Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ "the Burns"
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 29 2008, 01:46 PM
Lately my fretting hand is been bothering me. I have this burning sensation on top of my hand and in my forearm.
I can only maybe practice about 45 minute to an hour a night. Sometimes even less.
I started some of Jose Mena's shredding exercises and can only get about 10 minutes into it then I have to quit. Very annoying.
I hope this is normal especially now that I am doing different kind of practices than Im used to and working out different muscles.
Posted by: Daniel Robinson Sep 29 2008, 05:03 PM
Its hard to say if this is normal or not.
The problem being that not knowing exactly what kind of "Burning" your talking about.
An acute burning feeling in those area's could be mild symptoms of tedonitus, which can occur when starting a new excersise routine and the tendon's are not used to the load. I would say watch it very carefully and watch for any changes, make sure you really warm up well before each practice session before diving into anything really hard, and imo after your practice session stretch all the muscles from your shoulder to your fingers. Proper cooldown can help you to keep injuries low and help you recover more quickly inbetween sessions. At least this has been my observation.
Daniel
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 29 2008, 05:25 PM
The problem being that not knowing exactly what kind of "Burning" your talking about.
An acute burning feeling in those area's could be mild symptoms of tedonitus, which can occur when starting a new excersise routine and the tendon's are not used to the load. I would say watch it very carefully and watch for any changes, make sure you really warm up well before each practice session before diving into anything really hard, and imo after your practice session stretch all the muscles from your shoulder to your fingers. Proper cooldown can help you to keep injuries low and help you recover more quickly inbetween sessions. At least this has been my observation.
Daniel
Thank you for the tip Dan. I guess the burning is more of a constant soreness thats sitting on top of my hand mostly.
Something I do not do is do any stretching or cool down exercises before or after I start to play.
I will look for some routines to do before I start.
Dan
Posted by: mattacuk Sep 29 2008, 05:32 PM
Do you "warm up" first? by which i mean practice something slow for half an hour first, like phrasing and improvisation. The reason I ask is that when i first started i went straight into shredding exercises and i too got burning and hand craps. I soon realise this was due to the fact i didnt spend time warming up so to speak.
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 29 2008, 05:40 PM
I do not warm up first. I go straight to the lesson at hand.
Posted by: Ryan Sep 29 2008, 05:40 PM
Im starting to have that to, and It just doesnt feel right. But I think mines a lil different. Ill just grab a cup with my fretting hand or anything, and ill get a slight minor pain in my tendons, and around the my knuckles sort of. Its hard to explain through words, easier to show.
I think, my knuckle problem though is, im double-jointed there where my tendons are. I can move my tendons or w/e, off my knuckles to the side. I catch myself doing that sometimes lol, and it hurts after a while.
Also, try not only stretching afterwards but do some stretching warm-ups on the guitar. And try just stretching some before hand to. Stretching is very important.
Posted by: jer Sep 29 2008, 06:00 PM
I thought you did the stretching exercises from Petrucci's "Rock Discipline" dvd?
Posted by: Bedlam Sep 29 2008, 06:03 PM
I have to say from experience that you should always warm up first. I used to go straight into shred mode, but learned the hard way... It helps you prevent injury and really improves your playing. I suggest you check out Marcus' warming up lesson, it is very good.
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/warming-up-with-marcus-siepen/
For the mean time, I would say take it easy for a couple of days.
Good luck
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 29 2008, 06:06 PM
I don't. I always forget to do this when I start to play.
I remember to stretch after Im done.
@ Bedlam
Thanks man. I need to work this into my routine.
Posted by: Bedlam Sep 29 2008, 06:08 PM
Have you always been able to do this? My tendons started sliding off to the side on the knuckle of my middle finger and I had to have surgery to repare this. They would slide off to the side just by making a fist...
Posted by: Ryan Sep 29 2008, 06:11 PM
Yeah,
It has always freaked people out, I cant do it while my hand is straight, but it doesnt have to be a fist either. They stay in place till i move them myself, here Ill post a picture or something, maybe a video give me a sec. Its actually kinda cool.
Posted by: Ryan Sep 29 2008, 06:47 PM
This is what Im talking about Bedlam, is it bad?
Edit: Sorry it came from a camera, and I didnt know how to change the extension, but it does work in Windows Media Player, i alrdy did that on mine to make sure it would work.
Posted by: Pedja Simovic Sep 29 2008, 06:49 PM
Before attempting to play anything fast shred or new in general warm up using technical exercises of all kinds using METRONOME.
This includes Alternate , Legato , Sweep , Tapping and all other right+left hand techniques.
Determine whats your max speed that you can play 16th notes using metronome . If its 120bpm for example then start by practicing HALF SPEED from that meaning 60bpm. Do all your exercises at that tempo for couple of minutes (2-3 minutes not more for each exercise/lick/sequence/solo) and then move the tempos by 8-10 bpm (beats per minute).
After 30-45 minutes you will be properly warmed up, your hands will be in full coordination and you will not any injuries /tendonitis pain etc.
On side note I've seen lot of hard working and talented guitar players go to waste because of overdoing the practicing part and not warming up properly.
My personal advice is work on technique , that's important to have , but spend more time creating melodies/riffs/full songs and getting your style down rather than playing exercises and sequences - this is just very predictable and not as interesting in my opinion.
Hope this helped you guys.
Posted by: Jose Mena Sep 29 2008, 06:53 PM
I think I know what you are talking about opeth, it happens to me from time to time, it is like a strange cold/hot sensation, I get it in the back of my hand when I have played for too long like say, 2 or 3 days for 4-5 hours, the problem does not go away if I keep playing, I can feel it even when I use the keyboard.
At this point stop for a few days if you can, I avoid playing and try doing something else, if I have to play for a show or something like that, I will not shred, most likely shredding is not necessary for the type of music I play live with my brother. But best advice is stop playing for some time and come back to it, you do not want to get tendinitis or something like that.
Posted by: Marcus Siepen Sep 29 2008, 06:55 PM
You should not really be surprised if you do some serious practicing without warming up. Warm ups are VERY important, no matter what you are going to practice, you should definitely make this part of your daily routine, otherwise your problems might get worse.
Posted by: mattacuk Sep 29 2008, 07:45 PM
Well this is most probably the issue, and should not be difficult to deal with. As everyone has now mention, you simply must warm up before you start
Posted by: Letsrock Sep 29 2008, 08:23 PM
Forearm pain sounds pretty common. I am new to the guitar and I have been pushing my self too hard with hind sight. I have developed a pain down my forearm on the inside when I angle my hand up to get my fingers in front of the fret board. As soon as I push with my fingers I get a cramp feeling in my forearm.
I have figured that I have been pushing my forearm tendons to much. I have decided to use some light weights to do forearm curls to develop my strength. I am practicing moving between chords as in Beginner Strumming and Arpeggios by Muris without apply much pressure.
Does this sound sensible and is there any other advice?
Thanks
Letsrock.
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 29 2008, 08:31 PM
@ Jose, Pedja and Marcus
Thanks a lot for your opinions. They are well noted and will be taking a few days off.
As masters of your craft I do respect it a lot.
Ya know something. I think it maybe be a pride thing. Playing for many years Im still at the point where I don't want to admit to myself I need to start over. I want to be at the level you guys are at so desperately. But I also want to do it correctly and not hurt myself.
But after this thread and your comments I will take note.
Thanks!
Dan
Posted by: Letsrock Sep 29 2008, 08:38 PM
Sorry Opeth,
I'm pretty new to forums, threads and what not. It looks to me like I should have added my own topic for my own question and not asked on yours.
Its the same as butting in on someone's conversation and taking over and I hate when someone does that to me in person.
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 29 2008, 08:46 PM
I'm pretty new to forums, threads and what not. It looks to me like I should have added my own topic for my own question and not asked on yours.
Its the same as butting in on someone's conversation and taking over and I hate when someone does that to me in person.
Not a big deal my friend. You had something to add to the conversation about working out.
BTW, Welcome to the forums
Posted by: Bedlam Sep 30 2008, 01:53 AM
Edit: Sorry it came from a camera, and I didnt know how to change the extension, but it does work in Windows Media Player, i alrdy did that on mine to make sure it would work.
ug, that's exactly what I had happen to me. It was painful and I had surgery to fix it in Feb of this year. It was a mild pain, but it was enough that I didn't want to play guitar or write. Have you always had this? I twisted my hand pretty good to make my flexor tear in my hand, thus making my tendon slide to the side when making a fist. If it's bothering you, let me know and I can talk to you in detail about it. My doctor said that if it wasn't causing me pain, then I should not worry about it, but it was...
Posted by: Marcus Siepen Sep 30 2008, 10:16 AM
Pride shouldn't really play a role here, you want to play guitar (fine), you want to get better (fine too), you pactice (perfect), but you are too proud to warm up??? This will only hold you back and might do some serious damage to your health. All of us have to warm up before we practice, record, play a show or do whatever with our guitars, it is just a part of the whole thing. If you don't warm up this is exactly what happens, you are in pain, and like this you can't play of course. Make warm ups a part of your playing routine, it is really important.
Posted by: opeth.db Sep 30 2008, 01:53 PM
Thanks Marcus.
Posted by: Marcus Siepen Sep 30 2008, 05:57 PM
You're welcome
Posted by: Ryan Sep 30 2008, 06:18 PM
Yeah, ive always had this. I can do it on command, and it only bothers me when I do it tons. So I usually dont just walk around doing it. Am I not suppose to be able to do this?? Ive been able to do it for a long time now, dont remember when I first started to be able to do it, but It has really bothered me.
Posted by: opeth.db Oct 1 2008, 03:01 PM
So I took a night off and my hand got better.
Went to my chiropractic/massage appointment last night. got my neck snapped and my massage. My massage therapist rubbed out my arm and hand. She's great and also had some great advice about what to do afterwords when your done playing which helped out greatly.
I did my warm-up (Thanks Marcus ) exercises and I was able to play for 2 hours last night without a problem.
I also started to do my Petrucci stretches again. I knew of them but never did it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrAaMLpP20k
Thanks GMC!
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)