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Hi Drew. I was looking for a little clarification on the RHs from your book, but I'm afraid this didn't do it. Maybe it's the fact that I'm sick and not really thinking straight, but I'm still unclear on how they should be utilized. I think I'm missing what this blog was a response to.

If I make no sense, or the answer should be obvious, forgive me. My body is trying to come down with the flu and my mind is fighting it.

The hand groups are of interest to me now, though, because it's something that my teacher is trying to get across in a different way, and I guess I'm at a loss how to practice them specifically...

Oh well, that was muddled enough. I'll stop now.

Thank you again for your blogs. :)

Tara,

I am not totally sure of your question, but will be happy to respond more if you wish.

Basically the Rep Hits are all about developing the free throw of the fingers from the knuckles having set up the measurement ahead of time — much of which is done with opening and closing the knuckles, palm and fingers along with the varying of angles depending upon the combination of strings and finger sequences or patterns. In essence, if something changes we must adjust accordingly — sort of keeping on our toes, or fingertips:-)

The freedom of throw must be dead accurate, "bulls eyes," hence the measuring/setting up ahead of time — we hear it in our mind, measure and prepare the move, playing by touch before we hear the sound coming out of the instrument. If not as accurate and balanced as desired, the Repetition Hits will develop this.

The additional bonus which is vastly important is that we do not lift the finger off, but rather rhythmically release and the finger pops off of its own accord. This release is a constant relaxing and freeing of the finger, hand and arm and therefore the fingers gain incredible agility, energy and strength without fatigue. There is absolutely no need to squeeze and pulverize the string into the fingerboard.

I hope to do more on the Hand Groups/Interval Patterns soon.

Hope this helps and I trust you are feeling much better.
Drew

Thank you. That mostly answered what I meant to ask. The other part is how exactly to work them into practice.

In the blog, the part about "doing arpeggios with RHs" caught my eye, because I'm having particular difficulty with intonation there. How would I practice using Repetition hits. I can understand how to use them with the hand groups, I guess I've had trouble going any further. (And I'm only looking at RHs on page 7 of your book. Other than there and the glossary, is there more to them in the book?)

Thank you again. I get so much out of your blogs, and appreciate your time answering questions. (Especially such basic ones.)