[petelanger]

Go easy in the beginning, while you’re body is getting used to holding your instrument and attempting to activate muscles in ways they never have before!

Link to warmup stretches: https://tonypolecastro.com/courses/guitar-players-daily-stretch-guide/

[Wenda]

Thanks for the reply. It hurts enough that I can’t play more than 10 minutes.

The left wrist hurts the most. I’m a small person, so I have trouble reaching the right place as it is.

[jorgemac]

The more you play the more you learn to minimize un needed arm and wrist action.

One the the ways i learned to easily find the right string to pick and the notes to actually strum was by having my Pinky(when not using it) lightly anchor on the top of the guitar right below, or sometimes touching the treble E string. It helped me to only use the amount of arm and wrist motion needed at that moment of picking. I do practice a lot with my eyes closed and have kind of developed a “feeling” for picking he right string with having to look at it. All of it takes time.

i also try to warm up using the therapeutic squeeze ball and the Chinese metal balls a few times a week.

[Wenda]

Thanks for your reply.

The right wrist hurts worst. I feel like I am wrapping around the guitar neck.

I can’t play more than 10 minutes before it gets really bad.

[Skyman911]

Are both wrists sore? Where in the wrists do you feel the pain? I can’t say I’ve ever had my wrists get sore from playing. I’m curious what may be going on.

[petelanger]

I didn’t have wrist pain either but I believe it depends on body posture, how you hold your guitar and how long you play without a break. I always kept my sessions short early on.

[Wenda]

Thanks for the reply.

The left wrist hurts worst. I feel like I am trying to wrap around the guitar in order to reach the right place.

[petelanger]

@Wenda you might try adjusting your arm position so it puts less stress on the wrist. Play around with your neck height and the position with respect to your body(imagine a line that runs from shoulder to shoulder, where is the guitar neck relative to this line, Is it parallel? On a sharp angle forward or backward? You want to have the guitar close to the body but perhaps not too close. Try to find that position where you are in a good balance while reaching up and down the neck.

With the height, maybe horizontal neck is not ideal for you right now; as you are learning to get comfortable with your guitar it’s ok to bring things closer and more approachable and you can bring those tuning knobs closer to eye level? Play around with positions until you find something that works best.

Do watch the stretching courses that Tony put together.

[vinny-m-327]

Sometimes mine are sore. I find myself with a death grip and a sharper angle of my wrist. I have been working with a lighter grip, straighter wrist with my palm more parallel to the neck as well as closer.

[petelanger]

This ^^^^ !

So true, the death grip, did this as well and while it wasn’t causing a sore wrist, it is detrimental to playing. When we’re learning we have a tendency to press very hard, trying to eliminate the buzzing or thuds. Getting the finger closer to the fret wire means less pressure will still work. We need to find that sweet spot where it’s a clean note but minimum pressure. This is still something I focus on everyday, because I still press to hard when making certain chords, like the D major.

[gmhendersonme-com]

Sometimes we’re just not built for certain activities. Aside from technique to minimize discomfort, there are people whose wrists and elbows ( either through genetics or trauma ) just would bend certain ways without a lot of stretching or twisting of certain tendons and ligaments. If this is the case, it may be useful to hold the guitar in a more classical fashion, with the neck angled upwards. This may also require a repositioning of the body of the guitar, but it certainly puts the neck at a more favourable angle to minimize the left arm and wrist bending.

[jorgemac]

Thumb placement on the back of the neck also affects the angle of your wrist. I usually like to strum and pick, in practice sessions, with my right leg crossing my left knee and leaning back away from the guitar Face. I use a well supported office style chair with lumbar support and a head rest and the back of my head almost touching the adjustable head rest. The guitar position is at about a 30 degree and away from my stomach area. It is not flat up against my body.

I’m 6′ 2″ with fairly long arms. I am not bent over looking at the fret board, staining my upper shoulders. My arms and wrists are loose, not tense. My arm is coming over the fret board between the strap button area and the upper curve of the the top of the guitar high up on my forearm. My elbow is not touching the top of my guitar.

My pinky finger is either touching the guitar top or close to touching the top and moves with the rest of my hand when I am strumming chords lightly touch the guitar top. When needing to keep time that pinky will sometimes tap the guitar top for a light percussive tone. Almost all of my 4 and 5 fret barre chord thumb position is close to the middle of the neck back and when I fret past the 5th fret is slowly creeps down closer to the treble bottom of the neck

When I start practice my eyes are usually looking down at my guitar, just to orient all of the “working parts”, but soon as I start to get into a groove my head and upper body will start “dancing” and my left foot bobbing in time to the sounds. My eyes may be closed or slightly open.

One of the hardest things learning guitarist have to overcome is being self conscious of how you appear to others while playing. If you can overcome that it will loosen you up and allow you to play freely. I play a lot looser when not in front of other people. Still have to play a while to loosen up in front of folks

It all takes time and a heck of a lot of just getting used to playing guitar.