Check out this article I wrote for the guitarnation.com site a few years back. Mindful Movements: The Musicians Body, by Karen T. Hogg , 2003©All Rights Reserved This past summer, while teaching at the National Guitar Workshop, I attended a seminar given by a famous blues guitarist. I heard he had many physical problems that hindered his guitar playing in the past, so I asked him how he dealt with that. He said in addition to taking up relaxing practices such as Tai Chi and Hatha yoga, he was also constantly aware of his posture. While I watched him playing onstage, I saw this to be true. He always seemed relaxed. His shoulders weren't hunched up towards his ears and he wasn't making any unnecessary movements.
Playing guitar is a physical activity. As a musician and yoga teacher who has dealt with my own share of various aches and pains, I am constantly reminded of this. Muscle memory is an integral part of learning your chords and scales. Both your right and left hands have developed fine motor skills from many hours of practice. In this respect, we musicians have a lot in common with athletes. We put our bodies through rigorous training in order to achieve desired results. Over the years though, if we do not treat our bodies with respect and care, injury can occur.
Unfortunately, many of us aren't aware of the movements we make while we play. Have you ever watched a videotape of yourself playing? Were you surprised by what you saw? A lot of musicians play with their shoulders hunched up towards their ears. Eventually, this will cause tension in the neck and shoulder areas. In addition, some guitarists play with their instruments hung too low, a la Jimmy Page. This puts excessive strain on the back. Why is this important? Because pain can inhibit your playing.
Being mindful and aware of how we move is vital to having a long, enjoyable life of music making. Many injuries may be preventable by taking these precautions:
STRETCH
Athletes warm up before practice, and so must musicians. In addition to doing warm-ups on your instrument to get the blood flowing into your hands, you should do gentle stretches to warm up the entire body. Warm-ups that stretch the shoulder and neck area are especially important for guitarists.
If you're not familiar with proper stretches to do, there are several resources available to you. You could attend a local gentle yoga class. If there are no yoga centers in your area, check your local YMCA or YWCA. They frequently will have yoga classes in their weekly schedule. If no yoga classes are to be found, you can always work on your own from a book. Your local bookstore is sure to carry some books about stretching. "Yoga for Dummies" by George Feuerstein and Larry Payne is a good starting point. It provides clear explanations and excellent pictures to describe each of the poses and how to execute them.
EXERCISE
It has been proven time and time again that exercise is vital to a long and healthy life. Exercise helps circulation. The more oxygen and blood flow to all your various body parts, the better everything will function. Joints and muscles will be healthier, therefore your playing will have less of a stressful impact on the body.
Again, you have some choices here. If you're not the type who likes to sweat a lot, you can still help your body by engaging in low impact activities. Even simply taking regular walks can be extremely beneficial. Walking can help loosen up the back muscles that often get stiff from staying in one position for too long, i.e. practicing for hours on end. The important thing here is to experiment with different types of exercise and see what works best for you.
