Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [muscles]

12 questions
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Role of muscle memory vs. ear-based micro-adjustments in non-fixed-note instruments

Many instruments have fixed notes tuned according to equal temperament, but some don't. The most common examples are the violin family, the trombone, and the human voice, but one can also find fretless guitars and bass guitars and I'm sure there are…
MGA
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Gym exercises for picking speed

When I was younger, I could never get my riffing speed up to where I wanted it to be, even tough I excessively practiced. After years without progress I got frustrated and kind of gave up on fast riffing. Recently I joined a gym and I found, right…
Philipp
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What muscles are involved when playing guitar?

Another wording for this question would be "what muscles can I work on to improve guitar playing?" A few months ago I started boxing, and I found that my guitar technique improved as my arms got stronger. I know for a fact that many top-level…
Alexander Troup
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I am struggling with fingerboard muscle memory on the violin. Are there exercises, besides scales, that can help me?

I'm an adult learning violin for 5 months now. No tape or any markings on the fingerboard. I can't seem to gain muscle memory when it comes to placing fingers. I have an idea of where they should go, but I am always really off; like a full semitone…
user46372819
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How to improve stamina in hands for technical pieces

These two pieces are currently part of my repertoire: Etude Op. 25 No. 11 "Winter Wind" (Chopin) Transcendental Étude No. 10 "Appassionata" (Liszt) These are both very technical pieces. What's somewhat frustrating is that "Winter Wind"…
Xcoder
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Severe pain in hand during/after playing (guitar/bass/double bass & piano)

I'm an experienced guitarist/pianist and am having a bit of a problem with my left hand. When I'm playing guitar I seem to suddenly get a pain between my index finger and thumb fairly deep, almost as if I'm a beginner again. It's playing havoc with…
ScottMcGready
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Finger precision

As earlier asked here, I have made a lot of progress from where I was, especially I can hold the guitar in the standard way and at least play something without leaning onto fretboard. However, each time I attempt to play a melody, I hit just one…
Always Confused
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How to Develop Muscle Memory on the Piano: The Entertainer

Can someone comment on how I can develop the muscle memory necessary to play the left hand of the second section of The Entertainer on piano? This is the "oompah bass" section in which the entire left arm literally goes back and forth on each beat -…
j03y_
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Help with repetitive style measure of Tokyo Ghoul's "Unravel"

I am having trouble playing these two sections because my muscles keep locking up and preventing me from playing it lightly as the arranger, Animenz, does. ( ) Right hand difficulties for this picture in measures 108-111: Left hand difficulties…
A T
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Muscle Contraction and Numbness on Fretting Hand During Guitar Exercise

When I exercise fast chord changes on my acoustic guitar( just open chords, no barre), after about 10 minutes, I feel contraction on my palm near the thumb( on thenar eminence). When I touch there, I feel a slight numbness. It is not my first month…
Melih
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Muscle Memory and age

When I practice a chord and /or chord changes, I can do it thousands of times (over days and weeks) and still not get my fingers in the exact same place each time. I am 50+ years old and was wondering if this is a hindrance on my ability to create…
mike628
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Problem with my left hand's thumb in Viola

It's almost a year I'm playing Viola and my biggest problem is with my left hand's thumb. I cannot put it in a relaxed situation. Actually it will be contracted during the practice. My teacher told me to think about it and you should fix it…
Violist
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