Guitar Lessons: Warming up – How To Prevent Injury And Make Your Practice More Efficient

by Leon

As musicians we share a major fear. What if, for one reason or another, we * couldn't * play our instruments – at all? Imagine being simply unable to pick up your guitar and do what you do. Doesn't sound too appealing, does it?

But this is the kind of situation RSIs (Repetitive Strain Injuries) put you in – from tendonitis (suffered famously by Yngwie Malmsteen, no less) to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (suffered by Mike Einziger of Incubus, forcing a halt to their tour at the time as well as surgery). I personally have known more musicians than I can even remember who have, at some point, been forced to put down their instruments – temporarily and permanently – because continuing to play caused them more pain than it was worth. The worst part of RSIs is that the more you ignore them and keep playing, the worse they get – the only way to make the pain stop is by putting the guitar down and seeing a doctor for professional medical advice.

So that's the bad news. How do you go about avoiding this situation?

Step 1: ALWAYS WARM UP BEFORE PLAYING THE GUITAR!

You have a couple of options here. First, you could put on a metronome or drum machine (at a slow tempo – no need for 200bpm Petrucci shred licks at this point) and jam on a simple groove/rhythm part. Start simple, say using eighth notes, and make it gradually more complex after 5 minutes or so. Make sure you are very comfortable with what you are playing, to the point of effortlessness, before going on to more advanced rhythms, incorporating lead fills, etc. REMEMBER – TAKE IT SLOWLY. You might feel like a beginner playing simple things, but it sure beats RSI. Besides which, even the greatest guitar heroes play simple things from time to time – the difference is they can make the simplest parts sound amazing, which is a major musical goal in itself. After 10/20 minutes of this you should feel the difference in your hands.

Secondly, you can try using simple technical exercises to warm up your hands. John Petrucci's books 'Rock Discipline' and 'Wild Stringdom' have great sections on warming up – I cannot recommend these books enough, whether you want to shred or not. 'Guitar Secrets' by Joe Satriani also contains some interesting ideas. My personal favourite warmup routine is to take the classic '1 – 2 – 3 – 4' (1^st finger on the 1^st fret of the low E string, 2^nd finger on the 2^nd, etc) fingering pattern and create my own variations to match my current level of technique. However I should point out that I do also use the rhythmic jamming approach first as well – let's face it, it is much more fun to play music than exercises, and balance is always the key to becoming a well-rounded musician. For example, I might take the 1234 pattern on the E string and move it vertically across the other strings, to the high E and back down again (using eighth notes):

E ---------------------------

B ---------------------------

G --------------------------- etc

D ------------------1 2 3 4-

A ---------1 2 3 4----------

E 1 2 3 4-------------------

Or move up a string and up one fret each time:

E ---------------------------

B ---------------------------

G --------------------------- etc

D ------------------3 4 5 6-

A ---------2 3 4 5----------

E 1 2 3 4-------------------

Using 8^th note triplets (John Petrucci style):

E ---------------

B ---------------

G ---------------

D ---------------

A ---------------

E 1 2 3 4 3 2 -

Moving some fingers to other strings (alternate picking):

E ---------------

B ---------------

G ---------------

D ---------------

A --2--4--------

E 1 - 3 ---------

E ---------------

B ---------------

G ------4--------

D ----3----------

A --2------------

E 1 -------------

And so on. You could also try starting the exercises on other fingers, incorporating string skips – the possibilities are almost limitless. As well as giving you a good warmup these exercises can also be used to improve your overall dexterity and technique, and thus your control of the instrument. Of course, for some people this approach is unbearable – hence the first option of jamming rhythm parts! I also strongly recommend that if you do prefer playing technical exercises you should still use rhythm playing and jamming when warming up, and spend at least an equal amount of practice time practising rhythm and technique, so that you don't become a 'bedroom shredder' who can play solos at a million miles an hour but can't keep a groove.

Remember that these options are not mutually exclusive – I must stress (again!) that a mix of these two approaches will give you a much more rounded and balanced experience of the possibilities afforded by the guitar.

Step 2 – STOP PLAYING!

Don't worry – I don't mean put the guitar in the case, sell it on Ebay and give up! Just give yourself regular breaks – say 5 minutes of rest for every 15 minutes of playing, for example. I know it's hard to do, but if you play for hours at a time without rest you're heading for trouble. This is a simple but effective way of lessening your chances of injury. Also take short breaks of 30 seconds to a minute regularly when practising challenging things. For example, when practising technical exercises I will often play for 4 bars and leave 4 bars of rest before starting again, using the spare time to shake out any tension in my hands. This brings me to my next point...

Step 3 – RELAX!

Be aware of the level of tension in your body at all times while playing – particularly in your hands. A lot of the time, while playing technically challenging material particularly, your hands will become very tense, and it is this tension (repetitive strain) particularly that leads to RSIs. So if you feel yourself getting tense in any part of your body, take a break and let it relax. Simple awareness can lead to revelations about bodily tension, and you may be surprised at where it crops up while you play – for me it's particularly in the neck and shoulders, and for a friend of mine his legs, leading to pulled muscles when walking out of the practice room!

Step 4 – IF IT HURTS, REALLY STOP PLAYING!

If at any time you experience pain or discomfort while playing, put the guitar down, give yourself a proper break, and head to the doctor. It is better to catch RSIs early than it is to have to give up playing.

Of all the articles I have written (and will write) for Gig Reviewer, this is by far the most important. It may seem to some like scaremongering, but RSI is a fact that should not be ignored. For more information click here.

Thanks for reading! :)