does anybody have tips about removing muscle tension?

[gck]

I've picked up a book about classical guitar which has some exercises which seems to be quite good to me...

However, there are some things that have to be played pretty fast, like pieces with up to eight notes in one beat. When playing these things for some time, I feel both my left and right hand tensing up: my left hand thumb starts to press the neck rather strongly, I'm making more and more mistakes and its harder to pick the strings with my right hand fingers...

I've been playing basketball in a team for 5 years (since I was 12) and therefore am quite aware of when I'm developing tension in my muscles and I am sure that when I play strongly, I can keep my hands, arms and shoulders rather free...

So what can I do to get that tension under control (except building up more strength to be able to play in spite of it)??

[bobcat]

Hum...

Eight notes in one beat or in one measure? Either way you are ambitious! I think your other post said you had been playing about two months.

First question, do you have a metronome? If not, get one! Take the metronome and set it to about an 80. Break your eight note passage into four groups of two notes each and play two notes per click of the metronome. When that is easy, move the metronome up to 84 and play it again. Then up to 88, 92, 96, etc. By practicing the passage nice and slow (there's that slow word again) you will train the muscles to do what they need to do rather than having them go into spastic contractions and blunder everywhere when they see a whole handful of notes coming toward them. Also, you can work on one hand at a time with the metronome. Work on just moving the left hand fingers on the neck and keeping the hand relaxed while you do it. Then work on just strumming the correct string with the correct finger using just open strings with the right hand. Speed is something to work up to. Develop good skills and techniques in your beginning stages and speed will follow. It sounds better to play slow and correct than fast and sloppy!

You know what muscle tension feels like from basketball. After shooting 10,000 free throws, your shoulders are wrapped around your ears. What do you do? Stop, relax, stretch, shake it out, take a break... Do the same thing with guitar, only do it much more frequently. With basketball, you are using mostly gross motor skills. You are using the big muscles in the body that you have been using since the day you started to crawl. With guitar, you are using fine motor skills. You are just starting to develop lots of tiny muscles in the hands and forearms. You have used them all your life, but probably not as intensely as you are now. Give these muscles a chance to strengthen and develop. Strength will come with practicing. Tension will probably always be there, at least to an extent. Work to relax your grip on the neck of the guitar, keep your shoulders, neck and arms as relaxed as possible. Practice with good form (hand/body position) and technique. Write the word "relax" on a piece of paper and stick it on your music stand to remind you to stay loose!

Most important, stretch and take it slow! You will make faster progress in the long run if you take it slow and learn it correctly the first time! :p

[gck]

Thanks again for your hints!

1) Yes, I actually meant eight notes in one beat (would be 32 notes in one measure as it's a 4/4 beat I think) and yes, I'm very ambitious :-), mostly for two reasons: First, I've wanted to play guitar since my grandfather played for me when I was very little (unfortunately he has died 8 years ago) and only recently I was consequent enough to actually start, and second, music has always meant a lot to me.

2) Ok, I'll get me a metronome. I have always been of the opinion that using a metronome would not allow me to improve my feeling of rythm.

Probably I shouldn't demand too much from myself in the early stages of learning ;-)

[Levinson Blade]

Just to back up the Metronome it is a must for all musicians

[55'gibby]

I always give folks that I teach a little exercise to do (it's the first thing I teach them). 1) sit in a hard back chair (like a kitchen chair)feet flat on the floor 2) hands to your sides, head back, eyes closed 3) breathe in thru your nose, out thru your mouth 4) think about NOTHING. Do this until you feel your entire body relax. This may take a minute this may take 10 minutes. You must be completely relaxed!! I tell my students to do this every time they play. Over time when you sit down to play you body will be conditioned to relax, and, when your relaxed you play better and you can play longer. If you do start to tense up when you play... stop!! your tired. go get a drink, take a break... then come back to it later. Don't forget bobcat is also very correct in what he says, this is just a exercise.