The Guitar Player's Resource
Do you feel your hands get more and more tense the faster you try to play a line on the guitar? How can someone prevent this from happening?
Unfortunately, this is something that a lot of guitar players out there are experiencing. You might have found yourself in a similar situation. The more your hands tense up when trying to play quickly, the more you will have to push yourself. And the more you push yourself, the more damage it does and the less you feel inclined to actually pick up your instrument.
As you can probably imagine, the solution to this problem is to learn to relax while playing. But how does someone "learn" to relax?
Is this something that can be changed when it seems to happen so automatically?
I won't lie: while the answer is "yes", this is a change that's going to take some work. But the great thing is that it is possible. It's possible to be able to play those fast lines, pain-free. All it takes is knowing the correct exercises to get your hands working properly.
If relaxation and tension-free playing is something that you would like to know more about, watch this following video:
Tommaso Zillio is a professional prog rock/metal guitarist and composer based in Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Tommaso is currently working on an instrumental CD, and an instructional series on fretboard visualization and exotic scales. He is your go-to guy for any and all music theory-related questions.
