Heya mate,
Are you warming up? Thats important, I know these can be classed as warm up exercises, but if you're breaking bad habits and changing lots of things, you may need to slow down a little and have a nice paced warmup.
I look at playing guitar the same way I do my workout training, cycling, swimming etc - any repeated actions under 'resistance' breaks down muscles, pushes the limits of random used parts of your body and requires a rest in order to recouperate.
Guitar is no different, a sudden pain is (undoubtedly) a sign to stop immediately, an ache is a warning that you're not letting yourself recover...
However it could also simply be fatigue - think about that time you had to run much further than you ever had before... You have to develop stamina, increased blood circulation etc, which comes with time and practise.
Rule of thumb - if there's BIG pain, don't play.... rest and recover
If it aches after a short period, lower your routine, play slower and more varied to build up your stamina and strength.
Kris has some cool tips scattered throughout his tutes, and there's lots in the forum about staying safe while playing so you're in safe hands as long as you're sensible about it.
(my training routine when I haven't played seriously in a while is simple, I pick up the guitar after breakfast and run a few warm ups, nice and slow, a couple of scale improves, slow bends, slides, hammers and pulls and put it down in the middle of something nice.
Then later, (I work from home) pick it up during a much needed break from the screen and to give my programmer hands a break from typing... more warm ups, maybe run a few riffs off to fill time, try a new idea... put it down
Then later repeat... 15-30mins each time...
then about 7pm go for the practise, pick a song I'm learning, work on things I'm bad at... about an hour or maybe two on a quiet night..)
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