Podcast Episode #55 Playing Through It: Hayes Griffin's Injury, Warm-Ups & Practice Priorities

Hayes Griffin and Magnus Zetterlund get together for a candid episode about practice rooms, warm-ups, and a story Hayes has been waiting to tell.

Hayes shares how a simple car-cleaning moment left him with a mallet finger injury just weeks before Winfield, and how he turned the recovery into a creative exploration of one-finger playing inspired by Mick Goodrick.

They dig into Hayes’s pick slanting journey, economy picking patterns taught by Beppe Gambetta, and Magnus’s double-stop approach to jazz standards.

The community weighs in on what they're practicing, from Scottish repertoire to Vivaldi and Jethro-inspired jazz, and the pair debate warm-up routines and the value of centering yourself before you play.

Resources & Links
Visit our website for more episodes:
https://mandolinsecrets.com/podcast

Mandolin Secrets Academy:
https://www.mandolinsecrets.com/academy

Hayes’s Guitar Club:
https://www.hayesgriffin.club

Opening & Catch-Up

• Magnus's Stratocaster era: a Stratocaster bought about a year ago, a "midlife crisis" that reconnects him with his teenage self
• Hayes's baseball cap collection and returning to his roots
• Hayes's reignited interest in electric guitar and Paul Gilbert-style speed playing after pronation and supination work
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Practice Priorities

• Hayes: pick slanting as the main focus, plus guide-tone lines through jazz changes
• Magnus: a double-stop approach to jazz standards, targeting the third and seventh on each string pair
• Magnus's first real jazz gig in October, with standards such as "Nuages," "Out of Nowhere," "Moon River," and "Someday My Prince Will Come"
• Reference to Jethro Burns and Tiny Moore's "Back to Back" album

Hayes's Injury: Mallet Finger

• Injured while scraping a car seat before trading in his old car for a Toyota Camry
• Tendon snapped at the last knuckle of his middle finger, leaving it unable to straighten
• Doctor's advice: keep it straight for about eight weeks; the tendon reattaches through scar tissue
• Winfield was six weeks away, so the injury meant missing the festival
• Hayes credits mindfulness, meditation, and therapy for handling the setback calmly

Playing Through Recovery

• Inspired by Mick Goodrick's "disadvantage exercise" from The Advancing Guitarist, found via Adam Levy's String Theories
• Practiced scales and melodies on one string with one finger, then with pinky and other fingers
• Explored drone notes and cross-picking to build full-sounding arrangements with limited fingers
• Hayes's doctor encouraged keeping the hand moving to aid healing (tendons have few blood vessels)
• Hayes notes the influence of Indian classical mandolin and wide slide techniques

Practice Priorities

• Magnus: pick slanting (main focus), plus guide-tone lines through jazz changes. Working on a double-stop approach to jazz standards, targeting the third and seventh of each chord on each string pair
• Magnus’s jazz gig in October with standards such as "Nuages," "Out of Nowhere," "Moon River," and "Someday My Prince Will Come"
• Reference to Jethro Burns and Tiny Moore's "Back to Back" album
• Looping with the Loopy HD app for backing tracks

Economy Picking

• Beppe Gambetta's economy picking challenge for Hayes.
• Two patterns: down-down-up and down-up-up (triplet feel), both rest strokes
• Katerina Lichtenberg's triplet work at Swannanoa Gathering
• Magnus explains how pick slanting and supinated wrist create efficient upstrokes
• Plans for a possible pick slanting course for mandolin players

Community Practice Room Answers

• Chris: Scottish repertoire up to session speed before a Glasgow trip
• Tim: Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in C major (half memorized)
• David: two-five-ones in all keys with a "Magnus 7-9 lick"
• Christian: jazz tunes ("Swing 39," "All of Me," "Nuages," "Take Five," "Ornithology," "Jeru") and "The Leaving of Liverpool"

Warm-Ups & Routines

• Jimmy shared hand-stretching videos; Hayes focuses on strengthening and resistance work instead of intense stretching
• Magnus recommends a centering routine before playing, such as breathing and mindset, which helps you stay in control of your practice
• Don't make your warm-up so rigid that you skip practice: five minutes beats none

Family Music

• Hayes's seven-year-old daughter's favorite phrase: "Guitar, mandolin, mandolin"
• The family is getting into drums, and Hayes's son Victor is showing interest in bass

Closing Thoughts

• Life's challenges as learning opportunities: "something is not happening to you, you are learning something"
• Hayes's fear of not playing, and his conclusion that he would find a way to make music, even if it meant learning trumpet