Question and Answer

It seems to me, this tour must have been pretty gruelling (Oct. to July) with one day off every 4 or 5 or 6. Your hands must cramp up from playing so much. Are there particular exercises you do to help with that?

the physical part of playing is really kind of a non-issue for me 90 percent of the time. (the other 10 percent being the rare times that there is some kind of an injury or strain). i just have to make sure that i warm up each day for an hour or so before the gig. basically i play in a real relaxed way, and as long as i play regularly enough to keep some calluses going on on the tips of my fingers, everything is cool. there is basically no physical strain for me in just playing - and also i have been doing it at roughly this same pace since i was 14 years old - now 30 years! so i am real used to it.