Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: hammer on February 10, 2021, 07:03:52 PM
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Weather here in Minnesota has finally decided it’s winter. Temps in low single digits and highs of -3 F (that’s about -20 Celsius for those of you not in the US) predicted Saturday and Sunday. It was -6 F during last Sunday.
Part of my job as a cross country ski coach for 85 high school students is grooming the trails which I need to do even when it’s this cold. I used to be able to sit on a snowmobile for three plus hours grooming in frigid weather and then come home or go to band practice and play with no problems. This year and last it’s been a different story as it takes several hours before my fingers can do what my brain tells them to do when playing. Have any of you from colder climes experienced something similar as you’ve aged. I’ve coached for 25 years and never had a problem til the last two (and it ain’t getting any colder here in MN.
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I find that I actually have to stretch my hands and fingers before playing or my picking hand especially starts cramping, so yeah, it's kinda newish but makes sense in the way that we all could get away with bad practices when we're young but can't now...Tony
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It's called 'getting old', your arteries are not as elastic as they were when you were younger and therefore it takes longer to get the blood into them especially when they are cold as the body will conserve core heat rather than the extremities! Although our winters in the UK are not as cold as yours we have the added factor of rain which makes it even more miserable. I have been going to Thailand for the past few years for winter and take my jazz bass with me and I can tell you what a difference the heat makes, I am a dan grade in karate and I don't even have to warm up when I am there when I train on roof of the apartments as you are already warm!
Nothing stops time unfortunately !
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i learned a warm-up exercise from a guit@r player when i was just a pup and still employ it in my twilight years before i practice or perform.
it's basically doing a chromatic walk up the neck on the G-string to the 12th fret, backwards to the nut on the D-string, up to the 12th on the A-string and back down on the E-string. Since you're at the nut (or open string) on E-string, repeat the exercise starting there up to the nut on the G-string. start slowly, intonate every note, pluck (or pick) in a steady tempo. Use all the fingers on your left hand. the purpose of the exercise is to stretch and warm up your hands, get them working together, not to see how fast you can do it.
as a youngster, it taught me the fingerboard by feel. now, as an old geezer, it gets my muscles and tendons warmed up before i dig in since i can't really feel the tips of my fingers on my left hand anymore.
for me, playing bass is a physical activity akin to working out. you'll be doing your hands and forearms a favor by warming up whether it's warm or cold wherever you are.
IMHO, of course, YMMV.
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Thanks for the suggestions. And I thought it was just my basses that were getting old :-\ After the last week here I’ve been thinking I’ll need to get a sauna to warm up. A high of -7 F where I live today and I’m in one of the warmer areas of the state.