Everyday I sit down to play I like to take some time to work on basics/warm-up etc. Typically I do basically rolls with some work on chord transitioning/playing through beginner songs. I would like to hear what everyone else does to warm-up before trying to tackle something new. I’ve seen a book online pertaining to these hand-exercises and warm-ups by jack hatfield and thought it be worth a shot? Does anyone have any experience reading/working through that?
Daily Warm-ups
I usually warm up with a variety of songs I already know.
Now, if I were more regimented in my practicing, I’d spend the time learning all of my chords up and down the neck. There is great value in knowing every place you can make a specific chord, but for some reason, I can’t seem to make myself take the time to learn it.
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I’m like Mark I usually play something I know really well. Your method of picking through chords actually gave me an idea. It would be helpful for me to roll through all the tonic chords in a key, walking to each chord. I have issues walking from chord to chord on the fly while playing backup.
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Very true! I love to play and feel like I structure my practice sessions fairly well with spending some time warming up, working on mechanics here and there for 20min or so, and then for the rest of the time playing through new pieces and some rehearsing of older pieces. I play for stress relief though so I try not to take my practice/playing too serious to the point of micro-managing or getting frustrated. At the end of the day I’m just happy to have something fun to do 
That’s a great way to look at it. I had kind of a bad day yesterday and I pulled out my guitar last night and it made me forget about a lot of my worries for a while. It can be frustrating though if you let it.
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Sorry to hear you had a bad day. But glad you had fun picking! I play guitar whenever I need to blow off steam.
That’s a great attitude!
Wash your hands in hot soapy water, then your good to go.
As for Jack’s book I haven’t seen that but I would recommend Alan Munde’s Banjo Workout DVD it certainly helped me alot. These are a series of exercises to help you stretch your finger muscles
This can work, especially for those of you in cold climates, just make sure to wash and dry quickly, cuz leaving your hands in water too long dries them out which makes slides painful