Old fingers...what to do?

I'm almost 56 and just got my guitar 2 weeks ago. :)

One of the problems that I'm having is short fat fingers that don't always want to cooperate. I'm having to limit my practice time to 2-15 minute sessions because my hands start falling asleep.

My question to everyone is...what can I do to help my hands not fall asleep? It gets pretty painful at times. Any suggestions?

Cindy

Originally Posted by: calston93I'm almost 56 and just got my guitar 2 weeks ago. :)

One of the problems that I'm having is short fat fingers that don't always want to cooperate. I'm having to limit my practice time to 2-15 minute sessions because my hands start falling asleep.

My question to everyone is...what can I do to help my hands not fall asleep? It gets pretty painful at times. Any suggestions?

Cindy

Hello Cindy,

I have a couple of guidelines for you.

If you got your guitar just 2 weeks ago, remember to be patient. This is really important.
Always keep in mind that you don't want to overwhelm your hands in the second week of playing.

If you want to teach your hands to cooperate, I suggest chromatic exercises to make them more accurate, flexible and moving in a way you want them to.

If you need further explaination of chromatic exercises, please let me know in this topic.

__
Neal Wakefield

Originally Posted by: neal_wakefieldIf you want to teach your hands to cooperate, I suggest chromatic exercises to make them more accurate, flexible and moving in a way you want them to.

If you need further explaination of chromatic exercises, please let me know in this topic.

It's been a while since I've done anything with music, so an explanation would be most welcome and appreciated. And I'm going to guess that when I read your reply, the first thing out of my mouth is gonna be "Duh!"

Hi Calston, its all about practice and getting your hands moving and strengthening up, you have to remember that playing the guitar is a lot of work for the fingers, work they aren't really used to. So the trick is to get them working,and strong.. There are two ways you can do this, the one i adopted was the pentatonic scale (might as well learn something at the same time) which is an easy one to remember and just sit and slowly play that, you can actually feel your hands and fingers get stronger (when typing for instance) the other way is to just sit and just play each string with each finger 1.2.3.4 next string 1.2.3.4 and so on in the same position without having to worry about learning a scale at the same time. Im nearly 51 just in case you are wondering so i know where you are coming from but your fingers will get stronger in no time at all.. ;-)

Another way, the less boring part imho, is simply learning the chords. I found that when I first started, chords were very difficult on my fingers - so by playing chords I was not only learning the chord positions, but also strengthening my fingers. You should focus on accuracy, making sure each string rings out clearly.
Of course, you shouldn't just pick one way - you should use all the methods in combination, and try and do 5-10minute sessions a few times a day until your fingers get stronger.

I think it's important to warm up your hands and wrists with some very basic stretches for as little as 1-2 minutes before you touch the strings. As a "mature" beginner like yourself, I will vouch for this.

Open each hand as wide as it will go (repeat). Make a fist with each hand; repeat. Then make a fist and rotate each hand at the wrist, clockwise then counterclockwise. Finally, take each finger from your left hand, one at a time, and slowly press down with it on your right forearm; repeat with right hand and left forearm.

After you do that, the previous advice is good.

Originally Posted by: calston93It's been a while since I've done anything with music, so an explanation would be most welcome and appreciated. And I'm going to guess that when I read your reply, the first thing out of my mouth is gonna be "Duh!"

As others mentioned, you can do the same thing with scales/chords.
I personally prefer the chromatic method as it develops all fingers equally.

Basically the idea is to connect your left hand fingers with numbers 1-4. Your index finger is 1 and your pinky is 4.

Basic variation of this exercise is:
- start on the low E string, playing 1st fret with your 1 finger (I'll use numbers from here), 2nd fret with your 2nd finger, 3rd fret with 3rd finger and finally 4th fret with 4th finger.
-From this point you move your 1st finger 1 fret up and you repeat the process (2nd fret with 1st finger, 3rd fret with 2nd finger etc).
- Repeat this until you reach 12 fret or so.
- You can do the same thing on other strings.

Remember about starting slowly and building accuracy and proper muscle memory. Be patient, it will be very fruitful :)

__
Neal Wakefield

Originally Posted by: neal_wakefieldRemember about starting slowly and building accuracy and proper muscle memory. Be patient, it will be very fruitful :)
Neal Wakefield

I got started on on them tonight and made it through the E, A, and D strings before my hand began really bothering me to the point that I couldn't continue for about 10 minutes. But I went right back to it once my hand cooperated.

Slow is the key word for me, but it has its advantages in the long run.

Thanks for all the suggestions!!
Cindy

Originally Posted by: calston93I got started on on them tonight and made it through the E, A, and D strings before my hand began really bothering me to the point that I couldn't continue for about 10 minutes. But I went right back to it once my hand cooperated.

Slow is the key word for me, but it has its advantages in the long run.

Thanks for all the suggestions!!
Cindy

No problem, if you have any further questions, post in this topic, I have it in subscription list.

__
Neal Wakefield

Originally Posted by: stonefingerzI think it's important to warm up your hands and wrists with some very basic stretches for as little as 1-2 minutes before you touch the strings. As a "mature" beginner like yourself, I will vouch for this.

After you do that, the previous advice is good.

Thanks for the warm up suggestion! I think this may help out a lot since I have carpal tunnel. Have looked around for strengthening exercises, but didn't have too much success.

Off to my guitar after trying the warm ups!

Hi Cindy , i understand what your saying about sleepy fingers ,, here is what i do when my fingers start to fall asleep ,,,,,,, i soak them in a cup of coffee lol ,, sorry , i am a wise arse ,,,,,,,,,, but its actualy simple ,,, pratice pratice pratice ,,,,,,,, good luck !!!

Originally Posted by: AnneFenderHi Cindy , i understand what your saying about sleepy fingers ,, here is what i do when my fingers start to fall asleep ,,,,,,, i soak them in a cup of coffee lol ,, sorry , i am a wise arse ,,,,,,,,,, but its actualy simple ,,, pratice pratice pratice ,,,,,,,, good luck !!!

LOLOL! But I could never purposely dunk my fingers in a cup of coffee...now a cookie or donut, that's another story! :)

I haven't read every post in here fully, just skimmed over things so I'm not sure if this has been brought up already.

Regardless of warm ups and all that, your hands generally shouldn't be falling asleep after only 15 minutes of playing. Make sure your posture and hand position and correct. You CAN injure yourself playing guitar the wrong way (permanently if it's bad enough). An incorrectly positioned hand can lead to tendinitis or other hand/wrist problems (even back problems if your posture is incorrect).

Just make sure you are playing correctly to avoid injury. For me personally, hand discomfort after only a short period of playing immediately tells me I need to re-check HOW I'm playing (9/10 times I've gotten lazy and started slouching and playing incorrectly).

Endurance will come with practice and warm ups like everyone has mentioned, but don't underestimate the importance of the correct "playing position".