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Finger positioning for chords
I have early signs of arthritis and I am really struggling to get a good arch in my fingers to play chords. Does anyone know of any exercises that may help please.
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4 Replies
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I don’t suffer from arthritis but know their are several here that can chime in.
Have you seen the warmup routine in the skills courses? I’ll post that below. But there are also ways to play chords with only 1 or 2 fingers while only striking 3 strings, you might consider this approach. Of course there are many TAC challenges that are built around the ten or so open chords that beginners typically learn first (C, D, D-, E, E-, E7, G, A, A-, A7) so use your discretion about which open chord shapes you might want to put on the back burner for now if you want to try out this alternative.
Daily Stretch for Guitar – https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/guitar-players-daily-stretch-guide/
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Welcome to our picking world. I use CDB cream To relieve the pain. Also Chinese metal hand exercise balls and a Therapeutic squeeze ball. All of these help enough that I have fair to good dexterity most days. 10 – 20 minutes a day when I wake up and before bed at night.
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I once saw a paraplegic while attending a Giant’s baseball game bussing outside of the stadium using his toes to play a slide guitar. I was amazed at his will to play and was happen and honored to contribute to his guitar case fund. Never say never was the lesson I took away from that.
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I feel your pain. I’m struggling with the same issues-arthritis in my wrists and stiff fingers. I’m just now picking up my guitar after God only knows how long it’s been. Back in my youth, I had no trouble reaching any 3-finger chords that I knew. I could play C, G, G7, and D7 pretty well. I never played with my pinky. But, now I’m struggling mightily reaching the C, G, and G7 with 3 fingers.
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