My advice related to pain from playing overuse, RSI, etc

Playing Technique
#1

Howdy. Troy, Brendan, please let me know if it’s not kosher to post a link to my own website. Not trying to spam here as I think obviously this is an important topic and maybe what I’ve learned from my experiences could help other serious practicers.

So we had this thread on injury prevention a while back where I included a bunch of my notes and advice that I generally give to students.

Since then I still get asked about these issues a lot because unfortunately I’ve had a lot of bad problems with pain related to playing, things have set me back a lot at different times in my life.

I decided to compile all the notes into one place and organize them a bit so I can just give people a link when the subject comes up: www.JakeEstner.com/pain

That way also if I think of more things to add I can just do it to that link.

I figured it could be especially useful to share here as I’d imagine most of us are on some level working on very challenging technical guitar playing, and the risk with this kind of music is much higher.

Anyway, for anybody having issues with pain or wondering about strategies to prevent developing issues, I hope there’s some use or at least good food for thought in my informal article there.

Open to any questions or comments, typos, corrections, hah.

Jake

4 Likes
Shoulder posture while sitting
#2

Whoops, bad link the first round. Works now.

#3

Thanks Jake! Yeah no problem with this at all, seems like a helpful resource.

One thing that could be cool to add is “resources” or “further reading”, a list / links to best stuff you’ve found elsewhere…either at the bottom (pertaining to the topic as a whole) or perhaps for each section, as you continue to add stuff to this document.

A quick few bullet points about topics covered in those two linked videos could be useful and probably have some minor SEO benefits too :slight_smile: You could also try embedding the YouTube videos directly on the page.

2 Likes
#4

Thanks Brendan! I may add some reading material, that’s a good idea.

As for the videos, I might want to redo the sitting position one before I try to attract more people to it, haha - that one is pretty rough even though the info is good, was just a quick one for my students’ reference. Might like, set up a light next time…

2 Likes
#5

What does it say about this hobby when I don’t even think it’s weird for a guitarist to have a page on their site whose URL is forward-slash PAIN?

Kidding aside great thoughts and thanks for posting. To be clear, I think this is non-spammy is because you’re posting this expressly to add to things we’ve discussed around here. That’s fine with us.

That being said we could use more guidelines on self promotion so anyone with thoughts on that please let us know in Site Feedback.

#6

Haha. Oh boy. Case in point, as well.

Actually yes, I have really great strategies for developing self promotion guidelines and MORE at www.JakeEstner/TheSecretsToForumModeration . You can order my FREE book and you just have to cover shipping costs of $29.99!!!

6 Likes
#7

@JakeEstner Thank you for sharing, I’ll have a read! Luckily I haven’t had any severe issues so far, but sometimes I do feel like I’m overworking my fretting hand. Which is why I’m now almost convinced that I should restring all my 25.5 guitars with 9s (down from 10s), just to try and minimize any risk.

Which brings me to @Troy! You mentioned recently that your (red) guitar now has thick strings and high action, does this cause you any fatigue in the left hand if you play it for a long time?

2 Likes
#8

No but I’m probably not a great test case. I don’t really play a huge variety of left hand things, and I probably don’t play nearly as much as people who teach lessons all day, or people in school or bands where they need to regularly learn long pieces. If you’re doing wide-stretch type of stuff for hours a day that’s a whole other ballgame and I’d certainly be careful there. I just avoid that stuff, because I can!

2 Likes
#9

For what it’s worth one can definitely develop picking hand issues as well!

My issues have mostly been related to my left hand/left side, but have had problems in my right as well. What kind of guitar I play and how I sit with it has made a huge difference.

1 Like
#10

Oh for damn sure. Especially when you throw in any kind of computer keyboard or mouse work, like we have with video editing. I probably make thousands of mouse movements over the course of editing a one-hour interview. It’s murder on all the wrist extensors / flexors. That’s like throwing a ghost pepper into your chili. It’s the multiplier that kills.

#11

Yeah. My stuff in both hands and really all around was worst when it was a lot of practice, a lot of weight training, and a lot of typing/computer use.

#12

Mousing when programming and Lindy Hop partners combined to cause problems for me around the same time I started messing around with pickslanting after seeing CtC. I look forward to checking it out. Lost an uncle to ALS last year, a brilliant pianist, so this kind of stuff really freaks me out these days, but I know a lot of us go through one issue or another. In my case, I have right forearm nerve pain that I have to be very careful not to aggravate. Thanks @JakeEstner for sharing.

1 Like