I've been a bad, bad boy. For about two months after we moved, I didn't even unpack any of my guitars. OK - we had lots and lots of painting and sundry stuff to do, but still. Last weekend, I picked up a guitar and started playing again, and predictably, I wasn't able to do a lot of the things I could pull off without even warming up. Rather optimistically, I tuned up and launched into some Satriani tune. The result: Fail - my hands were not properly synchronized, and even though I knew exactly where on the fretboard to put my fingers, it was almost like playing while drunk.
Alrighty then - obviously I should'a warmed up first, right? So I ran through some basic chromatic warm-up licks for a while, did some chord progressions and licks until my hands felt warmed up and ready to go. Since I had warmed up quite a bit, I felt ready and skipped the Satriani stuff in order to make up for lost time. In other words, it was Malmsteen time, and I launched into Fire&Ice.
Another Fail.
Having realized that two months off = much technique to rebuild, I started going Ionian to Dorian to Phrygian to Lydian to Mixolydian to Aeolian to Locrian back to Ionian in ascending and descending patterns and only that for a bunch of hours to days straight. Teh result: I woke up Tuesday morning with slight tendinitis from just going through the modes Rain man style.
Epic Fail.
Now I'm back to practicing, albeit more modestly, and with smaller stretches, and I've discovered some things about my style of playing. I've more or less dedicated the practicing time to alternate picking, as that skill seems to be the first to go, and I've discovered that I have to force myself to follow through with alternate picking. For the longest time, I've adopted sweep picking into even scalar patterns, so that I always use downstrokes in going from lower to higher strings, and upstrokes from higher to lower strings. Here, lower and higher refer to the pitch of the strings, not to their relative position on the guitar. The result is that I totally have to focus on getting my right hand to follow the strict up-and-down motion also when crossing strings.
It's weird how you subconsciously adapt techniques to fit some target property, like notes per second in my case.
Alrighty then - obviously I should'a warmed up first, right? So I ran through some basic chromatic warm-up licks for a while, did some chord progressions and licks until my hands felt warmed up and ready to go. Since I had warmed up quite a bit, I felt ready and skipped the Satriani stuff in order to make up for lost time. In other words, it was Malmsteen time, and I launched into Fire&Ice.
Another Fail.
Having realized that two months off = much technique to rebuild, I started going Ionian to Dorian to Phrygian to Lydian to Mixolydian to Aeolian to Locrian back to Ionian in ascending and descending patterns and only that for a bunch of hours to days straight. Teh result: I woke up Tuesday morning with slight tendinitis from just going through the modes Rain man style.
Epic Fail.
Now I'm back to practicing, albeit more modestly, and with smaller stretches, and I've discovered some things about my style of playing. I've more or less dedicated the practicing time to alternate picking, as that skill seems to be the first to go, and I've discovered that I have to force myself to follow through with alternate picking. For the longest time, I've adopted sweep picking into even scalar patterns, so that I always use downstrokes in going from lower to higher strings, and upstrokes from higher to lower strings. Here, lower and higher refer to the pitch of the strings, not to their relative position on the guitar. The result is that I totally have to focus on getting my right hand to follow the strict up-and-down motion also when crossing strings.
It's weird how you subconsciously adapt techniques to fit some target property, like notes per second in my case.
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6 comments:
Woke up this mornin'
my technique was gone
woke up this mornin'
my technique was gone
Some people say,
these shredder blues ain't bad
People tell me,
shredder blues ain't bad
worse ol' tendinitis
I ever felt.
This mornin'...
etc, etc.
I tuned up and launched into some Satriani tune.
...
In other words, it was Malmsteen time, and I launched into Fire&Ice.
You know, "less is more".
I woke up Tuesday morning with slight tendinitis
You know, lap style will keep your hands in a more natural and relaxed position.
I started going Ionian to Dorian to Phrygian to Lydian to Mixolydian to Aeolian to Locrian back to Ionian
Going back to the DeLorean mode, perhaps?
Mmmh. I seem to be running out of jokes here (apart from the obvious "tendinitis in hand" naughty jokes). Thought I was going to make at least five or six. Oh well.
Anyway, good for the future of the guitar quiz (and for the gourmet music lovers out there*) that you are up and running on the guitar again.
*Just making up for my non-(ars)ethical comments lately.
...wel now; aren't you quite the ball-swinger
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