tremolo
    • What Guitar is Made for - Arpeggio
    • Do You Really Want to Become a Good Flamenco Player?
    • One Thumb is Worth 4 Fingers
    • What to Practise and for How Long
    • Classical VS Flamenco
    • hammer-on and pull-off
    • The Thumb: Flesh or Nail or Both?
    • Flamenco Knowledge or How to Learn Palos
    • The Metronome
    • ​Are you Talented?
    • Listen to yourself in the 3rd person
    • Learning Flamenco Forms/Palos: Where to Start
    • How to Compose your Own Flamenco Music
    • Do You Need a Flamenco Guitar to Play Flamenco?
    • Deepen Your Flamenco Knowledge or How to Learn Palos 2
    • How much time do you need to become a good player?
    • Picado Speed Studies
    • Fingering: Makes of Breaks a Player! (tabs)
    • I suck - flamenco guitar
    • Flamenco Guitar Nails
    • Is i - a Picado a Viable Alternative to i - m Picado?
    • Why Do People Take Flamenco Guitar Lessons?
    • Playing with the Right Hand
    • atrafanaSchool Studio Set Up or How to Record Yourself
    • atrafanaSchool Studio Set Up - PART 2
    • Same Falseta on a Negra and a Blanca (tabs)
    • Picado Thumb Placement
    • Nails: How to Shape Them
    • Using the Brain in Relieving Tension in the Hands - Routines
    • Reflexive Picado Speed (tabs)
    • What is Technique?
  • Techniques
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques: Picado
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Tremolo
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Alzapua
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Arpeggio
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Three - Finger Picado
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques: Pulgar
  • Repertoire
  • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Punta del Faro (Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Reflejo de Luna (Granaina)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - GitanosTrianeros (Solea)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - El Tempul (Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Barrio La Viña (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Mi Inspiracion (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Punta Umbria (Fandango)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Llanto a Cadiz (Tientos)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Gloria al Nino Ricardo (Solea)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Cepa Andaluza (Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Aires Choqueros (Fandango)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Plaza de San Juan (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Recuerdo a Patino (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Celosa (Solea por Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Callejon del Muro (Minera)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Aires de Linares (Taranta)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Generalife Bajo la Luna (Granaina)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Buleria by Paco Pena
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Rumbeando la Milonga by Paco Pena
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Riomar (Fandango)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Granada En Flor
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Doblan Campanas
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Plaza Alta (Solea)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - De Madrugada (Seguiriya)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Fuente y Caudal
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - La Tumbona
  • Flamenco Guitar Strings
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