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I got this tendonitis about a bit long than a year. The pain is located in the palm of my left hand. Since I'm a permanent gigging musician, I haven't been able to stop playing. I have notice that the pain doesn't bother me all the time, It only comes when I try to study scales and arpeggios, now matter how much relaxed I am.
I also notice that the pain began when I started to play with bigger neck profiles. I used to play a Fender Stratocaster with a narrow neck, but since I'm a jazz guitarrist (or I pretend to be one, at least), I prefer the sound that fatter necks deliver.
Of course I have done a lot of therapy, but the pain always come back with the scales or arpeggios. So, I believe I'm doing something wrong. Something wrong with technique.
My hypothesis is that I have never had an accoustic technique and archtop guitars maybe require some of this.
I would appreciate A LOT an advice!!!
p.d.: sorry about my english!
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12-22-2013 04:52 PM
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Hi Santi, others will chip in no doubt, but my 2 pennies: go see a qualified teacher! There are knowledgeable people on this forum too, but without actually seeing you and your technique it's very hard to diagnose what you might be doing wrong.
Good luck man!
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Thanks a lot Pukka-J!
It's a wise advice, and actually, since I work in permanent touch with all kind of musicians, I always try to ask about my problem to friends and co-workers who have a more classical-oriented technique. They have come up with a lot of theories, but none of them worked. The funny thing is that they always criticize me about my right hand, wich is perfectly healthy!
But maybe this could help a bit. Here is a video of me and my band perfoming. It's blurry at the beggining, so if you don't want to listen, maybe you should forward it a bit to see my hand clearly.
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Hello Santi89,
I watched the video and the thing that I immediately noticed was that you are playing with your left wrist bent. Your wrist should be as straight as possible when playing.
The muscles that operate your fingers are in your forearm not your hand. The muscle/tendon/ligament structure goes through the carpal tunnel in your wrist and attaches to your fingers. If you play with your wrist bent all the time, you are compressing the muscles and tendon sheath in the wrist which can lead to inflammation. It's time to refine your left hand technique.
This is a common problem among rock guitarists who play barre chords a lot with a bent wrist. You should rest and give it time to heal and start working on better left hand technique. This can lead to serious issues unless you take action to correct the problem.
Regards,
Jerome
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Get that guitar neck pulled closer to your torso and give your wrist a break.
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agreed your right leg is bent up a little to support that guitar at the beginning of the video, you should possibly just bring that guitar up higher. It doesn't look as cool(I'll concede that) but I'm much more comfortable playing with it way up then way down low. I'm so small that there are many guitars I couldn't play at all unless they were high up!
a bit like this.
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Santi89 - enjoyed the clip, nice tune, played well and clearly recorded.
You said tendonitis in the palm of your hand - do you mean the back of your hand (the side your fingernails are on)?
I agree with some of the above points about technique, that said...
In my experience certain guitars can cause tendonitis - it may be they're fine for some but don't suit your particular technique or hand/body size. I had one archtop which had a weird vibration throughout the body and neck which caused a lot of tendonitis problems - the moment I switched to a different guitar those particular problems went straight away. Also one of my current archtops has a really thick neck profile which causes mild tendonitis in the base of my left thumb if I play it sitting down whereas my other guitars don't cause this at all.
I think some neck profiles are better for 'thumb-over' playing and others for 'classical' thumb in the middle of the neck playing, and some suit both perfectly well.
Fact is, this happens to guys who play a lot - despite the fact you might be very relaxed when you play. I'm 38 and started getting mild tendonitis in my early 30's. I've dealt with it pretty well through constantly refining my technique and trying different gear. On a positive note - seeing how you're a good player and don't have heaps of hand tension like many non-professionals do, when you figure out what exactly is causing the problem you should find it goes away fairly quickly. Try watching different youtube clips of your favourite players (eg. Kurt, Kreisberg, etc.) and try copying their left hand technique (including the whole body) and from there, work out something that works for you.
I just read a recent interview where Julian Lage said he's been dealing with left hand issues as well the last couple of years - so I think it's fairly common amongst pro players who push themselves a lot.
My2c - good luck
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Wow!
A lot of things that I would never thought about!
Jerome, I noticed my wrist twist before and I try a lot to keep it straight, but there are a lot of chords that I like that require that twist. Perhaps I should consider changing some voicings
Cosmic Gumbo and Ric Lee, I will inmediately fasten the strap a bit higher, I don't care about the looks
3625, my english is very poor and I don't know wich is the right word :S but I'm talking about the other side of the hand. The one that touches the guitar when you grab it. Man, thanks a lot for the good comments about my playing. It's sad to know that you have that tendonitis for so long. It's also very sad to know that Julian Lage has left hand issues, since he is one of my favourite players (maybe I watched too many clips of him :P).
Have you ever associated the pain to neck thickness (besides what you have already said about guitar types)?
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Sani89,
Originally Posted by Santi89
Wow!
A lot of things that I would never thought about!
Jerome, I noticed my wrist twist before and I try a lot to keep it straight, but there are a lot of chords that I like that require that twist. Perhaps I should consider changing some voicings
Cosmic Gumbo and Ric Lee, I will inmediately fasten the strap a bit higher, I don't care about the looks
3625, my english is very poor and I don't know wich is the right word :S but I'm talking about the other side of the hand. The one that touches the guitar when you grab it. Man, thanks a lot for the good comments about my playing. It's sad to know that you have that tendonitis for so long. It's also very sad to know that Julian Lage has left hand issues, since he is one of my favourite players (maybe I watched too many clips of him :P).
Have you ever associated the pain to neck thickness (besides what you have already said about guitar types)?
If you raise the guitar on the strap, like Ric and Cosmic said, so that it sits in the middle of your torso with the neck pointing up a bit more, your wrist should straighten out enough that you shouldn't have to change the voicings you use. Sometimes it is necessary to bend the wrist for a moment but you shouldn't play with your wrist bent for long periods. Certainly not song after song all night.
Good luck,
Jerome
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If by "in the palm" you mean literarly, palm of your hand, it may be due hard pressing of a thumb. Ie. try lightening the grip.
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Santi, while I've had tendonitis it was never so serious that I had to stop playing for long periods, and these days most of the time I'm perfectly fine, unless I play too long without a break and my hands aren't warmed up, like in winter. Originally Posted by Santi89
Actually, the good news is it forces you to reassess your technique and equipment, and every time I've done that I end up a much better player - it's just a puzzle that needs to be solved.
About your question about neck thickness - for me if the neck is too thick I get tendonitis at the base of my left thumb and wrist also - but only if I play that particular guitar sitting down with the guitar resting on my right leg. I've read on forums that some guys get pain from thick necks, other guys hurt if the neck is too thin - so everyone is different. Change back to a thinner neck profile for a while and see if the tendonitis goes away.
Are you using heavy strings? I always use 11's, sometimes 12's but no heavier. Do you practice mostly sitting down or standing up? For me 335's and strats are bad for my wrist sitting down because they sit too low and I'm tall. But I find archtops and tele's are good. For you it might be different because of body size.
I agree that in the video your wrist is bent too much - just try everything - different strap height, playing sitting down in different positions, use different strings, different guitars etc. etc. You're a very good player - I'm confident you'll find what's wrong and it will go away.
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Santi89
I had a problem with my left thumb when playing classical exercise pieces but no problem when playing chord melody pop pieces. It was fairly painful, and I quit classical guitar for several years. I did find an answer for myself.
As close as I could figure, the pain came when holding a fixed hand position for a long time with pressure on fingers and thumb. I guessed that the problem was caused by squeezing the lubricants out of the tendon sheath on the top thumb tendon. I massaged the tendon that ran along the thumb with a motion lengthwise-back and forth. A few minutes after I stopped the area swelled and turned red. It was then much better.
Now I do this regularly. It is a great help. I also have learned to play with almost no thumb pressure.
I am now back to classical practice.
I do believe that lack of lubrication of the tendons is a very real problem. This could easily a problem in carpal tunnel symptoms.
Remember: Free advice is worth what you pay for it.
Good luck,
Oldplayer 2
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Search for the great site "Musicians and Injuries". Read all you can about your issues.
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Yep, lots of advice here. I would speak to a well qualified teacher at a good University or Music School - I'm a guitar eacher, but I wouldn't feel qualified to tell you what to do - I could make it worse. You need a musicians injury specialist - every bif town has someone doing this work. Getting the neck up higher could relieve the tension - take a look at how high the neck is for Larry Coryell - that's held there by the strap in a near classical guitar position - so lots of scope for change.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Lar...ed=0CAkQ_AUoAALast edited by ChrisDowning; 01-04-2014 at 01:46 PM.
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This is off topic, but I was so impressed with your playing and the sweet sound you get from that Epiphone Casino, I had to mention it. I thought I was done with GAS for a while...
Originally Posted by Santi89
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The first thing I notice is that you often lift your wrist so that the thumb sticks up above the neck. Relax that wrist and keep the thumb on the back of the neck. Should likely end up in a 45 degree angle. I'm really glad I was tought, and got used to doing everything this way from early on. I was often practicing 12 hours a day and never ever had any pain whatsoever. Neck shape and thickness makes absolutely no difference this way. The only ones I somewhat dislike are sharp V-necks.
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