Tips on alleviating tension when picking?

[Jazzpunk]

I've been focusing more on my picking technique and I am really noticing how much I tense up in my picking arm when attempting faster runs. Are there any exercises you guys have found useful in resolving this issue?

[GuyB]

You might find some interesting comments on this by Jamie Andreas at :
Guitar Speed
on this page and some others on the same site.

[Bigmagic]

I'll give you a quick tip. Practice scales and arpeggios slowly(really slowly) and gradually speed up. Tension comes from bad technique use a metronome and start slowly and you won't tense up when the pressure is on.

[djangoles]

I woke up one morning in December with my picking hand in agony....don't know why, but the pain lasted on and off for about 3 months. The only way I could play during that time and not be in pain was to play very lightly and slowly. It was a little rough at first, but my technique improved pretty greatly, and no tension. Also it's a little chessy, but the Frank Gambale chops builder was a good for thing to use and apply the lighter touch approach.

[mr. beaumont]

Breathe.

I notice right away that if I don't breathe regularly when really going for something, I tense up.

Of course, this comes from being comfortable with the material...tension almost always stems from uncertainty, it seems...

[JensL]

I think you might get a lot out of speeding lines or scales etc up from tempos where it's easy and then a little faster than is comfortable, then gradually (over days and weeks) push up the tempo.

Another thing is to analyze what is going on. The better you know why and what is going on the easier it is to change, ie. is it string skips or changing between strings, double time etc.

Jens

[JensL]

I woke up one morning in December with my picking hand in agony....don't know why, but the pain lasted on and off for about 3 months. The only way I could play during that time and not be in pain was to play very lightly and slowly. It was a little rough at first, but my technique improved pretty greatly, and no tension. Also it's a little chessy, but the Frank Gambale chops builder was a good for thing to use and apply the lighter touch approach.

You really have to wonder if he actually had the idea to make a guitar aerobics video. The stuff that they tried to get away with in the 80's

Jens

[fumblefingers]

you certainly don't want to be tense, but playing fast may mean that you have to naturally stabilze you hand and arm by slightly contracting the muscles. especially if you want to play with some force. so long as you dont remain in that state for an extended period you shouldn't have to be tense. you can be fairly relaxed overall while contracting specific muscles.

[Jazzpunk]

Thanks for all of the advice/opinions. I wish I had tackled this problem earlier but I guess it's better late than never!

[Jazzpunk]

You really have to wonder if he actually had the idea to make a guitar aerobics video. The stuff that they tried to get away with in the 80's

Jens

The 80's were a very dark time my friend!

[fep]

Check out the Benson technique in Tuck's article:

Tuck & Patti: Pick & Fingerstyle Techniques

He stated the Benson technique helps one play relaxed.

[Jazzpunk]

Check out the Benson technique in Tuck's article:

Tuck & Patti: Pick & Fingerstyle Techniques

He stated the Benson technique helps one play relaxed.

Interesting link. Does Tuck ever use a pick? I wanted to check out his picking technique but am only finding finger style clips.

[JakeAcci]

Been there. The solution is unfortunately simple - never play or practice tense. At all. We all can push our limits a bit with some tension, get an extra few notes in for a fast line, etc, but just don't. Play what you can play without tension and with practice that ceiling can get higher and higher.

I've learned this the hard way. Playing with tension can be really hazardous on your joints.

[fep]

Interesting link. Does Tuck ever use a pick? I wanted to check out his picking technique but am only finding finger style clips.

I read something to the effect of... he use to use a pick most of the time and spent a lot of time studying and learning various picking techniques.

But now, he he's mostly a fingerpicker.

[Hypno]

I read something to the effect of... he use to use a pick most of the time and spent a lot of time studying and learning various picking techniques.

But now, he he's mostly a fingerpicker.

Yes, I read about that too. I got tired of struggling with a pick, now I hardly ever use one and find it works better; especially for chord melodies.

I agree with practicing very slowly and then increasing tempo. I noticed that helps, get it right before moving on, uncertainty will cause tenseness.

If you are set on using a pick, you could check out a book called ‘A Perfect Pick Technique For Guitar’ by Ivor Mairants. As I recall this uses a floating technique with use of the elbow.

[jzucker]

the trick to playing fast it to play slow. SERIOUSLY. Don't ever use the metronome to try to gradually bump up your tempo artificially over time. Practice long lines (like the martino line I posted) VERY SLOWLY and VERY EVENLY. Don't tolerate mistakes and be EXTREMELY critical of how accurate you are. Learn to use the bare minimum of pressure from the left hand too. I sometimes practice and play lines with the left hand thumb barely touching the neck. This is what benson does too btw...

Also, work on all picking combinations.

• All downstrokes
• all upstrokes
• alternate starting on up
• alternate starting on down
• rest strokes
• free strokes
• slurs
• pulloffs

Be able to play every line from any finger of any string and starting on upstroke or downstroke.

Work on music, not finger exercises. Don't waste time running finger patterns in an unmusical way.

Isolate passages and repeat them for 5-10 minutes at a time until you are really working the muscles. Part of playing guitar is athletics and you need to treat it as such. However, remember that the muscles and tendons you are dealing with are VERY SMALL and VERY FRAGILE so don't use hand exercisers or balls or anything like that.

The building of technique on guitar requires LONG HOURS of repetition over MANY MONTHS (if not years). Your progress needs to be measured in 3-6 month periods, not days or weeks.

Also , beware of random advice from folks who don't have great chops.

[JakeAcci]

Please don't listen to anything Ivor Mairants wrote.Apparently he was a lovely man, but he was a truly DREADFUL player, and though he loved jazz, he had not a clue about music....His folio of transcriptions/comments on gtr players is so bad it's laughable....And NEVER use the arm or elbow to pick....anchor on the bridge, which allows for less tension and more smoothness in lines..

The best guitarist I know has incredible chops - has since he was in high school - picks from the elbow.

[jzucker]

And NEVER use the arm or elbow to pick....anchor on the bridge, which allows for less tension and more smoothness in lines..

Sandole taught me to play from the Elbow. Plenty of great players pick from the elbow including Johnny Smith and Paul Bollenback. And plenty of players float the right hand including mclaughlin and adam rogers. *AND* anchoring on the bridge is the *last* option I would recommend frankly.

[JakeAcci]

I will go out on a limb, and guarantee you he can't play using that technique....It's like using a sledgehammer to drive a tack....it always results in unswinging, stiff time, lack of dynamics and (of course) sympathetic ringing of undampened strings...Have you got a link to his playing?
If he can use that technique and sound good I will gladly eat my words.....but I DOUBT it....

Oh ok, guess I was wrong.

[jzucker]

Yeah but Sandole couldn't actually play sh!t....SO many of these imposters who can't actually play, who then go on and have the temerity to actually write methods on how to play????? Idiocy....J Smith and PB aren't exactly high water marks for the greatest jazz time/feel are they now.....Better to look at the best players and imitate them, instead of guys who "talk" a big game but aren't actually up there....

Also, McLaughlin and Rogers both anchor. McL anchors w/ heel of hand on bridge and Rogers anchors w/ pinky.....

nope, mclaughlin and adam float.

P.S.

I love how in one paragraph you put down Sandole, johnny smith and PB and diss their time and that we shouldn't listen them them because they just talk a good game. Instead, we're supposed to listen to *YOU* an anonymous poster?

[EDIT]

Oh wait, you're RichardB, RB, haha...I shoulda known. For folks who don't know, Richard Bornman can actually play but seems more interested in just starting arguments on the internet until he gets chased out.

And P.P.S.

When your bio looks like Paul Bollenbacks, call me up and I'll eat my words

[jzucker]

;-)

Hey one minute - I just said that JS and PB are not the very top of the tree....that's all. Of course they are decent musicians....I would never say anything less.....but students should be looking to the greatest guys....

And *you* alone can say who is the greatest guy ? And that's based on what? Bollenback's getting called for gigs by Jeff Tain Watts and Steve Gadd.

CASE CLOSED.

P.S.

Richard - I love your playing. Please post some of your videos again. Everytime you have posted a video I have stolen some licks from it!

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, some nerve of that Johnny Smith...

Rich, I'll be straight with you, I have no idea who you are, but I'll tell you, one of the quickest ways to get folks to discount your opinion is to present it in the context of put downs and insults to other players. You obviously have a strong opinion, and if Jack says you can blow then I believe it (as he knows a thing or two about blowing) but the way you present that opinion...I dunno man. I'd consider those words a little more carefully if you want to be taken seriously.

[jzucker]

Very true!!! PB has played around the world w/ so many incredible musicians...no way 'round that fact. Respect!!!

but then check this:

Here is PB coaching a kid who actually has a better feel/time than PB hisself....will wonders never cease, I ask ye ;-)

Better according to who and using what point system? And even if he was, so what? That makes Paul Bollenback less of a musician because he has a great student? Or is it less of a human being? I don't see Paul anonymously posting !@#$ about other players even though he has a bio which could back it up. When you do that, it just relegates you to the level of a 15 year old on youtube and instantly kills all your cred.

And after all that, Paul B is still head of the jazz guitar department at peabody. $WINNER

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah but Sandole couldn't actually play sh!t....SO many of these imposters who can't actually play, who then go on and have the temerity to actually write methods on how to play????? Idiocy....J Smith and PB aren't exactly high water marks for the greatest jazz time/feel are they now.....Better to look at the best players and imitate them, instead of guys who "talk" a big game but aren't actually up there........

This paragraphs a pretty good example rich.

[jzucker]

Hi mr B,

Just to be clear, where were the perceived insults you mention? Didn't I say Smith and the others are decent musicians? Is that not enough? Do I have to pretend they are our greatest musicians ever when everybody knows that isn't true?
So PB has a student that plays better than he? Big deal. PB is still an excellent musician....So Smith had a very stiff feel, big deal, he was an excellent musician, and (more importantly) apparently a true gentleman....

Wow...I'm surprised you are backpedaling when it's documented what you said. What you said was very insulting towards Sandole , Smith, and Bollenback.

Don't try to spin it into something else. The problem is that you apparently have no clue of what is acceptable public behavior.

And by the way, why would you render an opinion of what bollenback did or didn't say to that student without knowing the facts?

You should quit posting shit on these forums and focus on posting your music. Your music is great. IMO, your continual attempts to amuse yourself at the expense of the various online jazz forums is very tiring.