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Posted by: steve25 Jul 13 2007, 11:43 AM

Today while trying to play i've noticed i;m getting a left hand ache at the left side of my wrist is this normal? It doesn't hurt yet but it's just really uncomfortable do you think i should just stop playing for a day or so? I haven't changed my playing ways at all and this is the first time it's happened. It's as if i've had my hand in an awkward position for an hour or so but all i've been doing is just playing guitar.

Posted by: muris Jul 13 2007, 11:50 AM

You should probably take a small break when you notice pain like that.
Important is to get warm-up before playing or practicing.
Otherwise you may hurt yourself pretty bad and be out of shape for some time.

Posted by: Robin Jul 13 2007, 12:47 PM

Indeed.


I've also had some pain in my fingers/wrists, a couple of days rest is good.

Posted by: steve25 Jul 13 2007, 03:31 PM

Ok well i'm at work this weekend anyway so i guess i can go today with out guitar.... only just though

Posted by: Travelin' Man Jul 13 2007, 04:03 PM

I noticed, playing the scales, that my picking wrist is starting to hurt. Is this normal? Maybe its due to spending over an hour on practicing?

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jul 13 2007, 04:24 PM

Ok, I'm going to jump right in here ...

I'm expecting the younger guys will start in with popsts saying they practice 93 hours a day and get no pain I suspect that its a lot easier when you are younger to practice and play for longer periods of time. I'm 40, and radically increasing the amount of playing I did about a year ago has given me some problems in this area.

It pays to be careful here - an hour isn;t a lot of practice by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a lot if this is somehting you ahven;t done a lot of recently, and as we get older it gets harder to pick up new stuff, the body is less flexible etc.

So, be careful, if you get pain taht isn;t just straight forward tiredness then rest or you could harm yourself!

Posted by: steve25 Jul 13 2007, 04:33 PM

Are you trying to say i'm old Andrew! no but seriously i know what you mean. I hadn't been practicing for that long i think what it was is i didn't do any warm ups or i haven't been doing warmups and started practicing you know my speed limit trying to get faster that might have caused pain so i'm leaving it for the weekend for my wrist to heal

Posted by: mattacuk Jul 13 2007, 04:36 PM

Hey dudes,
I noticed this thread because as some GMC members will remember ive been complaining of "left hand ach" for months. After a chat with Kris i decided to shuffle my routine around!

I used to start of with doing an hours sweep-picking to metronome and I found by the time i got to my alternate picking practice my left hand ached so bad i was often forced to give up the session premature.

Not only did my left hand ache but my index finger started locking up into "U-shape"

I really couldnt see what i was doing wrong as my playing sounded great, and i was doing everything ive been told to do!

Anyway, Now i start of my session with some gentle improvisation - I generally start of playing gently and slowly build the speed of my chops up.

Then I move onto my Alternate picking practice which is done at a faster pace.

The last part of my session i go all out on Sweep arpeggios by which time my hand now feels warm and ready!

Ive found my left hand ache has dropped to almost nothing! So what im trying to say is, just take a look at your own routine and see if your going too fast - too soon!

P.S Im 26 so im about Kris's age i think?

Posted by: Travelin' Man Jul 13 2007, 04:50 PM

Thats so true Andrew....'specially since arthritis has attacked my old body.
My 1st attempt at learning guitar was put on hold when I was younger, and I refuse to let something else get in my way now. Call me stubborn, or just an old gov't mule, but a little pain wont stop me...just a respite now and than..thnx for the incite on aging

Posted by: jeff Jul 13 2007, 04:51 PM

Anytime you feel pain in your wrist you should hit yourself in the knee with a hammer. You'll forget all about your wrist pain and you can continue to practice.

Seriously though, what do you guys do when you say you "warm up" before you practice? Do you mean you do some kind of wrist or hand stretching? I have always just grabbed the guitar and started playing. I get "warmed up" as I go and after an hour or so, I am nimble enough to play fairly well.

Posted by: mattacuk Jul 13 2007, 06:54 PM

jeff, i improvise over a backing track to get warmed up. I cant go straight into speed picking / sweeping without it!

Posted by: MickeM Jul 13 2007, 07:07 PM

My post is going to be slightly off track here but I just noticed how weak my hands were. I've been doing some blue collar labor here at home lately, carpenting, and my wrists and fingers have been aching ...not from striking my fingers with the hammer... well that too but anyway.
My work is like 8 hours by a laptop, or I rather extended it to 9 hours caus of this forum steals some time and this work doesn't really strengthen the muscles.
But after my carpenting, digging holes, moving rocks around, pulling up stubs (no it's not a summer job, I'm too old for that, it's gardening and "vacation") for a period of time now, like a little every night for a months time, I can feel my hands getting bulked. Like I had to take off the wedding ring since it went from lose to being too tight.
And after all this I have been thinking I couldn't be able to play with my hands and fingers becoming rough... On the contuary, I havn't practiced any of the lessons lately (no time) but I picked up the guitar to play some old stuff and boy... speed, accuracy and stamina has increased while doing no practice at all, just hard labor.

So I'm definitly (after rebuilding is finished) set up my old gym and start lifting weights again. I found that hand and finger strength is one key.

Posted by: funkymilk Jul 14 2007, 01:13 AM

Haha MickeM, that cool, maybe i should get my butt out off the sofa and start building some muscles too.

Posted by: kahall Jul 14 2007, 03:07 AM

44 here and I have experienced lots of aches and pains in my 10 weeks of playing. First it was my wrist, then my left hand fingers, then by back and recently I was having really bad headaches from being too tense and not breathing (enough) when practicing I guess or it could be from practicing with headphones on. I am in pretty decent shape considering what I put my body through in my 20's partying, and I attend the gym for an hour about 4 days a week. The doc I went to wanted to do an MRI for the headaches but I held off once I found out how much that could cost me and thought it they may be related to my new hobby. So I started a routine of 1 mg of xanex, 6 beers and a shot of tequila before practicing and man does it work.... just kidding.



Actually I can't really drink anymore (much) so I just make sure I am way cool (damb work stress!) before and during practice now and the pains are becoming less and less. The pains were not that bad except for the headaches but even they are not as severe or long lasting as they were a week ago. Still I can do no more than 1.5 - 2 hours before the bod says "hey man go do something else like mow the yard, sort your socks or hit the gym." So don't forget to breathe dammit! or dogoneit if that is not allowed. It's a cliche but it really does suck getting older but of course it is better than the alternative.

Posted by: jeff Jul 14 2007, 03:57 AM

Got ya Matt. I smell what you're stepping in. I need to work on that because I have a tendancy to jump right in full speed and I should warm it up a little first. thanks for the advice!

Posted by: mattacuk Jul 14 2007, 09:24 AM

Im glad i was of use to someone The longer and slower the "build up" the better for sure!

BTW, you can wipe your shoe of on the grass

Posted by: Hungus Jul 25 2007, 04:07 AM

If the problem persists I would sugest buying something like this: http://www.zillion.co.nz/listing/3676672/
When I was working on an orchard last year doing purning I had some major problems with my hands. My whole hand and wrist would ach and my fingers would feel tight and sore even all the way up my forearm got quite sore and tense. Eventually I decided I needed to do something about it because it was getting pretty bad and then I read about these gyroscopic balls and decided to buy one. They are pretty easy to use and the resistence is set entirely by you so you can have a really mellow workout with one or you can push it really fast (which is bloody hard, you will feel like arms gonna fall off after a couple of minutes). Im kinda rambling now and lost my train of thought but basically my point was that it is extremely helpful for recovering from hand injury and I also felt it gave me a great advantage having fairly strong hands before I started playing guitar.



p.s. if you do buy one dont get put off if you struggle to use it properly at 1st because the technique can be difficult to get down and the coordination needed to use it with your left hand is pretty difficult also.

Posted by: ibanezkiller Jul 25 2007, 04:23 AM

That happend to me when i started playing live probably because i was nervious... just relax your hand.

Posted by: kjutte Jul 26 2007, 06:55 PM

I can play play a whole day without feeling a thing. Played 9 hours in a row last saturday. If you're feeling musclerelated plain, you should practise really hard, relax one day, practise really hard again, etc, till you won't feel any pain. fingermuscles are just the same as real workouts, the muscles needs time to improve, and they do that when they relax.