Improving Flexibility with Opposing Motion
Hey everybody, how do y'all feel about a little flexibility session for you left hand? 
In this workshop we'll be looking at some exercises and pieces and work especially on opposing motion which will benefit greatly slurring and polyphonic pieces! 
Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:
https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/live/player/improving-flexibility-with-opposing-motion
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
Forum questions will be answered first!
Join us today for an intensive left-hand session to improve your flexibility via Opposing Motion Exercises. This workshop is aimed to give your hand the freedom necessary to control polyphonic pieces more effortless and to tame excessive rotation while executing slurs.
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Hi, Martin. If I´m not mistaken, you once said you don´t practice extension exercises because you try to play always as relaxed as possible and these exercises go against relaxation. So, I´ve two questions for you today:
1-How do you solve hard passages for the left hand?
2- Do you know Artyom´s "vertical extension" exercises? I think they are quite similar to the (Carlevaro?) example above.
THANK YOU!!
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Igor I'll answer your question first in the Q&A-Section! I do know Artyom's exercise and we will talk about that!
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Here are the notes for today!
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Thanks Martin for sharing this. Can I know how often do you practice this? On top of new repertoire, old repertoire. How do you find time for exercises for technique practices.
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don Thanks for that question! I have a warm-up/technique routine of 50min, embedded in this 50min I'll squeeze about 5-15min of opposing motion exercises in!
Usually I start with basic apoyando exercise of 5min, afterwards I do slurs for 10-15min followed by Opposing Motion Exercises (briefly, about 5min), then I'll do Apoyando and Arpeggio execises 20min, followed by 10-15min of tremolo (but only with Una Limosna por El Amor de Dios, I really should change that into something on the second string to finally get the hang of tremolo!).
I usually try to have at least 1 - 3 practice blocks of 50min spread over the day, that helps me maintain my level and learn some new repertoire. While studying I did more of course! -
Martin wow that's a lot. I'm really curious, wont your hands gets fatigue after all these exercises? How do you find time learning new repertoire?
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don I try to switch my focus from left hand exercises to right hand exercises so that I don‘t overwork either hand! But most importantly: Most of my exercises are not „fatiguing“ in a traditional sense as I always try to introduce enough time for relaxation!
- Slurs exercises are done slowly, as it‘s an exercises to build up accuracy and strength, not endurance.
- Opposing Motion Exercises start out easy (without any vertical stretches), build up in difficulty (i.e. stretches between 1st and 6th string), but return to the easy form!
- Arpeggio and Tremolo Exercises are working towards and extreme relaxed hand, because only a relaxed hand can react fast! So If I feel that I tense up, I take a short break to relax my hand!
So overall, my warming-up/technique exercises is done in a pretty relaxed, meditation-like state of mind! And 50min isn‘t too long, though I‘ve heard people doing blocks of 20min, which is fine as well. If you feel like you‘re not concentrated anymore, you are actively wasting time, so it‘s better to work with smaller blocks.
This 50min block gets my hand perfectly ready so I can throw all kind of repertoire at it without the need of solving issues with core movements. That way I can concentrate on what‘s the problem with a specific passage, which will likely be resolved with intelligent fingering. In general, if a passage doesn‘t work for me after the 10th time, I try another fingering!
So with a regular practice of 2h, I can stay in perfect shape and build up and retain new repertoire. If I need to quickly add new repertoire (like for an upcoming livestream), I usually cut my technique session shorter, because practicing more than 2h is kind of tricky for me at the moment as well
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Martin Thanks Martin for the explanation. I kinda understand what you mean now. I watched your other live stream and the part about relaxation in between makes sense now. My fingers gets all clamp up after the exercises mainly because I didn't relax them in between and is always tensed.
Thanks for all the great tips and insights as usual! Really appreciate them!
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don that’s great to hear! Playing guitar is a marathon, a journey, not a sprint!
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