Steve Vai on Hand Health!

Interstring longterm review :slight_smile:
That track at the end, inspiring!

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The song is incredible. He sounds so fresh when there is no two-handed tapping and he is not constantly grabbing the safety handle (whammy). For years I’ve wanted to hear something like this from him. Damn that was good.

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So true, it’s a fantastic track without the annoying wiggly and tapping bits :joy:

That was just pure gold. The advice and the song! And I’m not into shred at all.

Side note, his pinky finger is almost as big as my index finger…

I Agree, that’s the best thing I have heard in a long time!
I like how he plays the changes too

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I did a video like this too, when I was recovering from shoulder surgery around the time I signed up here, playing legato only without the use of my picking hand.

It was, um, rather less good, and I will NOT be subjecting anyone to it. :rofl:

I figure he’s gotta be using some sort of sustainer pedal here, but it’s still absolutely mind-bending.

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massive guffaw at footage of the doctor pulling on his tendon

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I laughed pretty hard at the {gives thumbs up} ā€œOW!ā€ and the single strum at the end into a {muffled curse} ā€˜hope the doc didn’t see that’

I really like Steve, he’s fun to listen to and the stories he has… my god.

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He’s my favorite guitar player. :slight_smile:

Would love to know what you all do for hand health in regards to guitar playing. Stretches, warm ups, cool downs, anyone care to share? Any medical professionals able to shed insight on correctly taking care of our hands for longevity?

My current understanding is that you want to keep the wrist straight as much as possible while playing.

Sometimes a bit of wrist flexion might be unavoidable (e.g. big stretches), but it should be straight most of the time.