Bounce Bounce Ouch, Why Can't I Play Faster?

As I continue to fine tune my picking, fingerstyle, and fretting technique, with the primary goal of developing articulation and tone, and the secondary (though equally important) goal of endurance and longevity, I've managed to isolate an issue that I haven't ever heard a teacher specifically point out to a student, and have never seen in any book, and I've got a PILE of them, classical, rock, fusion, eclectic, academic, you name it. I've often seen the general category the issue falls under referred to, but never this particular detail.

If your hands hurt when you play, assuming you don't have any other physical condition, or you're not managing to get the fluidity and speed you're looking for, you can have a combination of issues:

- You're not properly warmed up
- You're not relaxing your hands and arms when you play
- You're technique is causing you to repeatedly execute an unnatural motion.

I think it's the last one that gets most advancing guitar players. You're either going to learn to warm up and relax or you'll just always be in pain and you'll just stop moving forward. But when it comes to "unnatural motion", what specifically qualifies?

For me, one of the less obvious ones I found was "bouncing" with my right hand (my pick/fingerstyle hand). It applies to both my classical and electric playing.

By "bouncing", I mean, that you're not just moving your fingers, or the pick, when you fret. You're hand actually "bounces" away from the strings when you pluck, and/or, when moving your pick vertically from string to string, you "bounce" over one string to get to the next one.

"Bouncing" is insidious (as are most fine details of technique). It managed to make it's way into my playing even though I've focused carefully on both hands in my daily regimen for years. I believe this is because, when you're focusing on your hands and playing at a speed that allows your brain to lead your fingers entirely, you're conscious of unnecessary motion. We all know that conservation of motion is important, and we practice it when we focus. But when you "let 'er rip", the untrained elements of muscle motion take over.

Interestingly, it's not just guitar playing. I've seen this in all kinds of things. When I was a snowboard instructor, you'd get some hotshot guy that could rip down a hill all fancy. He gets back to the top all "check me out". Then you say, "carve four turns at these points along the hill, and nowhere else". They sneer and off they go. And they miss all of them; in fact, they go more or less the same way as the first time. They come back up the hill, usually saying, "alright I got it now," and try again. And fail again. They get angry and/or confused...is this some kind of trick? Nope. You just showed them that they're not in control of the board, the board is in control of them. And I see that a lot in guitar playing. Some guy in Guitar Center is ripping insane. But you say, "play 8th notes, and nothing else, without stopping", and they can't do it. They're not in control of their playing.

Anyway...

"Bouncing" causes a TREMENDOUS amount of tension in your hand, because of course, if you're playing fast, you have to get your fingers back to the strings. So your wrist goes rigid, which goes into your forearm; you start to stiffen up. Eventually you simply won't be able to play.

I wanted to validate this before writing about it, so for quite some time I've been watching other guitars players very carefully, and sure enough, I see it all over. Guys that are synonymous with technique, like Battio or Yngwie, are VERY in control of this sort of thing. Watch their videos; when they get down to the business of those unbelievable runs, their hands often don't even seem to really move.

As Philip Hii says in his essays on virtuosity (which every guitar player absolutely should read), a certain amount of sympathetic motion is to be expected and shouldn't be avoided (in favor of a completely unnatural stillness), and periodically, some inspired abandon is just fine. After all, your fingers are attached to your hand, and your hand is attached to your wrist. They're going to move. But having to stiffen your wrist and forearm to force your fingers to stay near the stings clearly isn't in your best interest. In fact, anything you do, like holding your elbow and shoulder high instead of letting them fall naturally while you play, is just bad news (but still you see so many classical guitar players do it for some reason).

I've analyzed and worked on this; I allow my fingers to do more of the work. I lightened up the pluck in fingerstyle, focusing on a clean strike with the nail and not a press/pluck (which is what I found was triggering the "bouncing"), and with a pick, I angle it a bit (thank you Paul Gilbert and Eric Johnson for verbalizing this), so that the pick can naturally slide over the string without an undue "lift and over" motion.

Without a doubt, it's allowed my speed to become more fluid. I've been able to play very fast runs for a long time, but since I've worked this, it's a hell of a lot less effort, and my overall attack just sounds more fluid. Naturally, this is opening up new possibilities for me since not only can I play cleaner, but I can play faster, and faster for longer, than ever. Discipline time; just because you can play fast doesn't mean you should. But that's a different conversation; I love to rip through phrases, and it's a damn powerful tool when used well.

So, if you're finding your hands hurt and you're struggling with speed, maybe look careful at "bouncing". It can be a major roadblock that makes it painful, or impossible, to get where you want to go.

As always thanks for visiting.