Members ThrashorDeth Posted November 13, 2004 Members Posted November 13, 2004 Ok, been playing for about 2 years. I practice every other day for 4-6 hours and if its everyday its a warmup for an our with leanring a song basically. Well, I basically try to warm up fingers 1 and 3 and 1 and 4 as much as possible. For example, I do -8-5 on the high E, then 8-5 on the G string alternate picking and go up the fret board using fingers:"1" and "3" and "1" and "4". I do this like 10 times every time until my arm hurts, then take break, then go at it again. I also just do trilling of both finger sets going up the neck and down it in 3 sets of each finger. After all this, I'm finally able to trill a little faster but as the practice goes on and I don't the exercise anymore, my trill action slows down a bit. Im pissed off cause ive been doing this as a ritual for 2 years. Do muscles in my arm/hand still need to build up so I won't need to warm up so much to actually make it work? Or do I just suck at trills?
Members Nickdel Posted November 13, 2004 Members Posted November 13, 2004 You could be doing it wrong. A trill is a rapid hammer-on and pull-off between two notes. Ok, we know this already, but the problem could be in your pull-off technique. A pull-off isn't, like, a lift-off, or just removing your finger. You have to grab the string with your finger, pull it a little bit, and then let go sound the string is essentially plucked. Of course, this is a quick motion, and not as drastic as, say, finger picking. But, you don't just hammer-on the string and then lift your finger up, you have to pull the string a little tiny bit and then let it snap back into place. See if you're doing this. I am convinced it's your technique, not the strength of your arm or hand or whatever.
Members Auggie Doggie Posted November 13, 2004 Members Posted November 13, 2004 If you practice in long sessions, fatigue is going to be a factor eventually. So, it's probably best to save any 'strength building' stuff for the END of your sessions; doing them early on will result in you doing the rest of your practicing with tired muscles which can cause a lot of bad habits. Also, and I may be taking a shot in the dark here...when you are doing trills, are you always starting on the lower note on the downbeat (or always the upper note)? Believe it or not, there's a physical difference between the following: a) 1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3 and b) 3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1-3-1 If you aren't already, make sure you practice it both ways.
Members adamsj Posted November 13, 2004 Members Posted November 13, 2004 Thrash, Check out these exercises, and do them as trills as well as the way they're written. It'll help. http://guitar.com/cda/ColumnCorner/article_display.aspx?sPath=8100000075B3000000010000794900000000&sSection=TL There are many other free lessons in the Shut Up N Play Yer Guitar section of Guitar.com Otherwise, just keep at it. If you're playing that much, it'll all come to you pretty quickly.
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