How To Prevent Wrist, Finger and Forearm Strain When Playing Guitar

It is often easy to forget how physically demanding playing the guitar can be. It is not uncommon to see guitar players who are suffering from a variety of problems, including tendonitis (an inflammation of the tendons) and carpel tunnel syndrome (when the median nerve is compressed at the wrist, leading to pain, paresthesias, and muscle weakness in the hand).These can be debilitating problems, but they are preventable. There are some important things you can do to protect yourself from having these problems now or later down the road.

First and foremost it is important to stretch before you play or practice, which not only helps to prevent injury, but will also allow you to play more effectively. The best way to do this is to start off by stretching the fingers one by one. Start by placing your left hand thumb against your right hand palm and pushing back slightly, not so far that it hurts but far enough so you can feel a stretch. Hold for about 30 seconds. Do this with the rest of your fingers on your left hand, and then repeat the same stretch for all the fingers on the right hand.

This next stretch is great for both your wrists and your forearms. Start by putting your palms together in front of your chest. Slowly push out your elbows and bend your wrists, holding once you feel a good stretch. Next, rotate your wrists forward so your fingers are pointing away from you. Stop and hold when you feel a stretch. After stretching it's always a good idea to warm up by practicing a few scales, riffs, or chords.

There are some things to keep in mind when you are playing that can help to prevent any problems. First of all, try to keep your wrists as straight as possible when you are playing. When your wrists are bent it will cause unnecessary strain, and also makes it harder to move your fingers. While there are some chords or passages that require you to bend your wrists slightly, it will be better in the long run if you can keep them straight for as long as possible. Just do your best. Also, try not to press on the strings any harder than is absolutely necessary, as doing so will cause a great deal of strain.

Another important tip is to take a break. 15 mins for every hour of playing should do, but take a longer break if you have to. And if you feel any pain or discomfort whatsoever while playing it is important to stop. Trying to play through the pain will only make things worse, so do yourself a favour and stop as soon as you feel any discomfort.

Take care of your hands and wrists and you will be able to experience the joy of playing the guitar for many years to come.

Stay tuned for my next blog!

Until then, take care!

Michelle

Need For Speed

It's a common dream amongst the guitar player community: standing on stage in front of an audience and watching as they go crazy while your fingers fly across the fretboard during your mind-numbingly awesome solo! While this vision is absolutely attainable, it does take time, discipline and the right frame of mind.

First and foremost, the most important thing you need if you plan on building up speed is a metronome. I cannot stress this enough! Using a metronome while you practice will allow you to develop the proper timing that is necessary to play quick riffs and licks. You see, speed really isn't about playing fast at all. It's about the timing.

By timing I mean being able to play a note at exactly the right time. If a note is even a little bit too early or too late it can make the passage being played sound too rushed or too slow. This is why practicing with a metronome is so very important. When practicing a speed building exercise you have to start off slow, making sure that every note is perfectly in time with the beats of the metronome. Once you master an exercise at a certain speed, then you can make it a little bit faster. Once you've mastered the exercise at the new speed, you can make it a bit faster than that, and so on. Yes it does take time, but it is well worth the effort.

Here's an exercise that's great not only for helping to develop proper timing, but is also a great way you work on your alternate (up/down) picking.

(4/4 time) With alternate picking
E ----------------------------------------------------
B ----------------------------------------------------
G ----------------------------------------1--2--3--4--
D ----------------------------1--2--3--4--------------
A --------------1--2--3--4----------------------------
E --1--2--3--4----------------------------------------

E --------------1--2--3--4----4--3--2--1--------------
B --1--2--3--4----------------------------4--3--2--1--
G ----------------------------------------------------
D ----------------------------------------------------
A ----------------------------------------------------
E ----------------------------------------------------

E ----------------------------------------------------
B ----------------------------------------------------
G --4--3--2--1----------------------------------------
D --------------4--3--2--1----------------------------
A ----------------------------4--3--2--1--------------
E ----------------------------------------4--3--2--1--

This exercise can be played using any rhythm you want, but I suggest you start out with either quarter notes (1 note per beat) or eighth notes (2 notes per beat). Once you feel comfortable with the rhythm you start with, then you can move on to sixteenth notes (4 notes per beat), triplets (3 notes per beat), sixteenth note triplets (6 notes per beat), etc.
Once you find yourself getting good at that, you can shake things up a bit by skipping strings.

(4/4 time) With alternate picking
E ----------------------------------------------------
B ----------------------------------------------------
G ----------------------------------------1--2--3--4--
D ---------------1--2--3--4---------------------------
A ----------------------------1--2--3--4--------------
E --1--2--3--4----------------------------------------

E ----------------------------------------1--2--3--4--
B --------------1--2--3--4----------------------------
G ----------------------------1--2--3--4--------------
D --1--2--3--4----------------------------------------
A ----------------------------------------------------
E ----------------------------------------------------

E --4--3--2--1----------------------------------------
B ----------------------------4--3--2--1--------------
G --------------4--3--2--1----------------------------
D ----------------------------------------4--3--2--1--
A ----------------------------------------------------
E ----------------------------------------------------

E ----------------------------------------------------
B ----------------------------------------------------
G --4--3--2--1----------------------------------------
D ----------------------------4--3--2--1--------------
A --------------4--3--2--1----------------------------
E ----------------------------------------4--3--2--1--

You can also do this exercise with different finger combinations.

2314-4132
1324-4231
2413-3142
1423-3241

These are just a few of the possible combinations out there. See if you can find your own.

One last thing before I'm done. Remember that playing fast isn't everything. For most beginning guitar players it's easy to get wrapped up in the idea that being a great guitarist is equated with being able to play really fast. This however is not the case. It takes a lot to be a great guitar player, and while speed most definitely contributes to that, it really isn't the most important thing a guitarist should be able to do. Often times the most beautiful sounding songs are ones where the guitarist was able to exercise restraint and only play those notes that best fit the song. It's all about context and the quality of the notes you play, not how fast you play them.

Stay tuned for my next blog!

Until then, take care!

Michelle