I do some scales up and down the neck.

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Asleep at the Wheel-Hot Rod Lincoln

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4vPoyL8njU

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Since I have a neuro-muscular condition that feels like a cross between arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome I have to limber up my hands before I play.First I apply Pennsaid solution(It's a greaseless prescription formula that helps control swelling and muscle ache.) and knead the heels of my hands and massage and stretch each one of my digits. Once I have done this I squeeze a silica filled stress relief ball with each hand for a couple of minutes and then stretch my fingers again.
I repeat all this after I finish playing.It is time consuming but since my chiropractor showed me the stretches and excercises my hands have improved immensely.BTW I also remove my watch and rings so as to not restrict circulation or contribute to swelling.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

scale improv

ah this is what im looking for right here.
do you do any kind of string warm up after the meds and the ball slinger?

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Way cool...since I have had my Carpal tunnel surgery I scored one of these powerballs(gyroscope) for rehabilitation and it is really helping strengthen the fingers,hand and wrist.Its a little soon to tell you how well it will work for warming up exercises for guitar as I am still in the recovery stage of the surgeries.I will probably post an update tomorrow and let everyone know how things are going after I had surgery on the second hand.So far..I can tell that this little sphere is gonna really help stengthen an improve my hands.

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1986 Fender Sidekick Reverb 35
1990 Fender Red Knob - "The Twin"
1992 Fender Newporter - Acoustic
2000 Fender American Series Strat - Natural ash
2010 Fender Mustang 1
2011 Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster -Sunburst
2012 Fender Champion

well to go more informative than my previous post, if you must know, i pretty much let the left hand do what it wants, but the right hand is a bit of a problem. i'm constantly doing hand excercises, but before i play i make sure i do 20 of each eg; wrist movement, finger to thumb tapping etc, and then i just sit down and totally relax my right hand for about ten minutes. believe me it makes the world of difference when playing guitar if you have muscle contraction disorder like me. and when i have some spare time in the morning, i spend 20-30 minuts just playing ramone-style riffs sitting down to get the wrist going. then i play songs like blackbird, better man to improve my finger picking, and i also play riffs like layla to actually move my fingers while picking.

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riley

I don't do anything in particular.
All supposed warm up scales and runs do is re-re-inforce muscle memory from practice. Not neccesarily a bad thing. As long as you can guarantee never to go into autopilot whilst playing.

Myself I'm concious to regularly keep my fingers stretched back. Thats the big problem I suffer, and I suspect most of us do. Claw hand, the fingers constantly wanting to bend to form a claw.
It's from the finger/hand muscles being too tense. If your fingers are leaning to one shape it's going to slow you down.
So I make sure I stretch my finger muscles back. Theres a great excersize for it that can either be a dexterity excersize or a stretching excersize, and you don't need a guitar for it. Lay your left hand flat, stretch your fingers back one at a time, whilst keeping all the other fingers flat. Don't move them with the other hand, just use the fingers own muscles. Do them in odd pairs too, like index and ring, whilst keeping middle and little fingers flat down. Use all combinations of fingers, but make sure all the non moving fingers stay flat. It's a pointless excersize unless you do. You dont need to go wild pulling the fingers back. That will just hurt you.

It will relax your hand and teach finger dexterity. Aside from that hand rotations to make sure I'm getting as much blood to my hands as possible.

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No no and no

My Gf And I Work Out At Ballys Which Keeps Your Arms And Upper Body Strong. Other Than That Just Crack My Knuckles And Bend My Fingers Back A Few Times And Do Some Scales.

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Vintage Hotrod '57 Strat, 81 G&L L2000 Series E Bass, Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp.

I do some hand and wrist stretches, and then I do some scale warm ups and other finger exercises. I recently bought a product called the Hand Master Plus. It is a stress ball with rubber bands that works out your forearm, wrist hand, fingers, and elbow all in one exercise. It is a great product for warming up. I recommend it. It will enhance your playing and dexterity. Check it out on Amazon. You won't be disappointed.

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

does it contract or excract your fingers?

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riley

Well as someone who also suffers from Cubital Tunnel Syndrome amongst other issues this is the best advice I could give. Before playing run your hands under very warm water and rub down your fingers ,as this will get the blood flowing in your hands good and fast and is something I learned from Steve Morse. After that I go through a bunch of stretches to get limber ,then will practice about a half hour running scales and exercises like 1-3-4/1-2-4/1-2-3 and so on from 1st fret to 12th. Also remember to take a 10 minute break for every 90 minutes of playing. Hey when you are in your teens and twenties or even thirties this may sound like nonsense, but in the long run if you take care of your hands early you will not have issues later on in life. I will be 50 in 11 months and have spent the last 3 years not really being able to play at all. There is nothing scarier than a doctor telling you your days of playing may be over/

i play metallica riffs. yes it's stupid but it's what i do. the old stuff. i also play the sig riff in "life in the fast lane". i don't know why.

I throw down some loops to get in a groove and get my tempo in order then just improv.