It's mid-Autumn now in Australia and we're having a lot of cold weather. This seems to be affecting my guitar playing skills. Solos I used to be able to play at full speed I'm now struggling to play at 2/3 speed, because my cold fingers can't move fast enough. I also can't tremolo pick or downpick evenly, I'm wavering all over the place now.

Guitarists: how do you warm up your hands for playing in cold weather? Is there some special trick to it?

dont you have any heating o_0?

This is a problem that plagues me a lot as well.

Soaking your hands in warm water helps, as well as drinking hot tea. Other than that, they just need to warm up with extended practicing.

Here is a picking exercise which I use to warm up frequently:

4-1-3-1-2-1


The idea is to use strict alternate picking and a consistant fingering(one finger for each fret). Not only will it warm up both your hands, but it's also great for right hand/left hand sychronization.

Doing trills along to a metronome will also help. Lately I've been doing trills in four minute intervals in all finger combinations (including turning the left hand around and doing index finger trills, meaning that the middle finger anchors and the index finger does the trill) before I even begin practicing. It's boring but well worth it.

It's a problem for me a lot too.
One more thing I'd suggest is to get your whole body warmed up with some physical exercise prior to playing your instrument. I've found that soaking your hands in warm water will have a longer lasting effect if you also get your circulation going with a bike ride, a jog, or some sit-ups or whatever as well. If I have only been sitting still in a cold room for an extended period it's just about impossible to get my hands warm and keep them that way for very long.

Yeah! That's exactly what I do! Another trill-related exercise is to fret with my middle finger, and trill my ring and little fingers. It exhausts me much quicker.



Good idea. I suppose I'd have to practice in one solid block so my body doesn't cool down, rather than playing in little bits and pieces throughout the day like I do now.

I know just what you mean. Try soaking your hands in warm water, or putting them over a space heater for a few minutes if you have one. Sometimes indoor heating just doesn't do the trick, and it can be extremely annoying. Hot water will solve everything though!

Fingerless gloves may be completely useless when you're outside (aside from looking awesome) but they work perfectly for playing bass/guitar in a cold room.

Same thing happens to me. My room is way colder than the rest of the house and I don't have any heat nor do I have a heater in my room. Basically just work your fingers a lot like you would if you were cold outside, you would do jumping jacks or rub your hands together or something.

Get some heating in your room and just do a longer warmup, not much else to do.

LOL!

Fixed.

Pretend you're onstage(thrash around). When we used to play outdoor shows my fingers would be stiff as a board until showtime. Then the adrenaline from going on heated them right up(not to mention thrashing around).

Nothing wrong with looking like a hobo. Goes good with my hobo beard.

Whiskey. Lots of whiskey.

Fingerless gloves help too as well as lots of warmups. Careful when playing when it's cold though, sometimes your guitar strings might snap/weaken temporarily due to the temp. change. I've had it happen to me before.

yeah, i live in Australia too and have noticed the temperature change. i usually warm up my hands with an excersize or even put my fingers in front of a heater and continually rub them for a while, that helps too,

In mid winter we heat up the stove on our practice place. Autumn and spring are the worst because the other band members think it is warm enough without the stove (it is not) and so i have to play the solos with stiff fingers. Very annoying.

Good warmup usually helps for awhile, sometimes I try "mentally" move the heat to my fingers to avoid the necrosis ( sounds pretty desperate).