Richard Jernigan -> RE: recovering tremelo as an old dude (Aug. 17 2020 23:32:03)
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Mark2- I'm 82. I may practice a little more than you do, since I probably have a freer schedule. I had to give up working ten years ago, because it was taking up too much of my time. My problems were with pinched nerves from a bone spur in the neck that affected the left hand. The bone spur went away. Steady work has pretty much overcome the problems. Initial progress was slow, but I can play now, and I'm still improving. Tremolo is not a problem. I notice a wide variation in physical abilities among people of my age. Segovia, Bream and Sabicas concertized publicly well into old age. But I have friends in their seventies who have been highly skilled and successful artisans, but who are beginning to be limited by problems with their hands. Years ago i knew the influential teacher Eddie Freeman, once an accomplished flamenco player, who was unable to play at all in his early 60s due to arthritis. He finally found a medication that worked, and got back to playing. Age itself is not a barrier to tremolo, but the effects of age vary sigificantly from one person to the next. Ten years ago my left pinky wouldn't even go to the right string. These days I'm working on bulerias, thinking I will probably be able to get up to a reasonable speed. Once I began to progress after starting over, my chief obstacle was impatience. The only way to tell whether you can get your tremolo back is to give it a shot. RNJ
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