From: wjin@cs.uh.edu (W. Woody Jin)
Subject: Re: String Tension (Was Re: Kohno Classical)
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 09:45:30 GMT

In article <basinski-091192150439@lully.biosci.arizona.edu> basinski@biosci.arizona.edu (Mark Basinski) writes:
>In article <1992Nov9.090255.21645@menudo.uh.edu>, wjin@cs.uh.edu (W. Woody
>Jin) wrote:
>> . . . Not only I cannot continue the whole
>> sequence at a time, but also I feel pain in my left hand after I finish.
>
> OW! You should not feel PAIN! If you do, you're probably doing something
>physically incorrect. 

Yes, this is my problem.  And I don't know what problem I have in my
position.  I don't feel pain or strength in normal Cejas.
I think that I am doing alright in this case. I may be wrong though.
But when I play continuous Cejas(bars), I just cannot find any other way.
I am just run out of strength in left hand.
For example, try F# minor at 4th flat continuosly (at least 7 measures)
then move to 2nd flat Ceja(2 or more) ( or 9th flat).
If you can play without any pain, could you give me your secret ?

>	With my students, I try to get them to learn how to use the left arm
>more efficiently, both in terms of the weight of it, and using larger
>muscle groups. For example, if you do lots of bars, and the only way
>you can get the bar to work is by really pinching hard, i.e. lots of
>pressure with the thumb, you're going to have problems. It is much
>more efficient to use the arm (both weight and arm/shoulder muscles)
>along with fixation of the index finger to do bars

I agree that you should not put lots of pressure with the thumb.
But, I think that using left arm/shoulders weight/muscles will force 
the right arm to press the guitar harder
and unnecessary strengh on right arm will deprive natural fingering.
Also, I think that it is not a good idea to use shoulder or arms to
put strengths.  Both arms and shoulders (left and right) should not 
have any extra strengths, and they should be smooth and natural.

> - the thumb is 
>hardly necessary at all for force, but serves a role as a stabilizer. This
>in turn is much easier to do if the guitar is angled slightly away from
>you, that is, the neck should be slanting away from you at about
>a 25 - 30 degree angle. This is a very difficult thing to explain; it is
>really necessary to "get the hang" of it physically, and a teacher
>(who understands this concept) is the ideal way to learn this.

I think that you are explaining the very basic position of playing 
the classical guitar.

> I really
>got into this in detail in my studies with Abel Carlevaro, but this is
>something that many players and teachers stress, not just Abel.

I think that the key point is to build strong muscle between the thumb
and index finger in left hand.  As I practice, I can play longer
sequence of Cejas(bars) naturally.   Oh, God, but this improvement is
so slow.  After 7+ years of practicing (even though somewhat sparse),
I still could not make the long Ceja sequences in Bach's prelude of
Unaccompanied Violon Cello III and in Estudio Brillante.
Does anyone know efficient practice ?  


-- 
____   ____  ____ ____________________________________ (___) _________________
|  |   |  |  |  |  W. Woody Jin (wjin@cs.uh.edu)       (o o)      Moo.... 
|  |   |  |__|  |  PhD Student. Research Asst.  o=======\ /  I'm  a Cow Lover.
|  |   |        |  Dept. of Computer Science   / |     ||O   My wife  was born
\  |---|  |--|  |  University of Houston      `  ||'---||    in Cow year. Mooo
 \____/|__|  |__| _______________________________^^    ^^_____________________

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