I'm all for excercises that give you another view of how your muscles and tendons are working. Thank you, Herbert.
Start slow and see what tends to give out or fail in the situation. Then visualize the muscles doing what's requested while doing the excercise less extremely. Then go slower and reach gently while the elbow goes further. [Smile and relax as needed] With the elbow going to the extreme, of course it will be difficult and maybe impossible--but you'll get a good picture of what your finger/tendon/muscle group feels like and then be able to give it more focused instructions as you learn difficult or exact placements. Giving instructions to your fingers does take time and often strategy. Don't shortchange yourself. If it's worth all the effort of getting this instrument etc etc it's worth enjoying the ongoing endeavor to lay out, prepare and understand your tools. There are many times when you need to finger a difficult chord or passage that seems depressingly impossible, maybe--for example-- require a root and a 3rd on the lower courses such as that dreaded Cmaj chord w/ the e on the 4th fret, 5th course and the root on the 6th. If you treat this excercise (and chord) good-naturedly they will eventually treat you well too. And then there's that barre on the 7th w/ 10th frets on the outside strings....brrrr....Are we having fun yet? ;^) Sean At 06:42 PM 1/27/04, you wrote: >Dear Herbert aan All: > Some may ask: Why bother to do this exercise? What is the purpose of >swinging the elbow toward the ribs (yours and the lute's)? > My answer is that some stretches, included high-fret stretches using the >index and fourth finger, are easier to execute when the elbow is held in >this way. Try it. >Yours, >Jim
