A Better Way to Warm Up on Guitar

There seems to be two schools of thought regarding Warming Up. One says that we must spend time really warming up, getting everything perfect before playing, the other says not to waste precious inspiration to play in warming up and just get on with it! 

The Truth is we are human beings, some days we feel ready to go, some days playing feels like a slog. We’ve all been in this situation, maybe we had a great practice session yesterday or a gig that went really well, only to pick up the guitar today to find you feel like you’ve picked up your first guitar and your hands are on backwards. 

Playing feels difficult , like wading through thick mud. Another situation could be that big gig you’ve been preparing for, rehearsals have gone well, you’ve prepped everything, but on the day you have a quick line check, your on stage, the sound is all over the place, it feels like your playing but nothing is happening, so you dig in even more, only for the guitar to fight back and the notes literally walk out the door before you can even pick them. 

Warming up doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal and despite all the exercises out there for “warming up”, anything can be a warm up if its done with the right intention. Its not about blazing on the guitar right away either, its simply saying “hello” again to the guitar, connecting to the feeling of playing, the sound of playing and how it feels today. 

Almost like approaching the guitar for the first time, with a curiosity and appreciation for how it is right now, not based on the past or our plans for the future. You can plant a seed, you can introduce sun and water, but you can’t force it to grow. It has its own way. 

The same goes for our body and mind. Sometimes our mind is 10 steps ahead of the body, we have an “ideal” we want to get back to, we want to pick up where we left off, but the reality is that we are always changing, our body is always in different states, our mind is connected with this, but sometimes it’s a bit disjointed. We can often cause our body to tense up even more with forceful approaches to practice and warming up. 

We can then believe that we’re doing something “wrong”, maybe the amp isn’t right, maybe we suck at guitar, all thoughts that aren’t necessarily true. Maybe we’re jumping the starting gun when we pick up the guitar. This may sound very new age for some, but its not, its pragmatic, there are ways of approaching the guitar that will help us take care of our playing, enjoy it and with that intention, start to make great progress in your playing. 

Let’s take a look at a few principles that  I’ve found helpful in warming up on the guitar, but also with approaching anything in life. 

Before you pick up the guitar and as you play. Listen to the quality of the sound and notice how your touch with the fretting hand and pick changes the sound. This will help you slow down, but also help connect body and mind. You’ll be able to tune into how you are today and soon you’ll be connected and synchronised both physically and mentally. 

You don’t have to run 16th notes at 200bpm right away, play simple stuff, play simple stuff well, with connection. Then you’ll know naturally when to speed up, you’ll feel inspired to do so because you’ll have connected and not overwhelmed yourself with something complicated and fast right away. Complexity starts with simplicity, but simplicity isn’t always easy when we’re forcing. 

Let Go and Appreciate 

Most of our “issues” with playing guitar come from our ideas about how we should sound, what we should be doing, we “should” all over ourselves, we “should” ourselves out of any joy we had left for playing music. Of course, music is a personal and expressive activity, but actually if we make it less about “ourselves getting it right” the more right we get it, we get out of our own heads and our own way. Also, if you’re playing a guitar, you’re doing alright, appreciate the time you do have to play! It’s a luxury, not a chore. Nobody “arrives” at perfect guitar playing.

Your playing will improve naturally providing you take care of it, approaching with curiosity and trust. Trusting that your brain and nervous system will process whatever you put into it. The licks and solos that you were working on a year ago are now part of your playing, the attention you give your playing today will have a knock on effect providing you’re consistent and caring about your playing.