Warming up is something that you really should do before you start playing the guitar.
It is important that you are able to get yourself in the right disposition physically, emotionally and mentally before you start playing the guitar.
Yes, you read that right.
It's not only the physical aspect that you have to think about when it comes to warming up.
You also have to consider getting yourself in the mood to play some guitar.
Getting yourself in the right disposition will greatly help you in becoming the best guitar player in the whole world, in your own mind at the least.
As mentioned earlier, musical warming up is as important as physical warming up.
You don't really have to go to extremes and get all worked up with the musical warm up.
All you need to do is to simply have fun with the music that you are playing.
That's right.
You have to jam to the music.
In this way, you do not only physically warm up your fingers and get you in the right mood to play some awesome riffs on the guitar.
You can start out really easy.
You can cover some songs or simply improvise.
You can do some lead, simple riffs or grooves.
It all depends on what type of music you will be playing tonight.
You will notice that you will gradually be able to increase your speed and get a stronger vibrato as you go along.
The bends will be a lot easier to do as well.
You will have to draw your energy from the music into your fingers.
That's the idea when you musically warm up before playing.
Many guitar players musically warm up before they go on stage.
Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme admits to keeping a small drum kit in their dressing room.
He confesses that he and the drummer jam to some tunes while they prepare for their gig.
He says that the jam starts out really nice and slow then gradually builds up.
He also fesses up to the fact that they have a lot of fun and end up really "out of control".
There are a lot of riffs that you can use to musically warm up your fingers.
One of them is the immortal song from Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze".
It has a really nice, slow pace and some riffs that will help you in some shifting on your left hand.
It also gives you some practice on string bending.
Another song that can be useful to your warm up is "I'll Stick Around" by Foo Fighters.
It is a bit faster than Hendrix but focuses more on the use and shifting of barre chords.
When it comes to picking speed, you can take "One" by Metallica.
You don't really have to play the entire song.
As mentioned earlier, you can simply play along with some parts, doing some covers or coming up with your own riff.
You don't have to get all serious.
You simply have to get yourself in the mood for playing and enjoy the warm up as well.
It will be really great to be able to get you in the right mood to play.
All you need is the right music to jam to and you're good to go.