From: "James F. Tims" <p00168@psilink.com>
Subject: Re: Long session of bars (was Re: String Tension)
Organization: Semper Excelsior
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 04:29:48 GMT
X-Mailer: PSILink (3.2)

>DATE:   Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:40:54 GMT
>FROM:   W. Woody Jin <wjin@cs.uh.edu>
>
>There have been two suggestions regarding long session of bars :
>
>1) Mark Wrote :
>>   All I can do is give you my perspective as a serious performer and 
>>teacher. It is possible to misuse *any* muscular/mechanical part of
>>the body. The point is that by learning how to make the best use of the
>>larger muscle groups (arm, shoulder, back) you can simplify 
>>the essential tasks which the hand and fingers do. Obviously, there are
>>many things that only the fingers can accomplish, but the larger
>>muscle groups can participate and assist. This is a well established
>>part of the instrumental technique for many instruments - piano, strings,
>>etc. Many well known guitar teachers (including Carlevaro,Oscar Ghiglia,
>>Bruce Holzman) make use of this idea. 
>
>I think that there is some secret here. And I think that when I feel 
>a little tired in my left hand, the above description is exactly
>what I am doing. But then, since I put weight and slight strength
>using my shoulder and arms to avoid the tiredness of my lefthand muscle, 
>   1) my left arm/shoulder becomes unnatural.
>   2) I also have to press my guitar with my right arm, because of
>      the weight and strength of my left part on the bar.
>      It should have been just natural weight of the right arm
>      which makes the guitar be in stable position.

Something that hasn't been mentioned on this thread is that most
guitarists "overfret."  By this I mean that the strings 
are depressed beyond the point which is necessary to prevent them
from buzzing.  Sometimes it results from a misplaced finger forcing
one to push harder to accomodate the lack of leverage againsy the fret,
but many guitarists push too hard ALL the time.  When you are using
the bar, see if you can get a little closer to the fret.  This will
allow you to hold the bar with far less effort than even a small fraction
of an inch further back from the fret.  This is also true of playing
scales, in that the more accurately you can fret, i.e. hitting right
behind the fret rather than futher back, the less forcefully the string 
must be depressed.  The less strength one uses to depress the string, 
the more quickly and easily one can release it.

This could also be causing your arm discomfort when barring without
the force of the thumb.  You may just be going at the whole operation
with too much force.  There is definitely something amiss if you feel
that your right arm has to work to support playing without the left
thumb.  Maybe a little, but it certainly shouldn't be an intrusive
effort to hold the guitar in place against the weight of the left
arm.  It sounds as if you may have the left side of your guitar 
further from your body that the right, that is, the guitar neck
may be pointing forward too much.  Just a guess.  

Make a conscious effort to bar minimally, and use precision instead
of strength.  Learn to bar without using the thumb at all.  Actually,
you should be able to play reasonably well without even touching
the neck with the left thumb, at least for easy pieces.  


-- 
jim tims 
"And if you're a miner, when you're too tired and old and sick and stupid
to do your job properly, you have to go, whereas just the opposite applies
with the judges."  Beyond the Fringe

Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar