Article on "warming up"

[Virgman]

http://www.jackgrassel.com/pages/warmup.html

 

The Warm Up

 

by

 

Jack Grassel

 

There are many conflicting views so you need to learn what works best for you. From 1990 to 1993, I was studying with a teacher who taught me a 20 minute warm up exercise. He had done it every day for 30 years! I calculated he had repeated this exercise for a total of 3,630 hours. I decided that instead numbing my brain with repetition, I would spend 3,360 hours learning new tunes, advancing my technique, promoting my career or learning anything I didn't already know !

 

How long is your attention span? When is your mind most receptive? For most humans, it's about 20 minutes. Is it a smart to play something you already know, which needs no thought, repeatedly during what could be the most productive time of your practice session?

 

When I taught at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, I saw students for the four years needed for a degree. I noticed that after being with me a year,

one student hardly improved. I asked how he practiced. He described his two hour daily warm up "before practicing": every scale, in every key, in every position! I asked what he practiced next? He said, he was too tired to continue practicing.

 

I prefer to practice material that requires the most thought first but I'm careful not to overtax my hands . Hands don't know the difference between a boring exercise, interesting music, or brushing your teeth, but your mind does. Then I receive the pleasure of playing exciting music and the challenge of learning.

 

Hands are busy all day. Avoid hurting your hands whether you play the guitar or cut the grass. When playing the guitar, remember that your mind and heart are the source of the music. Don't waste time daydreaming while practicing. Play the guitar here

 

and now, consciously !

 

Someday your career will end and you will no longer be able to play music. Do you want to look at your past life and see that you've spent a million hours repeating warmup exercises instead of playing music ?

 

Summary: The attention span for peak constructive thought is 20 minutes. The Mayo Clinic suggests resting the hands after each 20 minute practice session.

 

Conclusion: You can practice most efficiently without hand damage with numerous 20 minute sessions instead of one long one.

 

The bottom line: How much quality daily practice do you perform without hurting yourself?

[Knottyhed]

A double bass player friend of mine who several years ago took classical lessons with a teacher who graduated at Juliard told me that she told him to divide his practice into 20 minute slots focusing on specific things and actually banned him from doing more than 3 hours a day (he was doing about 8 at the time). Apparently he improved more rapidly doing 3 hours of day of proper practice than he did farting around for 8 hours...

Another interesting point is that people that think they do 10-15 hours or a day probably actually don't. I've been sad enough to actually practice all day and kept really good track of when I'm practicing, and when I'm eating, breathing, going for a {censored} etc. I think I can safely say that when someone reckons they practice 15 hours a day, they manage about half of that.

[jeremy_green]

I agree with this.

 

My experience has been my best growth happened when I was thoughtfully practicing. When my mind was engaged. I used to noodle endlessly and in retrospect it got me very little in the way of gains. Since I developed an organized controlled practice routing which includes breaks my playing has improved exponentially.

 

I shouldn't say I got nothing from the endless practice routine - I did get a hand problem

[girevik]

Allan Holdsworth is quoted somewhere saying that he practices no more than 30 min. at a time. Between practice sessions, he'll go for a bike ride or have a beer.

[Umbra]

Dunno, sometimes mindless repetition is the best thing for building muscle memory.

What is this hand damage thing?

You would thing that if that was possible I would have it after 30 years of typing, playing video games, playing keyboard, clarinet/bass clarinet and now guitar.

I never have hand pain.

[jeremy_green]

I developed a ganglion on my tendon and mild tendinitis. Both these still flare up from time to time when I try to push my speed to new levels. Who knows why you havent developed an issue way too many variables to consider (technique, genetics, hours spent, diet) I am not alone in this issue. Every time there is a post on hand pain the room goes nuts.

 

These hand issues for me were "earned" during a time when I was playing for 6-7 hours a day. Mostly pounding mindlessly over old scale patterns with a metronome trying to build that "muscle memory" as you say.

 

Here is where, or shall I say what I have learned from all that and some years of thinking about it. A muscle is just meat. It has no memory nor abilities to memorize things if just fires - on and off, on and off. What makes you the player you are and in fact everything you are (non spiritually speaking) is whats between your ears. Your brain. This is where it begins and ends.

 

I speculate - through years of trial and error - that speed doesn't come from repetition alone. Speed comes from knowledge of the fingerboard. My speed has drastically improved as I learned the neck from all angles. Chords, Arps, scale patterns end to end as well as top to bottom. Partial patterns sliding into other patterns. As my understanding of where things are improved so to did my speed and overall ability. Not just speed but that ability to play in a somewhat thoughtless space.

 

The truth isn't in the patterns - its in what they mean - sonically. I have practiced less - but a better quality - an had far more gains. This is the absolute truth for me. Not for all maybe but for me this has been it.

 

I practice in the car, in the shower, while I am working out. I am constantly reading anything and everything I can get my hands on plus visualizing playing. When I play I am ALWAYS scrutinizing what works and developing opinions about every single note. This has been a MUCH more effective path for me.

 

I mean you no disrespect. We all have our own unique ways. Many people have the muscle memory approach - I say that's fine but maybe put more emphasis on the memory and less on the muscle.

[girevik]

Dunno, sometimes mindless repetition is the best thing for building muscle memory. What is this hand damage thing? You would thing that if that was possible I would have it after 30 years of typing, playing video games, playing keyboard, clarinet/bass clarinet and now guitar. I never have hand pain.

 

 

Do you take breaks from practicing your instruments? How long do you practice without stopping? That was a major point of the Grassel article - take a break every 20 min.

 

Even in our most intense band rehearsals that can go for 6+ hours, I'm not constantly playing my guitar for all 6 hours without stopping. Each song lasts about 6 min. tops and after each song, I stop playing my guitar to change a patch, discuss with my bandmate, etc. We also take breaks from playing altogether to get drinks, use the bathroom, have a smoke, etc.

[1001gear]

Dunno, sometimes mindless repetition is the best thing for building muscle memory. What is this hand damage thing? You would thing that if that was possible I would have it after 30 years of typing, playing video games, playing keyboard, clarinet/bass clarinet and now guitar. I never have hand pain.

 

 

Muscles go at their own pace no matter how much you practice. If you exceed that window you can crossover into detriment even if you don't sustain any acute injury.

[lollygag]

I agree, but for me, the peak 20 minute session usually comes after warming up. Not to mention the physical aspect of getting muscles moving. This person obviously has concentration issues.

[Knottyhed]

Dunno, sometimes mindless repetition is the best thing for building muscle memory. What is this hand damage thing? You would thing that if that was possible I would have it after 30 years of typing, playing video games, playing keyboard, clarinet/bass clarinet and now guitar. I never have hand pain.

 

 

Repetitive strain injuries come from doing something repetively without a break. If you want 'hand damage' sitting in one place playing the same scale pattern/excise over and over for a few hours a day will soon get you there. Most people I've come accross who have ever gone the 'gym' route of spending hours a day trying to bump up metronome speeds have eventually had problems. The fact that you spread the load on your hands over several different hobbies/instruments would suggest that any strain you put on your hands isn't repetitive enough to cause damage.

[MetalJon]

I'm not sure exactly what Grassel's sentiments are. Is he simply saying that you shouldn't only practice the same thing everyday for the rest of your life? OK, yeah, I see that. You should be focusing on improving, not just playing what you can already play. But I continue to improve my speed, accuracy, and consistency when I practice chromatic single string runs everyday. When I'm able to consistently add an additional two bpms to my playing I think that's an improvement, and it's something that comes by more or less practicing the same thing. And you can bet I'll continue doing that exercise even after I've stopped increasing the tempo because it's a lot easier to lose it than to acquire it. But that definitely should not be the sum of your practice. It seems a little self-defeating to only practice enough to not lose the skills you've accumulated.

And as far as scales go, if you don't know the scale patterns, how are you supposed to know what to play? When you're improving you need the muscle memory those scale runs provide you with. You can't be thinking about which notes are which as beats are flying by at 160 bpms. You just have to be able to do it. You can call it simple "memory" if you prefer. "Muscle memory" is just the colloquial way of referring to it. But whatever you call it, you can only get it from practice. I mean, think about it, you can teach someone everything they need to know about music theory as pertains to the guitar in an afternoon (practically speaking). So what's the different between that guy and you? Practice. Plain and simple.

But yeah, by all means take regular breaks. A nice cold lager in between legato exercises and sweep picking should fit the bill nicely. And don't do exercises the to detriment of making music. Do it to facilitate making music. I never used to practice the way I do now. I would just ham around on the guitar and write stuff that I liked. It wasn't until my musical interests changed and I started becoming more enamored with technical styles that I wanted to increase my chops. If that's not your bag, then by all means blow off the exercises. Just have fun with it.

[Kuroyume]

Muscles go at their own pace no matter how much you practice. If you exceed that window you can crossover into detriment even if you don't sustain any acute injury.

This and conscientious playing. Know when you're doing it wrong (proper instruction), when it hurts too much (playing til your fingers bleed is overrated), and when practicing the same thing over and over without improvement requires a break for both mental and physiological acclimation. One of my friends played so much and probably in a bad form that he ended up with CTS. Now, I have been playing for 28 years and have never once had any major problems. There has been discomfort at times but never to the point where it was detrimental.

It takes a while for the 'muscle memory' to dig in. You must pace yourself and learn this pace at which the movements become natural and then strive forward.

[Cazual]

My experience has been my best growth happened when I was thoughtfully practicing.

 

 

That nails it for me.

 

It's the degree of attention that you pay, the quality of your focus, that matters - not just the amount of time.

 

Simple repetition on its own is of very little use, for the simple reason that you can entrench poor choices and crummy technique just as easily as the good stuff.

 

You must be alert and interested enough to have the all important EAR fully engaged and the mind 100% on the job. The idea that we can mindless work on 'muscle memory' is a fallacy. For a start, I don't believe that there is such a thing as 'memory' in the muscles, apart from a primitive ability to return to a starting point. It's all in the brain. How far could our fingers could take a solo if the connections to the brain were cut? I'd say nowhere.

 

What repetition does do is help build and entrench neural pathways in our brains. This takes both time (one reason for the value of rests and even sleep between sessions) and it needs accuracy and concentration. Sloppy practice builds unreliable pathways.

 

When my mind was engaged. I used to noodle endlessly and in retrospect it got me very little in the way of gains

 

 

I guess it depends on what you mean by "noodling". If you mean just mucking about without really concentrating then I'd completely agree.

 

However, I've spent most of the last 2 or 3 years doing what I call 'noodling' - which is experimenting and improvising, rather than doing set routines or just learning specific songs. I never do any sort of pre-planned practice routine for the sake of it. Instead I prefer to do what the quoted article suggests and work on things that interest me, and that I enjoy doing. That way I'm paying attention, not just going through the motions - which, as he says, really are a waste of time. EVERYTHING gets turned into a bit of music, whether it's supposed to be a scale, progress, fingering exercise, or whatever.

 

It's certainly been working for me. It's also been extremely enjoyable, which is by far the most important thing for me. The majority of beginners lose motivation and give up. Only a small percentage make it through to the competence they dreamed of, and they're the ones who managed to keep their motivation up. Enjoying myself is the No1 motivation for me.

 

Chris

[Kuroyume]

Chris, +1000

 

What 'muscle memory' entails is, as you say, not in the muscles but in the neural pathways that control our muscles (the nervous system). We blithely call it 'muscle memory' but it is really creating autonomic neural connections in our brains that allow for less conscientious thinking in doing the movements so that they happen more quickly. Basically, we learn by doing over and over again. We learn to do it more efficiently by examining the process and analysing the particulars involved. This is the more rigorous practice over the more sloppy practice. No matter how many times you do something inefficiently, it never becomes less inefficient. After many years of playing, I see no end to increased efficiency and technique. It is all about how far you want to take it.

 

Let me add that I've been down the non-progressive 'noodling' path in my past. There was a time when I thought there was no way to improve and just kept playing the same things over and over. And not seeking new ideas or 'playing' with what I knew. It basically led me to consider giving up playing altogether. That is when I decided to focus on YJM and then on classical - and it made me a better blues, rock, metal, jazz player - go figure. Cornering your abilities happens to us all, if I may be so bold. We all get in ruts. Some of those ruts are pretty deep and unfathomable. That is when you need to focus and try new things (as well as seek out new venues, influences, teachers, etc.).

[Li Shenron]

The Warm Up

 

 

I think that "warm up" is one of the most talked-about topic in guitar practice, and yet the majority of people doesn't even understand the meaning of the word...

 

Why do people think that "warm up" is a good time to practice fundamentals, like scales? Why do people spend 1 full hour warming up?

 

Warming up is just what it says: it's done only to go from "cold" to "warm", it's the starting phase to make your hands ready for the real practice.

 

Check out what an athlete does when warming up: he's just doing some relaxed slow running, simple stretching, loosing arms and legs, followed by a few running rushes when getting already warm. He's not practicing while warming up, he's not learning anything while warming up... because warm up is not practice time.

 

If someone is doing scales for 1 hour, he's not warming up, he's already practicing. He's been "warm" probably for 45-55 minutes already. But in the first 5-15 minutes he was supposed to warm up only, it doesn't matter what he does, he's not going to learn anything while his hands are still warming. It doesn't really matter what you do as a warm up, the only thing that matters is that it warms you up without damaging, so the only requirement is that it's actually not too hard, and then you get the full benefit if it uses all fingers and joints. But then it could be anything, playing an easy song, improvising, scales... who cares?

[lollygag]

Check out what an athlete does when warming up: he's just doing some relaxed slow running, simple stretching, loosing arms and legs, followed by a few running rushes when getting already warm. He's not practicing while warming up, he's not learning anything while warming up... because warm up is not practice time.

 

 

+1 hear, hear!

[Virgman]

 

I'm not sure exactly what Grassel's sentiments are?

 

 

I think Grassel's point was that you shouldn't spend your time doing "exercises".

 

1-2-3-4 etc.

 

That you should play music, learn songs, relevant licks & riffs, etc.

 

i.e. this excerpt:

 

"From 1990 to 1993, I was studying with a teacher who taught me a 20 minute warm up exercise. He had done it every day for 30 years! I calculated he had repeated this exercise for a total of 3,630 hours. I decided that instead numbing my brain with repetition, I would spend 3,360 hours learning new tunes, advancing my technique, promoting my career or learning anything I didn't already know!"

 

and...

 

"When I taught at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, I saw students for the four years needed for a degree. I noticed that after being with me a year, one student hardly improved. I asked how he practiced. He described his two hour daily warm up "before practicing": every scale, in every key, in every position! I asked what he practiced next? He said, he was too tired to continue practicing."

 

 

[Virgman]

I think that "warm up" is one of the most talked-about topic in guitar practice, and yet the majority of people doesn't even understand the meaning of the word... Why do people think that "warm up" is a good time to practice fundamentals, like scales? Why do people spend 1 full hour warming up? Warming up is just what it says: it's done only to go from "cold" to "warm", it's the starting phase to make your hands ready for the real practice. Check out what an athlete does when warming up: he's just doing some relaxed slow running, simple stretching, loosing arms and legs, followed by a few running rushes when getting already warm. He's not practicing while warming up, he's not learning anything while warming up... because warm up is not practice time. If someone is doing scales for 1 hour, he's not warming up, he's already practicing. He's been "warm" probably for 45-55 minutes already. But in the first 5-15 minutes he was supposed to warm up only, it doesn't matter what he does, he's not going to learn anything while his hands are still warming. It doesn't really matter what you do as a warm up, the only thing that matters is that it warms you up without damaging, so the only requirement is that it's actually not too hard, and then you get the full benefit if it uses all fingers and joints. But then it could be anything, playing an easy song, improvising, scales... who cares?

 

You are on the money! Warming up is getting loose and warming up your joints and muscles.

 

Not doing exercises!

 

You can warm up in a couple minutes.

 

[jeremy_green]

I am with you Li Senron!

 

Agreed, but let me add I am a "kill two birds with one stone" kind of guy so I usually warm up with some note reading. Just a quick 10 minute go through to get the mind and the body engaged. Then I dump that and start in.

 

Do anything totally "mindlessly" has just not worked for me. I wasted a lot of time learning that. That is why I am posting it here. In hopes that a younger player can be spared the same loss of time.

[girevik]

I am with you Li Senron! Agreed, but let me add I am a "kill two birds with one stone" kind of guy so I usually warm up with some note reading. Just a quick 10 minute go through to get the mind and the body engaged. Then I dump that and start in. Do anything totally "mindlessly" has just not worked for me. I wasted a lot of time learning that. That is why I am posting it here. In hopes that a younger player can be spared the same loss of time.

You and I think alike here.

My "warmup" is simply the most difficult item out of the list of items I've selected to work on for my practice session. The difficulty forces me to play slower and focus my mind on the task at hand.

I used to be like the guy that Jack Grassel describes - spending so much time on scale practice that there was little time left to practice any real music! And it wasn't even good scale practice - it was simply playing up and down most of the time!

[Umbra]

Here is where, or shall I say what I have learned from all that and some years of thinking about it. A muscle is just meat. It has no memory nor abilities to memorize things if just fires - on and off, on and off. What makes you the player you are and in fact everything you are (non spiritually speaking) is what

[jeremy_green]

Good points,

 

I will say this. Athletes require training their muscles because they require strength. A lot of it! I say that within a couple years of playing my muscles were developed to a state where they were capable of whatever I threw at them. What was lacking was the brain sending the correct signals.

 

I completely agree a raw beginner would need significant training to get their hand muscles to the point where they could execute. But that is not what we were discussing. Running over patterns to "drill them in" is good provided the brain is engaged. I say that having your metronome click away while you drill scale patterns for ages is not productive.

 

So while you seem to feel that it lacks common sense - there is a large school of thought (instructors and players) out there that pushes the "no pain no gain" approach. It has been a constant in musical training for eons. When you say "scales" they come with a sense of dread to many - why? Because of this type of teaching. So common sense has little to do with it. When you have great player X or great teacher Y saying "run those scales, build that muscle memory" injuries are a byproduct for some. I was one.

 

All I am saying is that the focus is on the wrong part. Brain 90% Muscles 10% so if you want to get fast learn the fretboard and make all your exercises musical and designed with that intent. That's why to me arpeggios make more sense to practice up and down the neck. I dont mean sweeping I mean single string, 2 string etc. Drill in where the notes are, this will make you faster in the end.

 

Is that not common sense?

Should be if you ask me.

 

Peace

[girevik]

Jeremy, Robert Conti agrees with you.

 

Even while introducing his book/DVD The Precision Technique which has a bunch of exercises, he still kind of takes an anti-mode/scale stance.

 

McLaughlin has a different view of course, but to him modes are just platforms for interval practice (I've only seen DVD #1 - will probably get a glimpse at #2 next week).

[MetalJon]

I think Grassel's point was that you shouldn't spend your time doing "exercises". 1-2-3-4 etc. That you should play music, learn songs, relevant licks & riffs, etc. i.e. this excerpt: "From 1990 to 1993, I was studying with a teacher who taught me a 20 minute warm up exercise. He had done it every day for 30 years! I calculated he had repeated this exercise for a total of 3,630 hours. I decided that instead numbing my brain with repetition, I would spend 3,360 hours learning new tunes, advancing my technique, promoting my career or learning anything I didn't already know!" and... "When I taught at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, I saw students for the four years needed for a degree. I noticed that after being with me a year, one student hardly improved. I asked how he practiced. He described his two hour daily warm up "before practicing": every scale, in every key, in every position! I asked what he practiced next? He said, he was too tired to continue practicing."

 

OK, so he's saying no exercises at all? Just learn to play songs? In that case, I'm going to have to disagree. I think exercises are fundamental to building technique. But I would wholeheartedly agree that's not all you should do in a practice session. Adding melodic and harmonic content (i.e. not just a bunch of chromatic runs) is essential.

[Cazual]

The brain does do the thinking but the body does have a significant ability to adapt to the environment that I think your ignoring in your ideas. If your idea was correct there would be no real reason for athletes to do much training at all. Thinking about something is better than nothing but actually doing it is the better, doing both at once is best.

True, but musicians aren't really strength athletes. This is the sort of rippling physique you can develop with a lifetime of playing great guitar.



Or check out Youtube and you can see a parade of annoying kids with stick like arms, who can barely hold their instruments up, yet who can play the socks of a hulking old brute like me. They should be banned...

The goals of developing muscle memory are really to develop the tissues to take the stress and to allow parts of the brain to disengage. If you had to actually remember and conciously tell each finger where to move when you would be able to play slowly at best.

I agree with