What should i warm up with?

[B4MV]

hey all,

sorry if this has been asked, i did do a search but didn't really find what i was looking for.

i have been playing for around 9 months now and loving it. already in a few bands through school (most don't do anything though) and it's really good.

though i want to improve as an all round player.

i'm just wondering if u can give me links or names of scales i should play as warm-up everyday.

i also want to try and get slapping down. i can pretty much play higher ground and the Seinfeld theme though not too well.

any help is appreciated,

thanks

[Fergie Fulton]

Gentle stretches is what you need as what you play will be up to you to set you up for your playing.
Just open your hands and stretch your fingers fully open, hold for 5 sec. and then relax. 5-10 times.
Hold your forearm and fully rotate your wrists slowly the build up to steady pace opening and closing the hand as before with each rotation. Try that for a few mins., then relax them, give your hands a shake, give your forearms a rum and you should be ready to go. Remember to stretch after you finish and rotate you forearms, slowly only and about 10 reps of each. You don't want to do any speed or long warm downs or it will negate what your trying to do. The stretches are the most important part of the warm up/warm down and if only that can be done... it should.

As for scales, you choose what you need to warm up for what you're about to play and the technique involved.

[B4MV]

thanks mate,

i'll make sure i do that. i play anything from blues to metal and real style. mostly metal, but i enjoy funk because it sounds really cool and i like to show off. so which scales would probably suit best??

or ways to practice slapping and popping?

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by B4MV

so which scales would probably suit best??

You could try two octave major scales starting on C, and go through the circle of fourths.

[sonic assassin]

i used to just run a normal major/minor scale up and down the neck for a few minutes. all the way up and all the way down the neck. then a lot of chromatics. get those close together cramps out. a minute of 3 finger rolls. lots of stretching. a few jumping jacks. and i was stage bound.. singing at the top of my lungs the entire time.

[nonogz]

all modes of major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. as well as running through the chords of each

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by B4MV

thanks mate,

i'll make sure i do that. i play anything from blues to metal and real style. mostly metal, but i enjoy funk because it sounds really cool and i like to show off. so which scales would probably suit best??

or ways to practice slapping and popping?

As a rule warm up is just that a warm up, its not playing but getting ready to play. So it should reflect the first 5-10 mins of what your about to play.

These songs in the that time is what your warming up for, not the playing of the whole set. If you cannot play the first song with comfort, and ease then the warm up is pointless. Once you start to play the act of playing then take over and will get your hands ready for what is to follow.

The first few songs of any set are settling or bedding in songs to get you settled. These songs should be the same songs, the fact they are always there is a comfort zone you enter that is tension free as you know you can preform without thinking regardless of any events that preceed you going on stage.

This is reflected in all of the bands i play with and in one band in particular..Hokie Joint. This band plays festivals so the first song is part of the warm up process for all, including crew and sound engineers, who have probley never had to deal with the band and vice versa.
1/We start with a drum sound that incorporates all the kit, this is part of the drummers warm up and this gives the sound engineers a chance to check the kit.
2/ Bass comes in, nice and simple, easy warm in for me and the sound can then be mixed into the drums.
3/ Vocals come in, again nice and easy giing the vocalist a chance to warm in easy and allow the engineers to mix his voice.
4/ Guitar and harmonica come in on a hang, nice and easy there, the guitar has a part that is easy to mix as is has the power of the hang and the guitar line after.
5/ All in and playing and off we go playing the song using the arrangment to bed ourselves and the sound engineers and crew in.

Because this is a repeditive opening we all know what to expect and what we should hear so when something goes wrong we can deal with it calmly and with no panic.

check the links, same song different situations, and in the first the bass comes off the strap on the last hang just as the song gets going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd3bcsyc4U8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YybuvW-BpfY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25w5q4HqghI