Too much too fast.

[Christoph]

Does any ever practice too much? I’m a acoustic guitar player but had a mandolin a few years ago and got rid of it. I caught the bug again and got me a 01 Flatty performer A and I love it! After I got It, I played it for about 50 – 60 hours in a week! My finger tip calluses help up fine but all my finger joints and muscles are cashed. It’s been 3 full days without playing and I just tried today and I’m having trouble making a chord without pain. Can’t even use my new blue chip pick to its full potential! Do you think I should lay-off until my hand it completely healed? Or, try to keep it exercised by practicing scales or something like that.

[yankees1]

Yep, too much practice !:disbelief: Going from no playing to 50-60 hours ! Wow!

[250sc]

I find mandolin is much harder on my hands than guitar but I've played guitar much longer than mando so it's probably just that my hands are used to the guitar shapes. Rest up.

[Christoph]

Oh no, I'm really in trouble now... My Mandobird just arrived in the big brown truck and it's already hanging around my neck!

[CES]

Maybe stick with the Mandobird for a few days...perhaps the lower string tension of the electric won't hurt as badly!

Seriously, though, if it persists you may want to take a couple of days off...it's awesome that you caught the bug, though!!

[Jason Kindall]

I'd say "all things in moderation" but what the hey...

Yep. You're screwed.

[Jkf_Alone]

50 to 60 hours a week? Wow. So 8 to 10 hours a day? Your fingers ARE NOT designed to move for that long, in that way. I was going to suggest that you spend some time trying to develop a lighter touch, but nothing is going to make it possible to play that amount of time without pain (and considerable wear and tear!) I would say that you should spend some of that time enjoying the outdoors, being with family, and listening to music. I love my instruments, and singing, but I really couldn't imagine spending that much time doing any one thing.

I think you should cut your practice time to at most 3 to 4 hours a day ( even that seems like too much) or at least divide it between instruments. Also, warm up and stretch before you play, then find some exercises for your hands, forearms, shoulders, and the rest of your body that oppose what you do when you are playing.

http://www.stretchnow.com.au/exercises/hands.html here are a few hand exercises

http://www.nsdpowerballs.com/store.cfm?gclid=CPa2g5-KvqACFRDyDAod7hUdTA this helped my wrists a ton

[moconno1]

Way too much, on any instrument. You are setting yourself up for some major problems in the future with your hands and fingers. The key to learning anything well, I've found, is to be consistent with it. Listen to your hands when they hurt - don't force it.

[Charley wild]

Practicing like that is EXACTLY how I got my focal dystonia in the late 70's! I'll repeat, EXACTLY. It is a lifelong condition. There is NO cure! If you don't know what a dystonia is Google it! You won't like what you find!

[Santiago]

Playing your fingers to the bone is just an expression. Don't really try it. If you practice too much you'll not only injure yourself but you may pick up bad habits as you get fatigued. I say practice as focused and as concentrated as you can, and then take a break. Hyper-effectiveness is not sustainable.

[Mandolin Mick]

I wouldn't even play the Mandobird for awhile. You meant well, but overdid it. Give it a rest. ALL things in moderation, even mandolin!

[SincereCorgi]

Yeah, man, give your hands a break- you only get one set. If you are feeling 'lazy', you can work on ear training, singing, and dictation for 8 hours a day and end up with some amazing chops that you can apply to any instrument. (Incidentally- jeez, I wish I had that kind of a practice ability. I was all proud of myself for doing 3 hours yesterday, all spread out...)

Edit: After posting this I got to thinking- they really ought to post a medical warning whenever they solemnly tell beginners that (insert your artist of choice) "used to practice ten hours a day." That's more likely to result in a lot of messed-up hands than amazing musicians.

[Martin Whitehead]

I didn't see anyone on this thread post the obvious. Ibuprofen, heat and ice. Start with heat for 20 min., ice for 20 min., then heat for twenty minutes. Three or four times a day. Should reduce inflamation. I'm no doctor, but that what my doctor tells me whenever I have joint or muscle pain.

[Mike Bunting]

I didn't see anyone on this thread post the obvious. Ibuprofen, heat and ice. Start with heat for 20 min., ice for 20 min., then heat for twenty minutes. Three or four times a day. Should reduce inflamation. I'm no doctor, but that what my doctor tells me whenever I have joint or muscle pain.
At the very least that will cut the playing time in half.

[EdHanrahan]

There was an interesting (to me) article about knees & running in the NY Times several months ago. The point was that a MODERATE amount of running is actually protective of the knees (with some going into their 80s & beyond w/ no real problems), while it's common for more gung-ho runners to develop career-ending wear or injuries.

It defined "moderate", if I recall, as about my own running schedule of 12 miles a week. While most of the population would consider that a lot of running, it's also LESS than most serious runners would consider adequate. Fortunately for me, at 63, I've never had any running-related knee problems, so I do buy the premise.

The important point is: That translates to less than 2 hrs. of running per week, continuing over a lifetime. Granted that running involves more weight, more irregularity, and more pounding than fretting does, but it still seems to indicate that your jump to 50+ hours (more time than most of us spend at work) could be a wee bit excessive.

Considering that joint tissue is pretty similar everywhere in the body, I say: "Give your body a chance to recover!"

[CES]

I didn't see anyone on this thread post the obvious. Ibuprofen, heat and ice. Start with heat for 20 min., ice for 20 min., then heat for twenty minutes. Three or four times a day. Should reduce inflamation. I'm no doctor, but that what my doctor tells me whenever I have joint or muscle pain.

Unless you have kidney disease or gastric/duodenal ulcers, then skip the ibuprofen part...

[Earlyman67]

Get Married, that will cut your practice time by 90%

[Ivan Kelsall]

You've 'possibly' put in more playing time in a week than a professional player does in a month !.The pros.know when to rest up. 'Over-playing' with the possiblity (which is always there),of messing your fingers up is NOT an option for those guys. I thought that i was putting a lot of hours in when i began,5-6 hours every day -but- i've got strong left hand fingers from playing Banjo for 47 years,so it wasn't too hard on me,it was certainly 'enough' though - rest up until your fingers & hand feel ok & then take it easy or you could get slammed with a real dose of Tendonitis or worse,
Ivan

[EdHanrahan]

... Ibuprofen, heat and ice. ... Should reduce inflamation. ... what my doctor tells me whenever I have joint or muscle pain.

While ibuprofen reduces the inflammation and therefore the pain, it doesn't reverse the underlying damage or stress that caused the inflammation & pain. What does reverse the damage is the body's "re-building" response (just my own words) to moderate inflammation. Get rid of the pain too often or too aggressively, and you may be pain-free in the short term but with accumulating joint damage. Call it arthritis.

(No I'm not a doctor or play one on television. But my wife is a biology researcher and health fanatic, so I get to hear the hard logic on the various health claims, whether valid, bogus, or, too often, partially true. Plus proof-reading her papers: if I can understand it...).

Hey, my college rock band once played 5 gigs over a weekend, 20 hours of playing in a 54-hr period. Even being young & strong & macho, we were fried!

[Scott Holt]

:))
Get Married, that will cut your practice time by 90%

I would have to agree!:))

Seriously though, take it easy!