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Posted by: Beaker Feb 14 2007, 12:16 AM

Hi all,

Owned an electric guitar for 10+ years, learned 5 chords and all the bad habbits Now I've signed up with Kris it's time to actually start playing it!

I came across Kris' method via UG after following a few Pick N Grin videos posted there (cheers Pick, they were great!). After following the link to freelicks, I tried to play the Sweet Child Of Mine solo lesson. Ok, so I'm a million miles away from playing most of it anything like up to speed but after a few hours I'd got a lot of it down and for the first time I actually sounded like I could play I signed up here a few days later and am now practising the basics every day, desperately killing off what little I had learned the wrong way. Yes Kris, always up & down strokes with the metronome! I'm playing 4 note per string vertical runs (16ths) at 70bmp, if anyone cares - don't laugh pro shredders

Quick question for us beginners though. I've simply been doing the metronome lesson for 1-2 hours every night and tonight I found my hand muscles and wrist ached a little so I stopped and am giving it a rest. Is this normal or could my technique be wrong? My poor little pinky has never been used before so I tend to work that extra hard! I notice it's mostly that that seems to be aching. Clearly I don't want to do any damage but I feel like I'm slacking giving it a miss for a night!

Posted by: Steelkonsum Feb 14 2007, 12:57 AM

QUOTE (Beaker @ Feb 14 2007, 12:16 AM)

Hi all,

Owned an electric guitar for 10+ years, learned 5 chords and all the bad habbits

Now I've signed up with Kris it's time to actually start playing it!

I came across Kris' method via UG after following a few Pick N Grin videos posted there (cheers Pick, they were great!). After following the link to freelicks, I tried to play the Sweet Child Of Mine solo lesson. Ok, so I'm a million miles away from playing most of it anything like up to speed but after a few hours I'd got a lot of it down and for the first time I actually sounded like I could play

I signed up here a few days later and am now practising the basics every day, desperately killing off what little I had learned the wrong way. Yes Kris, always up & down strokes with the metronome! I'm playing 4 note per string vertical runs (16ths) at 70bmp, if anyone cares - don't laugh pro shredders

Quick question for us beginners though. I've simply been doing the metronome lesson for 1-2 hours every night and tonight I found my hand muscles and wrist ached a little so I stopped and am giving it a rest. Is this normal or could my technique be wrong? My poor little pinky has never been used before so I tend to work that extra hard! I notice it's mostly that that seems to be aching. Clearly I don't want to do any damage but I feel like I'm slacking giving it a miss for a night!

Welcome!

Nice discipline and pracitcing schedule! And you have to distinguish between pains and pains. There is the "I hurt something pain" and there's the "Ive been using a muscle for the first time for this long pain". If youre feeling the first one you have to stop or else you can screw up your hands real bad. In the second case, in my opinion, you can usually carry on. But to be on the safe side always stop when feeling pain. Not hurting yourself will eventually result in less slacking

Posted by: Doofs Feb 14 2007, 12:58 AM

Heya mate,

Are you warming up? Thats important, I know these can be classed as warm up exercises, but if you're breaking bad habits and changing lots of things, you may need to slow down a little and have a nice paced warmup.

I look at playing guitar the same way I do my workout training, cycling, swimming etc - any repeated actions under 'resistance' breaks down muscles, pushes the limits of random used parts of your body and requires a rest in order to recouperate.

Guitar is no different, a sudden pain is (undoubtedly) a sign to stop immediately, an ache is a warning that you're not letting yourself recover...

However it could also simply be fatigue - think about that time you had to run much further than you ever had before... You have to develop stamina, increased blood circulation etc, which comes with time and practise.

Rule of thumb - if there's BIG pain, don't play.... rest and recover
If it aches after a short period, lower your routine, play slower and more varied to build up your stamina and strength.

Kris has some cool tips scattered throughout his tutes, and there's lots in the forum about staying safe while playing so you're in safe hands as long as you're sensible about it.

(my training routine when I haven't played seriously in a while is simple, I pick up the guitar after breakfast and run a few warm ups, nice and slow, a couple of scale improves, slow bends, slides, hammers and pulls and put it down in the middle of something nice.

Then later, (I work from home) pick it up during a much needed break from the screen and to give my programmer hands a break from typing... more warm ups, maybe run a few riffs off to fill time, try a new idea... put it down

Then later repeat... 15-30mins each time...

then about 7pm go for the practise, pick a song I'm learning, work on things I'm bad at... about an hour or maybe two on a quiet night..)

Posted by: Beaker Feb 14 2007, 02:01 PM

Cheers for the replies. Sounds like I just overworked muscles not used before and needed the rest to recover them. Nice advice in those comments, I never thought of it like a sport before I think I also have to lower my expectations a little, I got a great speed boost in the first 3 days, I need to slow it down sometimes to warm up rather than jumping straight into top gear in each practice session (1st gear being top in my case - lol)

Shame I'll have to skip practice tonight as well, Valentine's day! If I don't, I'll have pain in places not associated with playing the guitar