stretching and stuff

[Homebake]

as i get more into alternate picking, i find myself thinking about a few things. a lot of the time, i end up practicing just purely fast alternate picking stuff for like 3 hours plus straight with no break because it's so damn fun. gilbert, malmsteen and petrucci riffs.

after a while though, it's like i get worse at the riffs and licks i'm playing and my shoulder blade and arm kinda stiffens (mainly my shoulder area). i watched petrucci's rock discipline vid and did some of the stretches he does at the start and it actually really helps to loosen you up.

i've been trying to keep my arm and shoulder completely loose and tension free when i pick and leave all the movement to my wrist. i have a good picking technique, i've spent ages working on it, it's just that you tend to lose track of what the rest of your body is doing when you're focusing on something like picking.

so is it just the pure stress of doing just picking for so long that causes this or am i doing something wrong. i mean, i take breaks every 20 mins or so and do a bit of a stretch, but it doesn't really help. do i just need to build more stamina and strength in my tendons or something?

[MattyG]

I think you may be overdoing the practice somewhat - don't get me wrong, 3 hours is not THAT much, but all 3 hours doing just alt picking would fry my coordination, not to mention hurt lol.

When I'm working on one specific technique for a long period like you, I find it helpful to work on another technique as a little 'break', before going back to the focus technique of the practice session.

eg
20mins alternate picking
5-10mins sight reading/string bends/vibrato etc
20mins alternate picking

obviously taking breaks when needed.

I find doing this gives the brain and body a rest from the task at hand, and when you come back to it you feel refreshed, without having to warm up again :-)

[Terrymcp]

I have to agree with MattyG, If practice the same thing for extended periods of time it fries my coordinatin for what I am doing. I have to break it up by doing a few different exercises.

[guitarwolf]

I break it up also. I get to these "mental block" points where I feel no progress. When I come back I break the wall I was hitting.

[julzius]

This should be called the 'sweeping syndrome'. (Not that this only happens with sweep picking, but it's the most common occurance)

Like people always go on about how they sweep until a vein explodes in their wrist, put in a gazillion hours into one technique alone. And as guitarwolf said, you get these metal blocks, that just need a break to go through.

But then again, you've got this physical aspect of it too. And you've said you've been relaxing and stretching, so i really think it's just about having breaks.

It's probably the same idea of if you pump up the weights when working out and over-do it, you lose muscle.

So yeah, take it easy and have rests.