Welcome to your weekly 10-second tip.
Today I want to talk about something I see a lot.
When some guitarists play, they raise their shoulders up in a tensed position.
I jokingly call this playing like Uncle Fester.
If you have ever seen The Addams Family, you’ll know what I mean, as it looks like he has no neck.
Instead of pulling your shoulders up by your neck as you play, it’s important to keep them relaxed.
Raising the shoulders (either or both) like this contributes to a lot of the tension many players have in their bodies and often this is something that occurs from day 1.
If you do this, let’s fix it now.
A tip to help is this…
When you lift your fretting arm up to the neck to start playing, do not raise your shoulder with it.
Instead, just raise the forearm to the neck of the guitar.
If your shoulder lifts with your arm, drop the arm, let it hang to the side of you and start again.
It’s a simple tip, but keeping the shoulders relaxed is one of the keys to playing with less tension and more enjoyment.
Be relaxed and more like Gomez than Uncle Fester!
Have a great Friday and happy practising…
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. For plenty more technique-building, pressure-reducing, and tension-destroying tips, you may want to check this out…
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P.P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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