Sore Hand

[Michelle-PSL]

Sorry to hear about your hand pain @MTJack . I am an older player with arthritis and the beginning of carpel tunnel, so I understand. Did you take the TAC hand stretching course (in Skills Courses)? https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/guitar-players-daily-stretch-guide/

You should stretch before and after playing. There are also many great videos on youtube. Also be conscious of how you’re playing. Are you gripping harder than you should?

Daily Stretch For Guitar

[MTJack]

Michelle-PSL

Thank you so much for the information. I have not seen that yet … but will start now. And yes, I am most likely pressing to hard.

[Loraine]

@Michelle-PSL is spot on regarding the stretching @MTJack . Stretch as much as possible to avoid injury. Welcome to TAC, and we hope you enjoy the ride!

[MTJack]

Loraine

Thank you for your input. I will start doing the stretching. In spite of the pain, I am enjoying the journey. I am already hearing music differently.

[Marty73]

Yes @Michelle-PSL is right but you may want to try Australian Dream for back pain. I’ve been using it for years on my hands. I have arthritis on both hands. Rub it into your hands before you practice or play. It’s not greasy and gets absorbed by the skin. If you get some, get the “back pain cream”. It is stronger than the Arthritis Pain Relief Cream. Just my 2 cents. 😊🧙‍♂️😎

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by  Marty73.

[MTJack]

Marty69

I am sorry to read about your hands and am glad you have found something that works. I will give it a try (I can use it on my back as well).

How about those Teskey Brothers!

[jumpinjeff]

Hi @MTJack , as been said by Loraine, Michelle and Marty stretching is key. It was so key in my experience that without it I would have given up long ago. Next time you are playing be aware of when fatigue begins. Take a moment even if only after a minute or two and stretch. The type of stretching I have found most effective is when you stretch for release of tension as opposed to stretching to feel the stretch. Tension releasing stretching is done more slowly and starts the second you feel tension on what ever it is you are targeting. Observe the feel of tension on the muscle, back off just a hair to the point right before you feel tension and wait for the release then apply a hair more tension and wait again and so on. As you are waiting be observant of when you feel the muscles and ligaments relaxing. That is the point at which you begin to add the smallest bit of tension. How you stretch is as important as the stretching movements themselves. Most of what we are targeting are small muscles that are delicate articulate movers. Care must be taken to achieve maximum benefits. It was helpful for me when I started using the technique to imagine silly putty. Slow stretch and you can stretch for miles; fast stretch and you will Snap.

Good luck, hope it helps! Be methodical, have fun.

[MTJack]

Jumpinjeff

Wow! What you have done, and Michelle-PSL, Loraine, and Marty69 as well, is given me information that works for you. And that is what I needed. I find, even at my age, that if I am told I MUST do it one certain way, I tend to not do it. Thank you so much for putting it in easy-to-understand steps.

I am enjoying the journey and can’t let something like pain stop me.

[N-lightMike]

My goodness, @jumpinjeff , I have been stretching for years and have learned the hard way how careful one must be and that slow and mild stretching is better than aggressive stretching. But you have covered this so clearly and precisely that it even helps me understand better how to recognize how to make sure I get the maximum benefit.

@MTJack I was going to add that you needed to be careful when stretching and that you could even stretch during your guitar playing, but then I read jumpinjeff’s comment. You have gotten wonderful advice. From my own experience with stretching, all I can say is you can stretch before you play, during your play, and after your play. As long as you are as careful as jumpinjeff spelled out, you can stretch several times a day as well. You may be surprised how much benefit you will get if you stretch repeatedly throughout the day as long, again, as long as you are not being too aggressive, which is easy to do when you stretching multiple times a day.

MG 😀

[MTJack]

MikeGaurnier

Sage advice. As much as I want this, I need to take it slowly with regards to something as important as my hands.

[Michelle-PSL]

This was a great discussion to start @MTJack ! Now I have a few more weapons in my arsenal thanks to @Marty69 and @jumpinjeff . Australian Dream and slow stretching. Cool! I’m in PT for my carpel tunnel and just learned about diclofenac gel. I’ve just started using it – will see how it goes…

[Kristin1]

Hello @MTJack,

I agree that stretching is very important and do a lot of stretching myself. If I were you, I would also prefer to play a smaller guitar, maybe an OOL and NOT a dreagtnought. Smaller /shorter fretboards – coming along with smaler guitars – are so much easier to navigate without having to stretch the hand to its maximum too often. Maybe even get low oder medium tension strings (Santa Cruz?) to optimize even more. Good luck!

[MTJack]

@Kristin1

Thank you so much for the idea. I have just recently learned that there are different-sized guitars. I am just loving this journey!

[GuitarGeni]

Many good suggestions here. I would also add that I stretch all throughout my guitar playing routine. I used to only stretch before I started playing, but I find it helpful to stop several times at various points throughout and stretch a bit and then resume. YMMV.

[tailsawaggin]

Good suggestions indeed, and I’ll add two more. The first is so obvious it’s easy to overlook, but it’s this — rest. I know we all feel like we want to get good, and we want to keep working at it, and those are good things, but we also have to be reasonable about it. Nobody starts prepping to run a 5k by getting off the couch and running a 5k, after all.

Another thing that helps me with my death grip is staccato playing. By that I mean hold the chord for just one count and let off, so instead of squeeze strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum release, it’s squeeze strum release, squeeze strum release, etc. This does a few good things — it helps build the synch between the left and right hands, it reduces your fretting hand’s time under tension, and it tends to lead to squeezing more gently overall. I think we all respond to buzzes and dead notes by squeezing harder, when what we really need it to squeeze more cleanly.

My US$0.02, hope it’s helpful. 🙂

[Skyman]

The guitar can be key, as well as how you are trying to make your chord shapes. When I first started, my hand position was poor, and caused hand fatigue. Now playing with better hand position, and my new Taylor guitar, I can play/practice for 2 hours without any fatigue. I’m 60 and just started a year ago. I love the Taylor neck. Plays like butter.

[solitaire]

I heard a helpful tip on one of the YouTube videos. To condition the tips of your fingers by (when you are not playing) pushing the nail of the thumb into each fingertip. You can use different patterns of pushing… you can do it anywhere… like if stuck in traffic or walking the dog. It will help speed up the forming of more rigid fingertips. Once you have nice firm pads on the top of your fingers you won’t have to push so hard on the strings to get good clear notes; it even helps with getting clearance from the other strings. This could also bring some relief to your hands. But you got a lot of good advice from all of the others! Well done everyone.