Submitted by: Audrey C. Tan

Developing agile hands and fingers is important for students who undertake guitar lessons. Many teachers who teach the musical instrument stress that having flexible hands and fingers is required for one to succeed in his dream of becoming a guitar player. This is always a basic principle in guitar lessons.

The fingers, wrists, and hands are the most used body parts that handle the demand of guitar-playing. If these body parts are rigid and won’t cooperate, you will have a hard time strumming guitar strings and fretting on your board. Stretching is important in most other activity that you do to condition your body and prevent injuryjust like with running, playing basketball, dancing, or even singing.

Importance of Stretching in Your Guitar-playing

As mentioned above, stretching is important to condition your body for a physical activity. Whenever you are playing the guitar before your guitar classes or your practice, you must not forget to perform even a short stretching to condition your hands and fingers.

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Stretching will help prevent sudden shock and injury in your hands and fingers. If you are playing or practicing for long hours, your hands will tend to get tired and stiff easily. Moreover, stretching will make your hand flexible in guitar-playing in the long run, making your journey in guitar-playing faster and easier.

How much Time You Should Allot Hand and Finger for Exercises

Some students tend to discard stretching and warm-up, thinking that it will only eat time from their guitar lessons and practice. But you do not really have to spend considerable amount of time to stretch and warm-up your hands and fingers.

Five minutes of stretching should be enough to condition your hands and fingers. Remember not to push your fingers and hands beyond their limits, or you will just hurt yourself. To be able to move quickly over your fret board, you have to exercise and strengthen your gripping muscles.

Beyond Hand and Finger Stretching

Aside from stretching and warming-up your hands and fingers, it is also vital to condition your entire body for long hours of playing the guitar. Full body stretches can help you gain better posture when you have to practice or play the guitar for long hours. While you think that you only need to use your fingers and hands in strumming your musical instrument during guitar classes, your back is also affected by this activity.

Condition your back, arms, neck, and legs by doing basic stretches or yoga poses. Stretching will help your body endure long hours of practice and playing.

Things to Keep in Mind

Even while stretching helps a lot in conditioning your body, you still have to keep in mind that very long hours of guitar-playing can strain your body. Listen to your body and do not over work if you feel exhausted.

Do not try to invent stretches. Sometimes, even if you think doing a particular stretch for your hands and fingers is useful, it may not be suitable for your activity. Your teacher will instruct you on what stretches and warm-ups will be suitable during your guitar lessons.

About the Author: Audrey Tan is a music instructor in Singapore who loves to share her extensive knowledge of music and the art of performing to her students and blog readers. Visit her site at

guitarlessonssingapore.com

or call 8168 8251.

Source:

isnare.com

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