Sather

So you are sitting at home, pick up your guitar, and start to practice the newest Metallica song you have been working on, when all of a sudden your fingers start to get stiff after just 5 minutes of playing. This is a common problem that many new and old guitarists face, often unaware of why sometimes they can play for hours at a time, but others times they may only be able to play for a few minutes before their fingers get stiff or sore. This is because your abilities will never stay constant, and will change depending on your state of mind and your body at any given time. One thing you can do to minimize these fluctuations however is to warm up your fingers before trying to play. Yes, it sounds silly to warm up to play guitar, but rock stars do it before a concert, so why shouldn't you?

So exactly how do we go about warming up to play the guitar? It may seem like an odd thing to do, but there really are some great exercises you can do, with and without your guitar. In order to stretch and loosen your hand muscles without the guitar, you can often use a grip master or something squishy such as a tennis ball to squeeze for one or two minutes, to get blood flowing. This is a great way to loosen up your hands every time you play. You can also massage your hands together for a minute or two to loosen them up. The main idea is to get the blood flowing in your hands before you begin playing, enabling you to play longer and better. As for stretching, it is good to stretch each of your fingers one at a time, by pushing each one back and holding it for a couple of seconds. Go up and down both hands doing this a couple of times. Now your hands should begin to feel pretty lose and ready to play.

Now that your fingers are ready, you can warm up with the guitar to get your fingers, hands, and whole body loosened up. One way to warm up with the guitar is to just jam. While you jam, start slowly, practicing switching between chords, and picking single notes, then gradually pick up your speed. Some people prefer to jam to their favorite song or album. Whatever you do, just have fun with it, and focus on loosening up not just your fingers, but your whole body. Just get loose! You can also search online for some more structured chord or note progressions to help loosen up, it is up to you to find what works best.

There are other many more ways that you can get loose to play, just remember that something is better than nothing. Try not to ever pick up and start playing your guitar cold. I would recommend checking out our mini course for some more great info to improve your guitar abilities.

Jonathan Heusman has been gone from a beginner guitarist to a bonified rocker. He aims to share his guitar knowledge to help others learn anything and everything about guitars. You can find his free Mini Course at Guitar Mini Course

So you've heard about the benefits of noni juice and want to try it for yourself. Good decision! But if you've spent any time at all looking for it online, you'll have discovered that there is a bewildering array of manufacturers and distributors out there, all claiming that theirs is the best. So how do you know where to begin? This article gives a few pointers to help you choose the best product for you.

You might have to try a few brands

First of all, realise that there is no one brand that is absolutely superior; there are several companies that all produce very high quality juice (Tahitian and otherwise). And if you try a few of them, you will probably develop your own preference. So don't worry too much about buying the 'perfect' juice first time around - if you can narrow the selection down to the few really excellent brands, you won't be going far wrong.

See what others are saying

Many people have experienced benefits from drinking the juice, and are sharing their experiences online. They share their bad experiences too, so if you want to know more about a particular brand before buying, trying Googling for reviews. But bear in mind that there will always be some people who have a bad experience with any product, so a few bad reviews don't necessarily mean that a product (or a company's service) is inferior - but a lot of bad reviews might.

Read the label - looks for pure noni juice

Make sure you only buy juice that is 100% or 99% pure (about 1% natural flavouring or preservative such as citric acid is ok). You won't get the benefits if you buy watered down 'drinks', which are full of water, other fruit juices, sugar, synthetic flavorings and other fillers.

Is it organic?

Not all good quality noni juice is organic, but those that are organically produced have an edge in that harmful pesticides and other chemicals are minimized.

Check out the site's policies

Beyond the quality of the product itself, all the normal precautions when buying online apply. Does the site have a clear refund policy? Are shipping costs made clear? Are there any hidden costs? What are the payment options? Do they use a secure server to process card payments? Can you return the juice if you're dissatisfied? Is it easy to get in contact with them? Try sending a query by email and seeing how quickly they respond. If you don't get a reply within a couple of days (or within the stated response time, if there is one), be wary.

How is the juice packaged?

Some people prefer to buy noni juice that is packaged in glass rather than plastic bottles, because of the possibility that the juice may leach harmful chemicals if the bottles aren't made from an inert plastic. Personally this is not a deal-breaker for me, but if this is an issue that concerns you, be aware than many of the high quality brands do use plastic bottles (particularly if you buy in bulk).

What kind of claims are they making?

Reputable sellers will outline the benefits that noni juice can have, but they do not claim that it is a miracle worker, or a cure all. It is just a food supplement, or perhaps a 'superfood', that has had beneficial effects for many people - often quite dramatically so. But such positive experiences should not be presented as typical, nor should it be guaranteed to have any effect at all.

Bear the above points in mind when buying, so you can avoid the rip-offs and identify the high quality juices that are more likely to benefit you!

Sara Buckingham is a natural health enthusiast who has spent a large part of her life investigating both modern and age-old holistic health practices. She is especially interested in the properties of noni juice, and has created a site on the subject at The Noni Juice Review