Healthy Guitarist

[Infinite]

Dave, hi, how do you avoid (if you do) back, neck, shoulder, arm, wrist, hand etc. problems? I've only started to play seriously a couple of months ago (8 hours a day), and i'm already having problems. Do you see a chiropractor, do exercises and stretches, or are you just lucky?

Love your debut album... keep it up

[DavejWeiner]

Hey Infinite.

I never really have any problems, however I used to have arm pain near my elbow all the time. I think it was mostly psychological though.

It's like any sport or activity you do. You have to be conditioned to do it. So I recommend stretching first. Work out to keep in shape, etc. That will help.

But if you're feeling pain and it doesn't go away, I'd see a specialist before it gets bad.

Good luck.

Dave

[Val]

I get most of my trouble in my wrist. Thankfully I limit my practising time to short productive sessions nowerdays due to work, educational and social commitments - women..lol..

But anyways, like I was saying, the way I used to deal with was with chinese medicine. I know a lot of people think its totally ridiculous but the stuff works wonders. Also a compress doused in vinegar rubbed on the wrist was recommended to me, and is also good for bruises.

What can I say, I have a weird family.. lol

But yeah like Dave said stretching is the best, but your muscles have to be warm first or you risk worse pain.
My star solution, and the warm up I've been doing for a while now is usually to do a run through my pentetonics a few times, then some standard arpeggio's (SLOWLY) for about 5 minutes, then a stretch. Then I go back to the arpeggio's played at about 120bpm, then my modes in triplets, then leapfrogging. That just about sets me up for the rest of the gig. Though my leapfrogging still sucks lol.

Anyways, I recommend that, maybe its personal taste. There are probably better ways its just the way I do it and I havent felt any pain since.

[JESTER700]

There are tons of solutions. Keep trying them (although be wary of miracle cures and stuff that's very expensive), but realize that we're all built differently. That means that not only will something that works for others may NOT work for you (and vice versa), but that you just may not be built for 8 hrs/day practice. Better to be "3 hrs/day good" than have tendinitis and be "none hrs/day good".

AND - there's a law of diminishing returns with all physical endeavors. The body only learns so quickly. So I'D say take a few of those 8 hrs away from practice and put it toward other stuff - songwriting/composition, theory, music history, transcription, singing/solfeggio, ear training, etc. Or get away from music for a bit and live a little so you have some good stuff to write about... ;-)

Having said all that, light stretching and gradual warmups is universally good advice on the phisical side of things.