Speed up hammer ons and pull offs?

Hi all,
Presently I'm trying to up my speed with hammer ons and pull offs using a metronome, and it's coming nicely.
However, as of today my ring finger aches during the runs. I've already been throught aching fingers quite a while back and i practice regularly. At least 6 days per week. Not much hammer ons and pull offs though.

Is the pain normal when hammering and pulling or am i doing something wrong?

Originally Posted by: kjpro
Presently I'm trying to up my speed with hammer ons and pull offs using a metronome, and it's coming nicely.[/quote]
Good for you. :) What exercises are you doing?
[QUOTE=kjpro]
Is the pain normal when hammering and pulling or am i doing something wrong?

Some pain is a normal part of any exercise regimine in which you are building endurance & dexterity in a body part that is not yet used to it. Also, after a layoff, you will need to build back up to a certain endurance level. I've noticed that after playing blues licks for a week (for a gig or filming a lesson tutorial, for example), my hands are well adapted to that specific skill set.

But if I try to shift right to a couple hours of jazz or classical without working up to it, I have problems. This is because the fine motors skills required for different styles are, quite obviously, different! It's still guitar playing, but it requires different hand positions and motions.

You ought to view pain as an indicator that your body is not yet completely ready to deal with that specific activity. So, you can play through it a bit, but don't push it too hard or you are risking repetitive motion injuries.

Thanks for the advice, for a moment it kinda scared me.

The exercise am doing is the one from "connecting pentatonic patterns series 3". By the way i wish you'd do more lessons like this, e.g connecting the major scale patterns and so on.

Originally Posted by: kjproThanks for the advice, for a moment it kinda scared me.[/quote]
You are welcome, of course. I can understand it being a cause for concern.
[QUOTE=kjpro] The exercise am doing is the one from "connecting pentatonic patterns series 3". By the way i wish you'd do more lessons like this, e.g connecting the major scale patterns and so on.

See if these help. :)

Connecting Pentatonic Patterns Series 1
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=737

Connecting Pentatonic Patterns Series 2
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=843

Visualizing Fretboard Scale Patterns Series 1
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=419

Visualizing Major Scale Patterns Series 2
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=898

Visualizing Minor Scale Patterns Series 3
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=899

Major Scale Patterns & Positions
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=453

Minor Scale Patterns & Positions
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=887

And I plan on doing more in the future. Stay tuned!