wrist pain?

[wiechfreak]

Im not a fan of hanging the guitar low myself, but even when i keep it considerably high my wrist hurts when i do powerchords for an extended time. How do guys that hang their guitars at their legs play powerchords for entire sets and not kill their wrists? Is it something that becomes natural over time?

[nuclear81]

Practice... You need to evelope the muscles so it can sustain playing power chords for extended periods of tim. It takes a long time to get the wrist that strong so don't fret you don't get it right away. Just make sure that you don't over do it, and stop when your wrist starts to hurt. If you try to force yourself through the pain you will only cause long term problems.

[bdemon]

Guys who play with their guitars at their knees for a long time probably have shorter careers. ;)

But it also depends on how much you play. Spend several hours a day with poor form and you increase the chance of something going wrong. Use proper form, take a break each hour or so, stretch, give your hand a rest when you feel pain. These things should help out.

The wrist is also more delicate, takes longer to heal. I broke a fall playing soccer awhile back and had this annoying wrist ache for a few months. But it went away.

[Bande]

Nowadays I have a bit more time than before, and of course I spend that time on practicing. (Still only 2 hours or less daily:( ) But since then I'm having pains in my wrist, and that pain occured when I started doing fingerstretching excercises. It was very serious at the beginning so I thought that it was a beginning tendonitis. Fortunately I was wrong, and it was only a heavy muscle-strain... But anyway, take care of yourselves, ye can hurt yourself very easily...

[Callisto_Ashus]

Guys who play with their guitars at their knees for a long time probably have shorter careers. - Lol, probably best said. Keep in mind these people aren't exactly the best guitar players out there...

As for powerchords, I noticed the same problem you're talking about after helping some people play a song for a school event. I pay close attention to anatomical soundness when playing, and I can't figure out if it's even possible to play for extended amounts of time without your wrist getting tired and strained. It seems pretty hard to get it in a position where you're not bending your wrist to play, no matter how you have the guitar positioned (and I play classical-style sitting, and have the strap pretty high standing).

[plaindrome]

You should always start out by doing some streches for your hands and arms, this will get the blood flowing and let you play to your maximal capability. If at anytime you feel any sort of pain you should stop before it gets serious. There shouldn't be much pain if you are playing you powerchords correctly. Try with different angels on your wrist, don't press to hard, and try to play in the most relaxing position possible. =0)

[SyKrash]

There's a technique that I used when I played in punk bands and would do house parties and long as sets (hour or more) and it would all be downstrokes.

finger, but don't push down and fret a barre/power chord. Keep doing downstrokes while slowly adding more pressure until u get the chord to ring. Keep track of the pressure u use and try to always use that minimum amount of pressure to fret the chord. Thats how I can last doing those chords... most people use wayyy too much tension and strength to fret a power/barre chord.

[underfaced]

In my opinion i don't think its "Cool" or anything to have there guitars that low....becuase it only constricts what you can do. Yeah sure you can play power chords and look cool but thats it. But thats my opinion

[plaindrome]

I never play with my guitar low and it is not good at all if you want a comfortable position that will allow you to play well, but sure some people do and it doesn't annoy me. As long as you are comfortable with the way you play it should be alright ;0)

[Arpetude]

its clearly an image thing.


but for guitarists to play complex passages - the classical posisiotn is the best.

if you buy dream theaters 'live at bodukai' dvd, in the features section john petrucci assumes the classical position by putting his left knee on a foot rest and assumes the position 'while stading', he does all his complex passages that way. although he can pull them all off fine on the other dvds, and doesn't have it low.:)

[Wolfgang]

it depends on what style you want to play...
If you want to play the blues i think that havin' your guitar low would help you in gettin' relaxed (!) and havin' a grip on bends and vibrato...You'll be hittin' the strings harder and gettin' a stronger attack.
As far as rock... personal taste. Guys with huge hands as Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert won't have problems in havin' guitars low to the knees... I will !!!
Reb Beach has his guitars quite low too, and i think that unless you are playin' 6stringsArpeggios you could be fine too with a little practice. I have a 'middle' position, not too low, not too high, and I have to adjust my position a bit when i do long legato runs, or 5 - 6 strings sweeps. I usually rest my guitar on the hip in these occasions, or put it on my lap while bendin' on my knees a little bit (awful description, sounds like sittin' on the pot i know, just look to zakk wylde to have a better view of what i'm describin... =)
Just try to find a position where you don' t look like a jazz player with your guitar under your chin, and also you don't hurt your hand tendons or kill ants on the floor with the bottom of your guitar...

[plaindrome]

its clearly an image thing.


but for guitarists to play complex passages - the classical posisiotn is the best.

if you buy dream theaters 'live at bodukai' dvd, in the features section john petrucci assumes the classical position by putting his left knee on a foot rest and assumes the position 'while stading', he does all his complex passages that way. although he can pull them all off fine on the other dvds, and doesn't have it low.:)
Like Wolfgang it is not lways an "image thing," som people just feel that it is a better postition for the more comfortable for their playing.
Petrucci plays in the classical position as he practices because that's what he has gotten used to over the years. The only reason why he has those footrests now is because the monitors aren't there for him to put his foot on so he had to make some =0) They have fancy monitorphones right into their ears to Petrucci has no place to put his foot.
Anyone here who plays in a classical position during hard parts?

[phantom]

the idea of having a footrest on stage to be able to play difficult stuff seems quite strange to me. maybe he will need a chair someday to play a few licks within a solo :eek:.

if classical position is the "thumb behind neck" thing, then i'd say it helps with stretches and better finger independency. so for me, yes. if something contains fancy stretchy wild stuff, then classical position is what i use.

[Arpetude]

when i say classical position i mean the guitar is facing more vertical than horizontal and is resting on the left knee. as far as thumb behind neck.i just do what comes naturally, i see yngwie with his thumb behind the neck and also not behind the neck when it comes to playing his complex passages, which is what i do also.

but if you hang your guitar low....like really low, there is no way that would feel natural, it has to be image imo. check out korn. munky is practically moshing and his back is half way bent. there is no way anyone would be able to perform complex music on guitar if your in then 'korn' posistion. so why does he do it?. hell i would!. just for fun or image. being able to mosh along WHILE playing would be easy as korn is easy music. nothing wrong with that.

[plaindrome]

but if you hang your guitar low....like really low, there is no way that would feel natural, it has to be image imo. check out korn. munky is practically moshing and his back is half way bent. there is no way anyone would be able to perform complex music on guitar if your in then 'korn' posistion. so why does he do it?. hell i would!. just for fun or image. being able to mosh along WHILE playing would be easy as korn is easy music. nothing wrong with that.
All musicians don't play really fast runs and complex music like Malmsteen or Petrucci some actually take it slower and with hell of a lot of feeling. Yeah, some do it for the image but as wolfgang said when playing blues the guitarist will actually benefit from haning the guitar lower and will be able to put more power into it. Everything is not about complex licks and fast playing ;0)

[Arpetude]

i agree,


thats why i was saying if i played easier music like korn on guitar, i would mosh all the time + have guitar low. but for complex stuff, it would be near suicide to mosh at the same time as performing like john petruccis 'this dying soul - 60 second shred fest'

[Jimmy]

It's all about getting a good balance... I love playing live but my performance guitar wise is never spot on! Metalcore bands like Unearth, Darkest Hour, Killswitch Enagage all go nuts on stage but hit every note perfect!

[Wolfgang]

totally agree with plaindrome about not havin' to play fast all the time...
i do play some fast passages here and there, my style is pretty much rock-blues soloing with some fast flurries like tapped arpeggios, sweep pickin' or some fast picked lines.
Most of the time i'm bending or shakin' a vibrato, so to me the perfect position is not too high as i get a better grip on the strings... why rise my guitar just to play some passages more confortably? I feel good most of the time, then for the occasional bursts of notes i change my position a little bit. I also believe that makin' your guitar a little more difficult to play will help you to not overplay, and go for feel better than speed... can you run like carl lewis with a tuxedo on? Nope, but you'll surely have style... =)

[Arpetude]

can you run like carl lewis with a tuxedo on? Nope, but you'll surely have style... =)
lol:D