power chords and wrist pain

[That_Guy]

Takes time to build the finger strength. also try keeping the elbow in tighter to the body

[maryd]

Thanks! Adjusting my elbow helped!

[Kitman]

Hi @maryd , you may also want to try the stretching routine outlined in the Stretching Skills Course before (and maybe) after playing.

[maryd]

Thanks! I took a look and like the suggestions.

[Guitargeezer]

Welcome to TAC @maryd !

Couple of suggestions as you develop more wrist and finger strength of your fretting hand.

There is a great TAC Skill Course about daily stretching exercises that I have found helpful to limber up and strengthen oneself prior to daily playing.

Consider using a simple wrist band brace. That really helps to reduce fatigue and discomfort when learning a barre chord such as the F chord shape.

@That_Guy suggestion is important too. Tony has other suggestions as well in the Barre Chord Skill Course.

Stay with it.

[maryd]

Thank you! I will check out the Barre Chord tips.

[Loraine]

Hi @maryd and welcome to the TAC community. Stop playing if you have pain and ice the wrist for a bit. I played through pain in the past and it led to tendinitis and tennis elbow. I wasn’t able to play guitar for several months while it healed.

Great advice given by others to stretch before and after playing. One way to reduce some tension of power chords is to drop the pinky and just use the other 2 strings..

[maryd]

Good to know. I will be careful not to ignore it.

[Guitargeezer]

Just so happens Tony discussed the guitar player’s pain/injury topic yesterday on his Acoustic Tuesday show.

[Loraine]

👍

[Carol-3M-Stillhand]

@maryd too much tension and poor ergodynamics can result in injury… Lots of great suggestions here already, but I will add a few to the list:

Try doing the exercises/practice with a capo on the 3rd or 4th fret. This lowers the action and makes the frets closer together, both make learning new power chords a bit easier.

To reduce the tension in your fretting hand, try playing without using your fretting thumb on the back of the guitar neck. You will be suprised to see just how little pressure is needed to fret notes cleanly, and leaving your thumb off duty will both rest the thumb and teach you to use minimal pressure to fret notes (less pressure = less tension = better playing)

Whatever you do, always listen to your body. If you are having pain, you are definately over-doing something. Rest, ice, and wrist supports are your friends. I’ve had tendonitis in my fretting hand 2-3 times now, and the urge to play through it will just result in prolonging recovery time. Best wishes!! C

[maryd]

Great insights! Thank you!

[N-lightMike]

hey @maryd ;

Yeah, if you follow all the advice already given you’ll probably be ok. But I wanted to say one thing. It’s already been said in a couple of different ways: different position with your elbow, listen to your body, don’t play through pain, etc.

The one I wanted to add was do your best to keep your wrist in a neutral position. This may be why adjusting your elbow helped. Many times we have our wrist bent at too sharp an angle and at the same time using a lot of finger strength. That will result in pain and injury in a surprisingly short period.

Body position, guitar position, elbow, shoulder, all these and more can affect the attitude of your wrist. Adjust all those things until you have your wrist as straight as possible.

Then practice using as light pressure as possible to get a clean sound. Make sure you don’t employ the “death grip”. If you are getting tired hands and/or forearms, go for short periods of time, giving yourself numerous breaks to relax those muscles.

It will get better. But don’t, as @Loraine said, don’t push through pain. That will really set your guitar progress back.

MG 😀