Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Full Version)

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gj Michelob -> Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 24 2009 18:16:22)

My biggest problem with playing and practicing guitar is “cold hands”. So, while it is already difficult enough to carve out some time to devote to practicing, my hands seem to be always unprepared, insufficiently conditioned… cold. Warming them up requires time. When asked to play anything by the usual friends and family after a dinner, I meekly decline as politely as I do sadly, helpless as I am to negotiate any piece of music without any warm up.

Is there any hand-squeezing, breathing exercise or trick I have not learnt which would help overcome more quickly that frigid ice which takes me 10 minutes to break, before my hands can move properly?




HemeolaMan -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 24 2009 19:57:47)

in a word, no.

Any hand exerciser will warm you up, and give you carpal tunnel. do not use them under any circumstances ever.

rubbing your hands and massaging them may help.

a good warm up cannot be substituted.

MY advice: make up some relaly easy but pleasant warm up pieces. use these as the first things you play for family and friends, then move into other stuff. this way they get music, you get warmed up, and everyone is happy! besides by the end, they wont remember the first thing you played anyway lol




Munin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 24 2009 21:59:39)

This is the single biggest problem I have with playing guitar. I'm exactly in the same position as you and would be timid about playing anything unprepared. Worse yet, I need about an hour (or more) to be REALLY warmed up. I could record myself playing the easiest arpeggio at the beginning of my playing, and one hour later, and it would sound worlds apart. I can't manage a single piece without warming up. It's incredibly frustrating and I really don't know what I can do about it.




MarcChrys -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 0:48:19)

Living in wet cold England, I have the same problem. Arpeggios and picados are impossible to perform smoothly with cold hands. I usually just wait for them naturally to reach room temperature or massage them.

PS Maybe that's why flamenco developed in Spain? [;)]




MarcChrys -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 0:53:32)

PPS Cold hands are good for making pastry though. So why not turn the cold hand disadvantage to your benefit - add a bit of olive oil and eggs to some flour and water (don't forget to add some of the egg/oil mixture to your fingernails to strengthen them) then make a nice pastry dough for apple or cherry pie. Then you can warm your hands on the oven door while your pie is baking? [:D]




Doitsujin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 3:25:19)

Keep them dry. Than they dont cool down so fast.
When you come from outside with cold hands, and rub them to warm up, they will still be cold inside.
A good method to get warm hands is to drink hot tea or other hot drinks. The warmed blood will warmup your hands quickly.




edguerin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 5:10:54)

quote:

The warmed blood will warmup your hands


Actually tea etc. won't warm up you blood (it'll be at body-temperature by the time it gets absorbed), the warm cup will warm your hands somewhat and the tea'll get your vegetative nervous system going, thus helping your circulation.

Suggestion #1: do whatever will get your whole circulation going (i.e. physical excercise), don't just concentrate on your hands.

Aggreed, your family, friends, guest may find it a bit weir if you start doing push-ups after dinner[:D]

Hence suggestion #2: a glas (or two) of red wine or champagne (o.k. Prosecco or plain old "bubbly" will work as well)[:)]




Ron.M -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 6:37:15)

quote:

PPS Cold hands are good for making pastry though. So why not turn the cold hand disadvantage to your benefit - add a bit of olive oil and eggs to some flour and water (don't forget to add some of the egg/oil mixture to your fingernails to strengthen them) then make a nice pastry dough for apple or cherry pie. Then you can warm your hands on the oven door while your pie is baking?


[:D][:D][:D][:D]

that cracked me up!

I've got the problem that the Beta Blocker in my blood pressure tablets make my fingertips become numb and cold at times.

A real pain as it takes ages to get any sensation back! [&:]


cheers,

Ron




mrMagenta -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 7:07:48)

After warming up my hands by rubbing and exercising etc, they often go cold again after playing a while, even while playing bulerias. When I practice I've started to use a piece of clothing that looks like a glove, but without the fingers.. it helps, but doesn't look very flamenco :-|




HemeolaMan -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 7:44:46)

wristies.

lots of people have them here in chicago. they work.




Mark2 -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 7:48:00)

Funny, I never had this problem when I played pick guitar styles, but I'm with you in that the range of the quality of my playing is huge -from being completely incompetent to all the way to mediocre depending on how good my hands are working at a given time. But I think the answer is simple. You have to play a lot. But even the pros warm up.



quote:

ORIGINAL: Munin

This is the single biggest problem I have with playing guitar. I'm exactly in the same position as you and would be timid about playing anything unprepared. Worse yet, I need about an hour (or more) to be REALLY warmed up. I could record myself playing the easiest arpeggio at the beginning of my playing, and one hour later, and it would sound worlds apart. I can't manage a single piece without warming up. It's incredibly frustrating and I really don't know what I can do about it.




ToddK -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 8:42:11)

I run my hands under a hot water faucet for a few minutes.

I guess you dont always have a sink handy, but hot water always
works for me.

T




Doitsujin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 8:51:15)

quote:

Actually tea etc. won't warm up you blood (it'll be at body-temperature by the time it gets absorbed), the warm cup will warm your hands somewhat and the tea'll get your vegetative nervous system going, thus helping your circulation.


Disagree, It works perfectly for me, really no joke. The only absorption one needs is the one which fills the stomach. You don't need warm molecules of the tea ingredients in your blood... :.D
So, just drink the tea, it works mediately. It only works if the drink is HOT and ENOUGH. So,.. it doesn't work for girls who only drink slightly warm drinks and only take a sip during 10 minutes. Like the people who swear on vine. ;.) (EDIT: sorry Ricardo...I saw your post after mine..) If you put hot drinks inside of you, it warms up your whole body rapidly. ( ^^.)bb
Some persons also think if its hot and you want to cool down, you drink hot drinks. Thats **** either. The hot drink will make you sweat and that cools you down from outside. But that doesn't feel good. Better is to drink so cold but not too cold drinks for cooling down. And why start sweating when putting hot drinks inside of the body? Answer: Because it warms up the body. And yes, also your fingers but they are the last part which warms up. eh.. Maybe your nose, ears and dick warms up a little slower. (Depends on how long your noodle is (^_-) Mine doesnt warm up completely.. )

Another fast way to heat your body up is to put a hot notebook on your upper legs. Right under your balls in your legs are the artery and when you heat up the blood with the notebook (watch a movie in bed, it heats up your notebook rapidly) the blood runs through your whole body and you will sweat like hell! I thought I had fever in past because of that.. I was sweating like I was ill. haha.. That also will heat up your fingers.. But I would recommend the first option to warm up your hands.

quote:

Hence suggestion #2: a glas (or two) of red wine or champagne (o.k. Prosecco or plain old "bubbly" will work as well)
[:D] Nice joke.
I remember when they forbid the schnaps-barrel on the neck of Bernhardiener (see photo) which was originally meant to heat up the body of stupid skiers or climbers who faceplanted somewhere in the snow. The ethanol lets your body think you are warm, but you arent and get ****ed up! [8D][8D]

Or they forbid the barrels because the party-skiers robbed it and the dogowners didnt want to refill the barrels with the holy schnapps everytime they´ve sended the dogs out for a minute... I mean.. in the times of DJ Oetzi and Apres ski partypeople... that wouldnt shock me.. (see prooving photo # 2)


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Ricardo -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 10:06:05)

I struggled with this for years, but have come to realize that it is all psychological. I had to play outdoors once, it was FREEZING....my fingers went numb after a few minutes until my fingers could not feel the strings AT ALL. At that point, my playing became "normal", but it just felt like I was playing with someone elses hands. It was weird, but I realized the fingers still move...it is all about your mind.

If I am warmed up...but very nervous for some reason, then I still can't play good. Paco de lucia once said "if you THINK you are going to make a mistake...you are lost...". REally you need to have confidence, then you can play no matter what the conditions. But how to get that is the trick. For me I need 2 things....a glass of REd wine or sherry to calm the nerves a bit and warm the blood, to relax more than anything...and inspiration to perform well. That can inspiriation is really important and can come from many different sources, but mainly, from you audience or fellow performers.

So that is me...but someone like Paco needs more than that to gain the confidence. You can try his method if you want. He;

Smokes weed, keeps his RIGHT hand in a plastic bag to keep it warm and moist, has hot soup backstage before playing, needs a certain sized chair...mic,, monitor system etc, and keeps a spot of petroleum gel on his guitar for his right hand finger tips.

So if anyone one of those things is missing, it can totally throw him off for the night, just like the rest of us humans that need certain things to get in the right mind set to perform our best.

Ricardo




at_leo_87 -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 16:47:38)

quote:

Another fast way to heat your body up is to put a hot notebook on your upper legs. Right under your balls in your legs are the artery and when you heat up the blood with the notebook (watch a movie in bed, it heats up your notebook rapidly) the blood runs through your whole body and you will sweat like hell!


after reading your other post in edgar's thread, i'm wondering what kind of movies you are watching in bed that makes you sweat like hell. [:D][:D][:D]

anyways, when i used to play drums at cold, winter football games, i would squeeze my hands under my armpits or sit on them. it kept them warm and the compression helped bloodflow. might look a bit weird if you do this at dinner though.

or how about secretly doing rasgueados on your thigh with your right hand while doing different sequences of finger tapping with your left?




andresito -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 17:47:00)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Doitsujin
Another fast way to heat your body up is to put a hot notebook on your upper legs.

That's also apparently a good way to, um... 'cook your eggs'... so maybe not a good idea if you're planning on fatherhood in the near future




gj Michelob -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 25 2009 17:55:22)

quote:

I struggled with this for years, but have come to realize that it is all psychological. I had to play outdoors once, it was FREEZING....my fingers went numb after a few minutes until my fingers could not feel the strings AT ALL. At that point, my playing became "normal", but it just felt like I was playing with someone elses hands. It was weird, but I realized the fingers still move...it is all about your mind.

If I am warmed up...but very nervous for some reason, then I still can't play good. Paco de lucia once said "if you THINK you are going to make a mistake...you are lost...". REally you need to have confidence, then you can play no matter what the conditions. But how to get that is the trick. For me I need 2 things....a glass of REd wine or sherry to calm the nerves a bit and warm the blood, to relax more than anything...and inspiration to perform well. That can inspiriation is really important and can come from many different sources, but mainly, from you audience or fellow performers.

So that is me...but someone like Paco needs more than that to gain the confidence. You can try his method if you want. He;

Smokes weed, keeps his RIGHT hand in a plastic bag to keep it warm and moist, has hot soup backstage before playing, needs a certain sized chair...mic,, monitor system etc, and keeps a spot of petroleum gel on his guitar for his right hand finger tips.

So if anyone one of those things is missing, it can totally throw him off for the night, just like the rest of us humans that need certain things to get in the right mind set to perform our best.

Ricardo
____________________________
New CD available here:
http://www.flamenco-teacher.com/storeitem?item=800106


What an awesome post, Ricardo. I will add nothing more than a thank you.




MarcChrys -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 3:54:55)

A quick Google search reveals that it's not only guitarists who worry about cold hands affecting their performance - also violinists and computer gamers! I'll disagree with Ricardo about it all being 'psychological' - I KNOW my performance improves when I'm warmer (I'm talking about my guitar-playing here), though feeling nervous will cause blood constriction to the extremities. Apparently, deep breathing helps to warm your hands up - or just immersing your forearms and elbows in warm water.




Ricardo -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 7:52:39)

quote:

I KNOW my performance improves when I'm warmer (I'm talking about my guitar-playing here), though feeling nervous will cause blood constriction to the extremities.


Of course, me too, but that IS psychological...and the fact you just typed it out just reinforced the idea once more. I am telling you if your fingers were NUMB, you could actually still play just fine. I never would have believed if it hadn't happened. I had to look at my hand a few times though, to make sure I was in the correct position, LOL. The whole time they were getting colder and colder my playing was deteriorating. I was like, "damn this hurts and it sucks and getting worse, and soon I won't be able to play at all! How can I get through the gig??" Then all of a sudden everything was fine...cuz I had ZERO feeling in the finger tips. All I had to do was THINK about playing and the notes magically came out.

Another way to warm the fingers is shake your hands in the air....the blood moves down to the tips pretty fast. When you KNOW your fingers are warm you KNOW you will play well.[;)]




edguerin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 9:12:10)

Doit:
You are confusing loss of body temperature due to low-temperature environment (aka hypothermia) with the situation described by gj.
Albeit we're plummeting towards world wide recession I presume gj and his friends and family can still afford sufficient heating to ensure adequate temperatures. I am also presuming he does not suffer any serious medical condition.
Under these circumstances body (and thus blood) temperature will be at 37° C. The actual problem is one of circulation. The nervous system causes the small vessels (capillaries) in the extremities to contract, which in turn hampers blood flow.
So everything that causes a reflectory widening of the small vessels helps:
physical excercise, alcohol, relaxation ....[;)]

PS Sorry to hear about your noodle [:D]




Jim Opfer -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 11:23:50)

quote:

s there any hand-squeezing, breathing exercise or trick I have not learnt which would help overcome more quickly that frigid ice which takes me 10 minutes to break, before my hands can move properly?


I once swallowed two hard boiled eggs just before I got up to play.
It worked. My gaging reflex kicked in and took my mind right off my cold fingers.[:D]

It's a common problem and as Ricardo said, a lot to do with what's going on it your head and nerves. Worse thing however, is when the hands get too warm. I don't know how much others fuss over their nails but I've experienced the situation where they are trimmed to a perfect length and then my fingers swell up slightly and I suddenly feel they are too short. That's a nightmare when it happens.
As we say in Scottish flamenco circles - 'Jings cribbens so help ma Boab!'
( Don't ask what that means, I don't know.....we just say it)




Munin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 13:22:01)

What just now happened to me again - and what happens to me often, making me even more frustrated is that I pretty much notice that I always have "good days" - where I warm up quickly and feel that my fingers are obeying me particularly smoothly - whenever I actually don't have much time to play. [&:] So I can't even make use of it.




Doitsujin -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 15:14:49)

quote:

So everything that causes a reflectory widening of the small vessels helps:
physical excercise, alcohol, relaxation ....

PS Sorry to hear about your noodle


[:D][:D] Ok, I will try alcohol in future. Sounds logically, accepted.


quote:

after reading your other post in edgar's thread, i'm wondering what kind of movies you are watching in bed that makes you sweat like hell.

hahaha,,,..... mainly news and science reports of course. [&:]

quote:

That's also apparently a good way to, um... 'cook your eggs'... so maybe not a good idea if you're planning on fatherhood in the near future

[:D] ok ok.. it was a joke....




HemeolaMan -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 26 2009 19:43:38)

i wonder how fast he would play without tokin up before a show lol...




NormanKliman -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 27 2009 0:53:10)

I don't know how well I can describe this, but here's a stretch routine that I use:

Start with your arm at your side. Keep your upper arm (between elbow and shoulder) relatively still and relaxed throughout. Bring your wrist up toward your shoulder with your palm toward the floor. Your arm and hand should look something like the neck and head of a flamingo.

Flip your hand back at the wrist so that the palm is facing up. It should look like a waiter carrying a tray.

Keep your hand bent back at the wrist and move your forerm back to where it was before. You should feel a stretching sensation in your wrist. As you carry through with the downstroke, carefully extend your fingers, as if you were trying to pick up a basketball with one hand. This whole motion looks something like a cat scratching at an enemy.

At the end of the downstroke, keep extending your fingers, flip your hand forward into the "flamingo-head" position, and now bring your fingertips together (fingers straight) to repeat. At the end of the upstroke, when you flip your hand back into the "waiter" position, you should notice how to stretch and grind the ligaments, joints, etc. in your hand.

So it's really just a question of raising and lowering your forearm and flipping your hand one way or another at the end of each up/downstroke. I recommend going through it carefully, as the idea is to remain relaxed and focused on achieving an uncomfortable "burning" kind of sensation, especially when you extend your fingers. You really want to make this as uncomfortable as possible, so be extra careful not to hurt yourself. Go slowly, looking for ways to stretch the stiffness. Everyone's built differently, so maybe this won't do much for some of you. I got the idea from seeing an old gypsy woman dance at the beginning of one of those flamenco shows from Spanish television. Might have been El Ángel.

There's another exercise you can do that involves extending and retracting pairs of fingers: index-middle vs. ring-little, index-little vs. middle-ring and index-ring vs. middle-little.




at_leo_87 -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Mar. 27 2009 2:04:20)

quote:

Smokes weed, keeps his RIGHT hand in a plastic bag to keep it warm and moist, has hot soup backstage before playing, needs a certain sized chair...mic,, monitor system etc, and keeps a spot of petroleum gel on his guitar for his right hand finger tips.


does he smoke up before every show?
that would make me the most sloppy, unproductive, lazy musician ever. hot soup wouldn't be enough for me. i would have to add at least 5 family sized bag of doritos to the list.
he certainly doesn't look high when he plays.




stratos13 -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Apr. 1 2009 6:02:18)

I used to have exactly the same problem.
Yet, I noticed that though my hands were really cold, I could still perform some techniques quite decently. It was the techniques I really have had down.
After I realized that, I started practicing even with cold hands. Slowly I realized that if you really have a technique(eg picado, tremolo, alzapua), it will come out EVEN IF YOUR HANDS ARE COLD.
[&:]of course alcohol REALLY helps.




andresito -> RE: Breaking the Ice before playing.... cold hands (Apr. 1 2009 18:34:21)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo
... someone like Paco needs more than that to gain the confidence. You can try his method if you want.

I think he doesn't feel the cold at all!



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