[Goldy]

Hi all
hope y'all doing well , recently i've been confronted with a little problem : sometimes my fingers feels so stiff that my way to finger becomes so bad...and hello false notes .
i really need a way to relax my fingers .so that my playing remains steady

Thx.

 

[SSA80S23]

I think the Only way to do it is to keep thinking about it and reminding yourself to stop. ralph bowen told me at a jazz camp that I was at that he tries to minimize all movement in his body other then his fingers when he plays, because excess movement leads to tension and gets in the way of playing the horn. that's why he's like a statue when he plays. try practicing longtones with your fingers as light on the keys as possible, and then scales. start slow and get faster and keep concentrating on having your arms, shoulders, wrists, and of course fingers relaxed. I've been where you are before, man! you can do it!

 

[JayeLID]

Half 'a bottle of beer.....

 

[Fader]

Half 'a bottle of beer.....

As long as it's the last half of the 4th bottle.....

 

[jazzbluescat]

gin, tonic, with two squeezes of lime

 

[TMadness1013]

Stretch your fingers - pull them back & hold for 10 seconds) & also take the thumb & index of your LH and push the blood up to each individual fingertip in your RH slowly (and vice versa)

You may also want to throw this out onto a string or piano players forum & see if they have recommendations.

 

[paulwl]

I think the Only way to do it is to keep thinking about it and reminding yourself to stop. ralph bowen told me at a jazz camp that I was at that he tries to minimize all movement in his body other then his fingers when he plays, because excess movement leads to tension and gets in the way of playing the horn. that's why he's like a statue when he plays. try practicing longtones with your fingers as light on the keys as possible, and then scales. start slow and get faster and keep concentrating on having your arms, shoulders, wrists, and of course fingers relaxed. I've been where you are before, man! you can do it!

Concentrating on relaxing is the vital ingredient.

I don't do Ralph's exercise myself, but if you go about it by just telling yourself "hold still, don't move," you're going to be tense all over. And that's even worse than having tense hands or fingers!

 

[magical pig]

Hi all
hope y'all doing well , recently i've been confronted with a little problem : sometimes my fingers feels so stiff that my way to finger becomes so bad...and hello false notes .
i really need a way to relax my fingers .so that my playing remains steady

Thx.

Visualization and SLOW practice.

Put a very slow metronome on and play scales, patterns, licks and improvisation with as little finger movement as possible. Feel every key you're pushing, befriend gravity and spring action. The only way to do this successfully is to be relaxed.

Then when you're away from the horn, imagine yourself fingering what you practiced during the day. You need to generate a strong mental image of the slow, but precise and relaxed movement. You can do this at night, when you get in bed. It's also a great technique to boost your capacity for learning new stuff.

Repeat for a few months... seriously. It will probably take some time as you're trying to re-program your brain.

 

[paulwl]

Also - this has helped me in other matters on the horn - if the idea of s l o w practice seems bothersome or torturous or that it will last forever, let go of that judgment. Don't think of it as rolling the rock up the mountain; you'll hate it. Think of it as something you just do a bit of daily...no pressure for success in the moment...just a little time being at peace with your horn.

I like pig's suggestion of making a mental image at bedtime. Embrace this kind of peace and restfulness.

 

[magical pig]

Also - this has helped me in other matters on the horn - if the idea of s l o w practice seems bothersome or torturous or that it will last forever, let go of that judgment. Don't think of it as rolling the rock up the mountain; you'll hate it. Think of it as something you just do a bit of daily...no pressure for success in the moment...just a little time being at peace with your horn.

Yeah, just like long tones. I frequently find myself in semi trance state of mind while doing long tones or slow fingering stuff.

 

[Fader]

I'd just burn one down......but perhaps that's not great advice considering your age / situation. Maybe you're better off just doing some breathing exercises or some yoga crap... Long tones never hurst anybody and you'll only get arrested if you try them after 11:00 PM....(At least thats the way it is around here - things may be different in your jurisdiction)

 

[Goldy]

Yeah thanks eveyone for the advices , its really gonna help !

 

[differencetone]

gin, tonic, with two squeezes of lime

Works for me. Tense fingers can lead to some serious problems such as tendinitis.

 

[magical pig]

Works for me. Tense fingers can lead to some serious problems such as tendinitis.

Actually alcohol consumption leads to tendinitis due to dehydration.

 

[differencetone]

Actually alcohol consumption leads to tendinitis due to dehydration.

Hence the tonic and ice.

 

[jazzbluescat]

Actually alcohol consumption leads to tendinitis due to dehydration.

That's a lot of hooey.

 

[John_P]

A clarinet book that I read gave the advice to think of relaxing the palms of the hands. For some reason, that seems to work better--for me--than directly thinking of relaxing the fingers.

 

[jazzbluescat]

Relax the mind and focus, the rest usually follows.

 

[SSA80S23]

Concentrating on relaxing is the vital ingredient.

I don't do Ralph's exercise myself, but if you go about it by just telling yourself "hold still, don't move," you're going to be tense all over. And that's even worse than having tense hands or fingers!

i agree, not moving at all is a bit extreme, and i'm not sure how much that actually helps.

 

[haildixon]

Half 'a bottle of beer.....

see, the last time I recommended someone relax with a couple drinks, the self righteous teetotaler crowd here jumped into the thread and called it the worst advice to ever give someone.

personally, I think the worst advice you could give someone to relax would have been to go on a multi-state murder spree of preschool children, not have a couple beers. But, I guess different strokes for different folks.