I hate the cold…
It makes me irrationally uncomfortable.
I’m 100% a summer person. I love the feeling of the warm sun beating down on me… and being able to go out for a walk in t-shirt and shorts.
Ah, nothing like it. But that’s a few months away here in England.
Besides making me feel uncomfortable, the cold does something far worse for my guitar playing…
I can’t get my fretting hand fingers to wiggle freely.
Now I’m not one to back down to this icy enemy. I still want to get better at guitar during winter. That’s why I’ve developed a little “winter-warmup” routine to kick winter in the behind.
Look I know, warm-ups aren’t anything “amazing” right? But they work. There’s a reason personal trainers get you to warm up before doing a work out.
Let's dive in...
Warm Up Secret #1 - “Under the Tap”
This is something everyone can do easily. Go to a sink in your house and turn on the hot water tap.
Once the water is flowing hot (obviously don’t burn yourself…) let your hands soak in the hot water. This will start to warm up your hands and get some blood flowing into your fingers.
Important note here - DO NOT soak your fingertips. This softens the calluses on the ends of your fingers and makes it harder to play.
Warm Up Secret #2 - Press Hard!
This isn’t something everyone thinks to do but also has a big impact.
When you go to pick up the guitar, take anything you would normally play but press the frets hard.
Of course, you wouldn’t normally play like this… but it gets some extra blood flowing to your fingers. You might have to play slower than normal and that’s okay. The focus here is on blood flow. So, press those frets hard! Just remember to relax from time to time too 😉
Warm Up Secret #3 - “The Masseuse”
Okay this one might sound a little strange too...
Take the hand you want to warm up (in this case the fretting hand) and put your best masseuse hat on. That’s right, you’re going to be performing massages! On yourself.
Gently massage different parts of your hand like your palm… your fingers… your thumb.
And that’s it. Nothing complicated but it doesn’t need to be.
Whenever I feel my fretting hand feels cold, I use these three techniques… and they work every time.
What do you think about these techniques?
Let me know in the comments...
P.S. If you’re curious about how I get students to break through barriers with 10 minutes of practice a day...
Let’s sit down together (online of course during lockdown…) and I’ll give you a lesson for FREE on me.
We’ll get to know each other. We’ll sit down and look at why you’re struggling. We’ll talk about the action steps you need to take to move forward. And if you’re interested, we can talk about lessons… but no pressure.