Warming up/ playing

[wertyase5]

is it just me, or is warm up required almost any time you pick up a guitar? Is it normal to have to work back up to what you were playing an hour or even only 15 minutes prior to taking a break? It's really frustrating and I'm hoping to get some insight on this subject..

 

[Datura]

Personally, I can leave the guitar for a week and start up right back up to where I was.

 

[Solodini]

If you're used to long practise sessions then that can be an issue. If you spend a long time working up to a certain level, I find it usually takes that in most sessions. It's part of why I prefer more regular short practises. Progress is a bit slower but you raise your base level ability.

 

[asfeir]

is it just me, or is warm up required almost any time you pick up a guitar? Is it normal to have to work back up to what you were playing an hour or even only 15 minutes prior to taking a break? It's really frustrating and I'm hoping to get some insight on this subject..

Its normal to need a small warm up ~5min if you didnt play for 2 days or so.. But in your case maybe you need to practice a bit more? or change your routine

 

[stuglue]

You're not alone. I feel like I'm back at square one the next day, not so much with my picking hand but my fretting hand.

 

[sear]

Progress comes slowly. I would start with a short warm-up of hand stretches (stretch out your fingers, crack your knuckles, etc.) before getting into things.

I don't think any practice session longer than about 60 minutes, doing the same thing over and over, is going to be extremely effective. Guitar is all muscle memory, and muscle memory's most crucial stage is giving your brain time to rest and process that information it's learned over time.

I rarely do straight-up practice for more than 60 minutes at a time, and most of my best ideas (such as while improvising) come early on, before I start to run out of steam. I feel like each exercise has an ideal time of about 30 minutes instead. It's easy to get impatient, but remember that you often won't notice you're making progress until you look back at where you were a week or two ago.

 

[Maniacal]

I need a bit of warmup time no matter what instrument I am working on. I think it is perfectly normal, especially if you want to play to your best standards.

 

[David Portelli]

is it just me, or is warm up required almost any time you pick up a guitar? Is it normal to have to work back up to what you were playing an hour or even only 15 minutes prior to taking a break? It's really frustrating and I'm hoping to get some insight on this subject..

It is normal to need a warm up in order to reach your full speed, just like athletes need a warm up before sprinting as fast as they can; thats how our body simply is. You could actually get injured if you don't warm up (happened to me).

What I do to save time is, say I need to practice picking for 30 minutes, i brake that down into 6 sets of 5 minutes.

If may maximum speed is playing at 220 bpm triplets, I do not start from there, I start at around 20-30bpm slower and increase 10bpm per set of 5 minutes. Then the last 3 sets will be at full speed and I would have warmed up.

/Dave

 

[TallestFiddle]

This is a video by John pettruci where he goes over warm up routines and practice procedures. If you haven't seen it, I think this could give you some good information regarding your question.

Its really long, but the stuff you're looking for is in the first 20-30 minutes

 

[fatfinger]

I think a physical warmup it probably required for just about everyone to make your muscles looser just like a warm up before any excersize.

 

[Silence2-38554]

First I'll say that yes, it is absolutely required to warm up before playing to your full ability, as it is with really any physical activity. Secondly, if you want to get faster at warming up / better at playing in general, I suggest playing in a band, if even for a little while. I apologize if you already do, I'm just saying most serious bands aren't gonna wait for their guitarist to warm up for an hour, so you're sort of forced to get it together faster. Worked for me!