your fingers and prolonged guitar playing

[Dimebag_Darrell]

Man, sometimes after I've been wailin out for more than an hour my middle fingers begin spasing on me like if I'm getting shocked..wtf?

 

[Layla]

Thats weird...It never happened to me before.

 

[guitaronfire411]

Are you sure you're playing properly? Bad form can hurt.

 

[Eulogy]

Originally posted by guitaronfire411
Are you sure you're playing properly? Bad form can hurt.

Go read "Guitar Principles". (You can snatch the torrent anywhere)
www.guitarprinciples.com

He teaches you how unwanted tension is the number one cause of people not progressing and pain in their fingers, hands and shoulders

 

[The Bad Ass Canadian]

I've never had that problem and I used to sit around and practice scales and very quick runs for hours on end. literally. Plug in and play in my bedroom for 5 hrs non stop. That was ages ago, back in highschool but now, we gig 3-4 nights a week and I still never get sore, or any twitching.... I wonder if you're not warming up properly?

Or it could very well be improper form, though I'd never think it was possible outside of classical guitar playing.

Thanx Eulogy for that link... I'm always up for looking at something new regarding playing.

 

[Ricky]

Get a Paul Reed Smith. I don't own one but have wanted one for years. Every time I play one at guitar center, they just seem to take the tension off your hand.

Plus many of them are so awesome looking with the wood grain and all that. I think I'll get one when I move out of my crack den neighborhood or this town completely.

 

[italostud]

Originally posted by Ricky
Get a Paul Reed Smith. I don't own one but have wanted one for years. Every time I play one at guitar center, they just seem to take the tension off your hand.

Plus many of them are so awesome looking with the wood grain and all that. I think I'll get one when I move out of my crack den neighborhood or this town completely.

PRS are sweet guitars, but your logic doesn't make sense. Obviously, the OP is doing something wrong, whether it be form, warmup, etc.

Your advice is like saying to someone who can't drive "Oh, go buy a ferarri. It's no wonder you can't drive that honda". It's not the car, and it's not the guitar. It's the operator.

 

[Eulogy]

Originally posted by Ricky
Get a Paul Reed Smith. I don't own one but have wanted one for years. Every time I play one at guitar center, they just seem to take the tension off your hand.

Plus many of them are so awesome looking with the wood grain and all that. I think I'll get one when I move out of my crack den neighborhood or this town completely.

Rofl. What the hell?

 

[Gonzalo]

Try to find a body awareness (eg Alexander Method) class in your area. You might be doing things you don't know that are making you tense. The more you play with tension, the higher risk of injury.

 

[The Bad Ass Canadian]

Originally posted by Ricky
Get a Paul Reed Smith. I don't own one but have wanted one for years. Every time I play one at guitar center, they just seem to take the tension off your hand.

Plus many of them are so awesome looking with the wood grain and all that. I think I'll get one when I move out of my crack den neighborhood or this town completely.

I have a PRS McCarty, plus a few other different guitars (Gibson, Taylor, Ibanez) and none of them are any less comfortable to play.

That's kind of a weird statement, though getting a better quality guitar will be easier to play, it shouldn't have anything to do with the discomfort that Dimebag is talking about.

You might want to get checked out by a doc, man... Just to see if something isn't really wrong. Might be some tendonitis or carple tunnel (sp?) or something simmilar. Better to be safe, then risk fvcking uip your playing hand for good. I'd die if I couldn't play anymore.

 

[il_duce]

Originally posted by The Bad Ass Canadian
I've never had that problem and I used to sit around and practice scales and very quick runs for hours on end. literally. Plug in and play in my bedroom for 5 hrs non stop.

Ha, I thought I was the only one who practiced scales a lot. Everybody talks about how much they suck, but for some reason I can sit down and do them for hours and not get bored. Sometimes I worry I might do them too much and my other skills will lag behind.

 

[The Bad Ass Canadian]

Originally posted by il_duce
Ha, I thought I was the only one who practiced scales a lot. Everybody talks about how much they suck, but for some reason I can sit down and do them for hours and not get bored. Sometimes I worry I might do them too much and my other skills will lag behind.

I'm an old shredder influenced by late 80's/ early 90's rock and metal. Metallica, Testament, Extreme, Pantera... These guys know how to play guitar, and that's how I wanted to play too... you gotta learn every aspect of the guitar, to master it. Unfortunately, scales and modes are one thing that isn't on the fun side of playing, but once you start to understand how they work, it gets really easy... plus you build speed and dexterity and accuracy so you can rip out a really fast guitar solo. I admire guys who, in this day and age with the advent of 3 chord pvssy emo and alternative, can still play the guitar like a real pro.

You don't need to be able to do it to play in a succsseful band, but it's always nice to know that you CAN do it. The stuff I write is no where near shred guitar music. It's more along the lines of (as much as I really don't like them) Nickelback and such. It's a hard rock with catchy melodies and lyrics. Not a whole lot of room for a guitar solo, these days... but we're gonna try and bring that back

 

[Dimebag_Darrell]

yeah, I talked to some professional f*ck about it and he said I need to quit biting my fingernails....he's right.

Lately I've been learning stuff from Opeth though...they got some hard sh*t.. I learned some Opeth and everything else seems easy to play..

I can play real fast for only playing for 2 years, maybe thats not a good thing..oh well.