How do you relax

Ah, relaxation, it's an ongoing problem, even to us who are supposedly more advanced :roll:

At least you're on the right track, I didn't even think about the tension in my shoulders and my staggered breathing until I'd been playing for a couple years. It's actually annoying now because I can hear my sharp breathing on some of the recording I'm doing! :?

Anyhow, before you start playing, give yourself a second to clear your head and drop your shoulders, just "defog" for a second. When you start playing, it will feel very nice, and it will seem more obvious when you start to tense up. Normal spots for tension are your shoulders, neck, forearms and hands, your back and legs may also get a bit tense.

For some more information on the subject, try Jamie Andreas, who's done some articles for this site as well as her own:

http://www.guitarprinciples.com/

Here's a direct link to a good article about "Discovering your Discomfort"
http://www.guitarprinciples.com/GettingBetter/essay2.htm

And here's a list of her online essays, many of which are interesting.
http://www.guitarprinciples.com/GettingBetter/gettingbettermenu.htm

Here is a good relaxation technique. Years ago when I was an Insurance Agent, one of my customers who was a doctor came in to see me. He said I looked very stressed. My job was extremely stressful.

Anyway, he told me this exercise and it has worked well for me.

Breathe in slowly and as deeply as possible through your nose. Then as slowly as possible exhale through your mouth. It helps to form your mouth into the shape of when you pronounce the letter "O".

You do this ten times in a row.

I really like this exercise and still use it. You can feel the tension and stress leave your body.

When playing guitar, never take yourself too seriously. Tell yourself you are going to have fun. Don't obsess about mistakes. You will always make them, though not as frequently as your skills develop. Learn to laugh at mistakes. Sometimes they even sound good. :D

Usually a person will be very good at certain sections of a song and not others. Well, forget about the good parts, you already know them. Concentrate and practice the sections that are difficult until you have them down.

Then just put it together with the parts you already know well.

Viola! 8)

Why thanks every one

I'm glad that even veteran players still have tension problems and not only a beginner like me , so re-capping

1 - Clear head

2- big slow breaths

3- chose some chords I know

4- tell self this is FUN so enjoy it

5- make sure pleanty of beer in fridge

and if all the above fail keep drinking that way my life will be (for that moment in time) be totally stress free

strewth I can see me becoming a real alcho ...... that sound pretty kool too

A alcho who prentends he plays the guitar

thanks evey-one

What I do, is to get a paper and a small heap of dried and chopped leaves from an exotic plant.
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Then, I put the leaves in some hot water and make a nice, strong cup of tea, I sit down, read the paper and enjoy my tea - very relaxing.
Anyone who had other thoughts, should be ashamed of themselves. :)

Hi Hilch,

Don't give up... and don't get hung up on every little mistake. In fact expect mistakes and just move on from there. You might want to try some songs from the Beginners Song on this site. That's how I started and loving it everyday.

A beer or two helps as well.

Kenny

The subject of this is "How do you relax" so it is ironic that the way I relax is playing the guitar. Even when I am having a bad "guitar day" I am still getting a lot of relaxation out of it. I just lose myself in it and away I am to never never land.

Now on the other hand when there are people listening I am not as relaxed, especially at the start. I find myself grinding my back teeth which means other parts of me are tense also. Sometimes I even do that when I am recording since there is good odds someone might hear it.

Deep breath, a couple of sips of something (even water) and I am OK. That does not mean my playing is OK (thats a skill thing HaHa) but I am, so hey thats why I do it, to have fun.

I have done a lot of public speaking over the years to audiences ranging from small rooms to 100K plus people and I still get nervous every time. I am fine until 5 minutes before, then I start thinking about what I am about to talk about and get butterflies. I know the topics I will be taking about I just never think about how I am going to start until the last minute. I call it my pre-dawn flutters but once I get started I am fine.

Thanks

I have found when my teacher is showing me something new I get all tense .. even when I'm out in my little room away from the wife and children , just trying to practise I am still getting tense .. But if I just pick my guitar up and slap the strings doing chord changes that I know I'm on top of the world , after that I check out easy song data base and find strum patterns for songs I like ( I don't worry about the chords ) and try to put the strum pattern to the chords I know really well . I m just trying to find my rhythm ... but it seems I just aint got none down up down up down up changing from G to C to D7 or BM7 to E to A ... I can do them chord changes in my sleep the first one was the first I learnt from asking people in here ( what is the easiest chord progression ) I was told try G to C to D .. I found D7 sounded better with Gand C or is that just me ........

Anyway I would like to thank every-one for their advise and hope I am not being a pain in the rear ..... I really would love to play ..

Don Mc leans American Pie and just heard some Jack Johnson he sounds nice and my sort of music if you listen to Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson it sounds so easy to play but for me it's like climbing Mount Everest...

Thanks Again

Hilch, if it helps you any there are some chord progressions and common strumming patterns on my web site. The progressions go from relatively easy to not so relatively easy. There is also some sound clips for the strumming patterns, atleast one way to play them.

Here is a lesson for that song........

http://grouptherapy.guernsey.net/americanpie.html

Practice it in pieces. Practice it until you can do it blindfolded and you will relax. This is one of those songs that has some parts that don't sound like the song with guitar alone, you need the words to go with it. Of course by then you will be sick of the song but you will be able to play it. Then you will have fullfilled one of your fantasies. 8)
Now that was a very cool site. Thanks Joe.

Mike