Weird feeling on wrist = bad picking ?

[mindwalker]

Hey guys,

Sometimes it happens to me that after a while playing (like 1 hour straight) I get a weird feeling on my wrist on the alignment of the thumb.. it's almost as if someone for 1 tiny fraction of a second pinched some tendon.. not a big deal or pain but nevertheless I can feel something which is starting to get me a bit worried.. have you guys ever felt anything like this before ?
I hold my pick like most people.. between thumb and index finger and during my practice I try to improve my fast picking.. doing 2,3 notes per string stuff.. triads and all that! I wonder if I'm doing something wrong...

[Timbaline]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-NOMn3P9AE

This vid should help you on your pick angle, which is probably your problem.

[Mr. Killer]

Go see a doctor

[mindwalker]

Well one thing I was doing was anchoring my ring and index finger right under the bridge pickup, so I'm trying to go without it now a la Paul Gilbert style... finger curled inside the hand in a sort of loose first shape. It's a bit harder to hit the right strings but my picking speed and consistency improved a lot in just a few minutes! However it's a bit hard to pick the low E strings due to my hand's angle... I'm usually playing while sitting down with the guitar on my left leg, so my guitar is a bit high on my chest so my hand's angle makes my knuckles far from parallel with the strings... well let's see what happens! Will also try doing some warm up exercises first....

I could go and see a doctor but I can imagine he's going to tell me to just stop playing for some days! Even when I almost broke one toe once he just told me "take it easy, it'll take like 2 months to recover..."...

[Mr. Killer]

Originally Posted by mindwalker

I could go and see a doctor but I can imagine he's going to tell me to just stop playing for some days! Even when I almost broke one toe once he just told me "take it easy, it'll take like 2 months to recover..."...

If your PC is not working well, you don't call a car technician to fix it. And it's better to stop playing for some days than for the rest of your life.

[Draco]

Originally Posted by Mr. Killer

If your PC is not working well, you don't call a car technician to fix it. And it's better to stop playing for some days than for the rest of your life.

I would have to agree with this answer.

[Timbaline]

Originally Posted by Mr. Killer

If your PC is not working well, you don't call a car technician to fix it. And it's better to stop playing for some days than for the rest of your life.

Yeah you might want to go see a doctor, if it keeps happening it's just gonna get worse.

[Magical Muffin]

Does your thumb move at all and is any part of your hand tense at all?

Usually you should try to keep everything loose and relaxed, almost but not quite limp, with a relatively rigid thumb and index finger.

What kind of picks do you use? I have nothing to base this of off, but if you use a big heavy pick, try a smaller, thinner pick, or something like that. I dunno, but this might help.

[sirshredsalot]

The doctor will just have you take a break from playing. He most likely wont send you for an EMG test to rule out nerve entrapment given the fact that it only occurs when you play and only bothers you for a 'fraction of a second' Give it a rest for a couple days, and stretch your arms for a good couple minutes before you play.

[eviltwin]

Pain/numbness in your wrist or fingers could just as easily come from the elbow, shoulder or even neck, so it's not necessarily from your particular picking action.

[jemswirl]

Yes, definetly go see a doctor you don't want permenant damage if it's something serious.

[mindwalker]

Seems to have gone away ever since I started to play unanchored.. let's see if it happens again.

And I'm using a Jazz III... guess it can't get any smaller than that

[mindwalker]

I uploaded a new video on youtube covering a song. I haven't felt anymore weird feelings on my wrist / thumb but do you think (by looking at the video) that I'm doing something wrong with the picking hand ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9FChvFLmI