finger strengthening exercises for playing guqin instead of changing guqin or strings

More finger strengthening exercises for playing guqin. hahaha

Regardless of playing with metal-nylon strings or with silk strings, like it or not, playing guqin *is* a strength related activity. Instead of changing strings or changing guqin because of so-called 'playability' issues of the musical instrument, why not simply strengthen the player instead? haha...

Yes, that old fool in the video was silly me doing nine and a half pull-ups on 19 July 2014 Saturday morning in my home in Singapore. haha (Don't worry, it is not NSFW. I did not expose any *dots* 沒有露點, which means it is completely Safe for viewing at work. hahaha)

Day time - finger-strengthening exercises for playing guqin



Night time - finger-strengthening exercises for playing guqin

神农 Shen Nong brand guqin silk strings RMB350

New brand of silk strings available on Taobao. 神农 Shen Nong brand RMB350, seen by me while I was 'window-shopping' on Taobao. It can be purchased by customers outside PRC using www.taobaoring.com You just have to let TaobaoRing.com know about the Shen Nong silk strings' original URL at http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.146.GJM3hP&id=38486315582&ns=1#detail

Customers in Singapore can use the reliable taobao agent (which I have used on numerous occasions) http://www.sgshop.com.sg

Video demonstration of Shen Nong silk strings can be seen at http://v.163.com/paike/V8H1BIE6U/V9U7482JE.html

If anyone has purchased or tried them, please do post a comment? Thanks!

Maestro Wang Long 王珑 playing in Athens, Greece in June 2014

Maestro Wang Long 王珑 playing in Athens, Greece in June 2014.

Very good and strong playing. Enjoy.

Finger strength training for guqin playing

As a guqin player, I finally decided that it was irresponsible, and frankly downright contradictory for my so-called 'self-development' if I continue to neglect my health by eating trashy fast food like ice-cream, fried chicken, beef steaks, hamburgers, lardy sausages, soft drinks, mayonnaise laden foods, and freedom-fries. I was just sick and tired to carrying the obese fatty dead weight around day after day, night after night on my short body frame (1.65m). Apart from stopping my wanton consumption of unhealthy foods, I started drinking oatmeals and eating a lot of vegetables, and also stopped eating foods with refined carbohydrates, such as white rice and noodles. haha

So, I wondered, what kind of exercise could benefit both my body and my guqin playing? Why, something that strengthens my fingers, of course! Pull-ups. But there was a problem. I was already 41 years old. Two months ago, I could not do a single pull-up. I also had a fractured finger on my right hand, a souvenir from my national service in the Singapore Army more than 20 years ago. hahaha... But no matter. I bought a portable pull-up bar and started struggling on the pull-up bar every single day. I am happy to report that 2 months later, I can currently eke out 7 pull-ups. I have also realized that my fingers could play the guqin with much less effort, and I could control the strength of my hands to play certain notes softer or louder, as well as manipulate the speed and rhythm of my fingers on both metal-nylon strings and silk guqin strings much better now. Yes, like it or not, guqin playing is a strength-related activity. The stronger you muscles are, the more flexible you become. The ancients probably only ate meat once a year during Chinese New Year (if they were lucky). Now we can eat KFC everyday. No wonder many people in modern society are obese. hahaha

Obesity is just yucks. I hated the obese me. Dear friends, if you consider yourself to be a serious guqin player, please stop eating trashy foods and start exercising! If you consider yourself to be just a so-called 'casual' guqin player (also what people on the Interwebs refer to as a 'poser'), then you may continue doing what you want and continue to stuff your face and gorge yourself silly. Who cares about you? hahaha (This may sound harsh, but I hope the reverse psychology is working! hahaha)

Oh yeah, the stupid fool in the Youtube video was silly old me. haha