Is there any way to improve finger dexterity?

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 2:04 pm

After three years of this, I still play mostly Airs, blues and American traditional music. The common thread in all three, as I see it, is that expression is more critical than speed or ornamentation. To put it bluntly, on most other things my fingers just don't keep up with my brain.

Is there anything anyone can think of from their own musical education that might help with this? Bear in mind, I'm closing on sixty and my early instrument was a trombone. I can play a mountain dulcimer somewhat but ma attempts at a hammered dulcimer were a cacophonous disaster.

claudine · Post by **claudine** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 2:36 pm

You should avoid to do any hard manual work.
My fingers had become much quicker when I took typewriting lessons.
No brillant ideas for the rest, sorry.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 2:40 pm

Meditation. I'm not joking. My sense, from my own experience, is that it frees up some blocks to connecting your finger movement to your thoughts and allows for a firmer grasp of more elements of the music making in general. I happened to learn Transcendental Meditation years ago. I kind of doubt what method will make much difference. I'm thinking a disciplined, regular quieting of the mind is the key.
Tony

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 2:45 pm

As I usually say . . . you will get better advice from someone else, but I can tell you what worked for me.
Dexterity improves with time and practice. I took up the whistle to help my dexterity. My fingers used to lock straight and move awkwardly. Try to keep your fingers curved rather than flat and keep your fingers close to the holes even when you're not playing those notes. I find this hard to do(as my fingers then to lift high and flay back when not covering a hole), but if you make it as part of your practice, it should help the speed.
Could be the whistle as well, as I found my Tony Dixon helped me to speed up and I found it very easy!
But I've approched new skills as I learned to do in therapy. Start with one or two goals, work to accomplish each goal each time you do the task and add new goals gradually, while mataining the first goals. For example, you might work on keeping your fingers close for a week or two(not worring about speed) then add ortamentation(while paying attention to your fingers)and in a few weeks, pick up the pace a bit . . . but still keeping the first two skills in mind.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 3:18 pm

Thanks, Mamakash. I forgot to mention the obvious. Practice makes it happen gradually. Practice the same tune slowly and fast. You'll find different difficulties manifest. It really is training- knowing what it feels like when it's done right. I'd say meditation facilitates this process.
Tony

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 3:29 pm

Not something that most people want to hear, and advice that most people won't listen to anyway. . .

Practice scales, finger patterns, arpeggios, broken chords. These are the components of the music, and getting your fingers to do them consistently will improve your dexterity for tunes. I have access to a book that has helped me a lot, which I've mentioned here before. Its called Better - Stronger - Faster and it works, not only for fingering, but breathing.

I do these exercises nearly every day. On occasion they're the only thing I play. I'm still not a stellar player, but people who have listened to me for three years have commented that I'm playing much better than I did a year ago.

A metronome also helps, in that I know that I started playing an exercise at 60 bpm, for example, and have slowly gotten it, click by click, up to 80 or 90. It makes sure that I don't speed up on an easy section then have to slow down for the harder, ring finger notes. If I can play something through at one speed then the next time I practice, I speed it up a notch or two.

Lastly, playing with others helps enormously. You get hauled along with them, and get inspired to go home and practice things that you hear. Just because its a reel doesn't mean you learn it at 100+ bpm.

Good luck!

lixnaw · Post by **lixnaw** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:02 pm

i agree with all the advice above, and my own link below

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:30 pm

Polkas.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 5:01 pm

I would lay odds it's the brain that is slowing down the fingers not your fingers unable to keep up with the brain. Once I learned the music (around 7 years of playing, I would estimate), I don't need to think of finger movements, the tune will move them..

Don't use the tips of the fingers, use the pads and keep the fingers straight (but not stiff). Curled fingers use more muscles in moving and therefore will take longer to move.

Learn the cuts and rolls as that will really speed up your fingers. Once you can think of a tune "vertically" (a gestault?) rather than "horizontally" (a sequence of notes following one another), speed will come automatically.

lesl · Post by **lesl** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 8:30 am

fancypiper wrote:...Once you can think of a tune "vertically" (a gestault?) rather than "horizontally" (a sequence of notes following one another), speed will come automatically.

What's that, please? Vertically? I want to do that.

Cheers, Lesl

skh · Post by **skh** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 8:56 am

lesl wrote:What's that, please? Vertically? I want to do that.

The way I understand it, it is thinking (or feeling) of the phrases that make up a tune as blocks, or patterns, instead of just having a string of notes and breaks that come one after the other.

It is quite easy to perceive a broken chord as a single entity and not as 4 (or 3) single notes. Same with "logical", very common ending patterns. This can be extended so that longer phrases sort of melt together, and the tune becomes a series of these blocks, with heavy and light parts (rhythm), a certain swing and mood, a feeling, and a melody, all in one.

It's a bit difficult to explain, but this is one of the aspects that can't be conveyed with dots, and also why changes in speed and phrasing can give a tune a completely different character. To me.

Sonja

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 9:59 am

I'm with the female tiger--the Bill Hart book Stronger, Better
Faster is a big help. I think that to master the whistle
or flute, especially to increase speed, broken chords,
arpeggios and scales are precisely what's in order.
The book says it's meant largely for people
who feel they aren't progressing as fast as
they would like. Costs about 10 dollars. Best

P.S. I don't think age is an important factor.
Just saw again yesterday two of my old street
singer friends. They're now in their middle sixties
and have improved considerably in the
last three years.

PSS. It's better, stronger, faster, as Tygh says.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:05 am

jim stone wrote:P.S. I don't think age is an important factor.
Just saw again yesterday two of my old street
singer friends. They're now in their middle sixties
and have improved considerably in the
last three years.

What do they use their improved finger dexterity for while singing?

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:14 am

skh wrote:
lesl wrote:What's that, please? Vertically? I want to do that.
The way I understand it, it is thinking (or feeling) of the phrases that make up a tune as blocks, or patterns, instead of just having a string of notes and breaks that come one after the other.

It is quite easy to perceive a broken chord as a single entity and not as 4 (or 3) single notes. Same with "logical", very common ending patterns. This can be extended so that longer phrases sort of melt together, and the tune becomes a series of these blocks, with heavy and light parts (rhythm), a certain swing and mood, a feeling, and a melody, all in one.

It's a bit difficult to explain, but this is one of the aspects that can't be conveyed with dots, and also why changes in speed and phrasing can give a tune a completely different character. To me.

Sonja

This makes complete sense. I was trained originally as a drummer, and the first thing drummer learns are the rudiments, which are phrases of notes. There are 26 standard ones plus dozens of others, and if you learn them all, you will never encounter any passage in music that you have not already practiced and mastered. Music then is simply a combination of rudiments.

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:16 am

jim stone wrote:I'm with the female tiger--the Bill Hart book Stronger, Better
Faster is a big help. I think that to master the whistle
or flute, especially to increase speed, broken chords,
arpeggios and scales are precisely what's in order.
The book says it's meant largely for people
who feel they aren't progressing as fast as
they would like. Costs about 10 dollars. Best

Jim,
Do you know where to get this book? I have looked for a copy for a while without success.
Mike