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Exactly right. It's not just isolated to karate or any martial arts. Any kind of sport/activity that requires dexterity and speed, the more tense your muscles are, the less effective you'll be. I play golf and in the beginning I thought to hit the ball far, I have to "grip it and rip it". I was shocked to my core when my teacher told me to relax and swing easy. More consistent, and I hit it as far or even further. With guitar playing, the only tense part of my fretting hand are the fingers (when I'm barring chords). But forearm and wrist are loose. It's why I have the guitar up higher than some. Having the guitar too low when I'm standing up just tenses up my whole left arm from the elbow down.

There is little in the guitar world for these issues; they are physiological and mental. There is help, however, in breathing exercises, for relaxation, yoga, for same, and wellness stuff such as thinking hard about coffee, smoking and/or alcohol consumption. Short sessions, with a complete break between (pop out for a stroll or a run between sessions..?), Use a warm-up routine, every time. Vary the exercises, so as not to concentrate on any one thing for too long. For longer pieces, break it down into shorter sections, and learn/practice them starting from the end. Once the end section is perfect (and not before...) learn/practice the preceding section, and continue through to the end, which is now familiar territory. Once these two sections are perfect (and not before...) work on the preceding section, play through to the end (already familiar...) etc. Every time, you're playing into sections that are already well rehearsed, and so relaxation, comfort and confidence are assured. The sections can be as short as you wish (Four bars..? A whole phrase..? Half a page, or a whole one..?); it depends on the piece, but small is OK. Hope some of this helps. Douglas

Those guys make it sing!

You mention 'fast position and chord changes'. My single piece of advice would be to solve this issue by doing things slowly. Slow is the new fast. Slow is the fastest way to do fast. Whatever it is you're wanting to do, do it slowly, preferably with a metronome, or whatever you use for tempo, but set it to slow. Do whatever it is you are wanting to do, slowly, for a while (two, three weeks..? Every day, for ten-fifteen minutes..? Slowly..!). Once it can be done, slowly, well, up the tempo a little. No, just a little (60 bpm becomes 65 bpm, for example...) do this, regularly, for another 'while', and once you've become proficient at it, up the tempo a tad more (65 becomes 70..?). Repeat; if, after a 'while' it's still not smooth, clean, easy, go back down a tad with the tempo and repeat. It is useful, and recommended, to start from the original 'slow' tempo now and again, for a day or so, working back up to one's current tempo, as a refresher. Always with the metronome, or whatever you use for tempo. This is the way to obtain whatever speed one wants, and is the guaranteed fastest way. Is there a downside..? Yes, it requires a large bucketful of Patience. Those without this essential accessory will not achieve their goal, so be sure to have that bucket, and keep it well topped up. It is of no advantage to do this for hours on end, nor too many times a day, but if time permits, a couple or three sessions of 10-15 minutes (no more...) may be permitted. The key is in the regularity (every day...), in the keeping the tempo slow (hence the metronome or equivalent...) and the Patience. It cannot, and never does, fail. Douglas

Looks totally fantastic. But I do find it a little odd though why such amazing craftsmen 'custom build' high quality guitars but still stick to the tried and trusted designs from 70 years ago rather than their own styles. I can appreciate why a customer might want the best that the design can offer, but there must be plenty of custom shop models that do that (although I haven't ever had the money available to splash out on such so haven't looked in detail). As a fully fledged craftsman, does it feel a little like selling your soul to build these rather than a new design to show off your skills...?