I ordered The Principles of correct practice for guitar by jamey andreas,The whole book is mostly on relaxing muscles and correct technique, http://www.guitarprinciples.com how relaxed are you guys when you play?

I keep that in my mind alot when practicing/playing...
its tough at times to relax my fingers when sounding notes through heavey distortion where feedback and white niose can be a problem.To sound notes clearly somtimes requires a firm "press" which often results in unwanted and un-noticable tension.Overall I keep my sholders,biceps,back relaxed and it generally helps accuracy.

very, I find you have much better control over what your doing, plus your able to play faster, have better technique, and muscles don't fatigue out. I use my arm to pick (elbow)so relaxation is important for my technique to work properely. I'm pretty laid back to begin with, plus I find playing guitar relaxing in itself.

Very relaxed but not to the point of being sloppy! To get a nice fluid action you have to relax. lol I try and emulate slash with the old guitar moves! Playing with the guitar in the air and so on!

When I was a beginner I used to break strings frequently but as I have advanced my pick attack and fretting have become more delicate.

I'm almost always very relaxed... BB King style.

I remember the first time I tried to play a real song in front of a small audience. It was about 10 years ago, the song was "Simple Man," and the "audience" was my girlfriend and a few other friends. Man, I was actually shaking I was so nervous. Now, I am much more relaxed when I play. I think it just comes with time and practice.

If I'm just playing at a friend's house generally I don't have any problems with nerves but I have played open mike nights and got the shakes badly. It's made worse because I don't sing at the same time and only really play guitar solos.

Back when I was 17 I played in a death/thrash band with some highschool buddies, we were pretty good, we gigged a fair amount around the city, and the only reason the school kept my drummer enrolled was because they thought the band might go somwhere.
I played lead guitar in that band, and I would get nervous before solos and sometimes tense up, I would always play the more technical, alternately picked shred type stuff, and the other guy was more bluesy and a little bit sloppy. He didnt care if he hit a few bum notes, but I was really anal about it, I'd beat myself up about it after a gig, if I was doing a fast alternate picking section over double bass drumming, my pick would ideally hit, every time the drum did, and if I messed it up, I would be so pissed.
Then it all changed one day, I lightened up about it and found my playing improved, I wasnt to intent on hitting every note dead on that the pressure wasnt on and it sounded better.
Now when I play, I don't get stressed at all, I know I can play, and I know most non musicians in the audience wont even notice mistakes anyway!

Monkeys can kill you without a gun, do you have any idea how strong a monkey is? besides, guns DON'T kill people, bullets kill people.

your both wrong!
Vital organ failure,blood loss and nervous system(brain/spine/cerebelum)trauma kill people.

I was wondering how long it would be before someone commented on my signature. I got in a HUGE argument last night about gun control, and even got called an idiot twice, good going eh?
And I think you're maybe thinking of chimpanzees, I'm sure a monkey could hurt you, but most monkeys are small and not as strong as an adult, take the spider monkey for instance.
It was actually intended as a joke, but come on, no matter how much anyone can justify guns, they were created as tools to kill people, nothing more nothing less, sure you can USE them for other things, but then I frequently use a screwdriver as a wedge to open paint cans....
Plus, unless you choke on a bullet, it's pretty harmless without a gun....

I guess I should choose another less provocative signature

[Edited by nasum_human on 09-30-2003 at 07:31 AM]

Lately I've generally been stoned when practicing so pretty damn relaxed. :D