Pain when picking fast

Playing Technique
#21

Guys! I’ve found the answer! It’s gripping the pick between the middle finger and thumb instead of between the thumb and index finger. The pain and motion restriction have almost vanished.

I got the idea after watching one of your Steve Morse videos. I had never noticed that he grips the pick with the middle finger. I missed it because he supports the middle with the index. (I always just found his motion weird and fascinating.) I can’t support the middle with the index because it hurts and restricts. My index finger has to be extended but curved: It looks like a velociraptor’s claw, but it’s good for tapping, which I’ve never been into but now will learn.

Changing the grip has a few downsides. It’s not wholly natural yet. I’m still working on the articulations and dynamics: pinch harmonics, etc. I need to smooth out my funk strumming. I no longer have the middle finger available for hybrid picking, or for jazz chord work that skips strings, or for counterpoint. But I can always go back to thumb/index or finger-picking for that Just like a painter must choose between a palette knife and a brush at any one time. Neither tool can do everything.

I’ve also had to change picks. The Big Stubby slips in the middle/thumb grip. But a 1 mm. Dunlop Max Grip works well.

So I have a new tool, and a world that was closing has re-opened to me. I have your site to thank. Kudos to you!

3 Likes
#22

Great news!

Sounds like you are on your way to becoming the next Eddie - he seems to do exactly what you mention:

1 Like
#23

Sounds very promising, I’m glad you have found something to work with.

#24

Hi, folks: Here at last is a short video of me trying to flat-pick well. It’s the first time I’ve made or uploaded a Youtube video, so it’s awkward: The first 30 seconds or so is me positioning the iPhone, grabbing the guitar, and trying to show the picking hand, so please be patient. Also, if it were taken later in the day instead of early this morning, I would have been more fluid. I didn’t bother with slow-mo because I was playing slowly anyway. Thoughts? Suggestions?

P.S., I’m not even sure this link will work.

1 Like
#25

Hi! Looks like this video is “private” so we can’t see it. If you don’t want it to show publicly on YouTube, set it to “unlisted” and it should work here. And no worries for now but for future reference, if you want to trim out extraneous bits, you should be able to hit “edit” right from your phone and drag the handles to set the start / end points for the clip.

#26

What an amazingly positive thread.

Play on, OP.

1 Like
#27

Thank you for thinking so. Maybe it will help others besides me.

#28

Hi, Brendan:

I’m on the forum right now and when I click on the video, it plays.

#29

Hmm what about if you open in an incognito window? I think if you’re logged in on YouTube it’d still play for you even if it’s set to private. If you check the video settings directly on YouTube and confirm it’s set to “unlisted”, possible it’s a caching issue or some other reason it’s not showing.

#30

Here’s what happens: I log into my Youtube channel. I find the video, click on “Edit,” change the parameter from “Private” to “Unlisted,” and click save. Then I click “Edit” again — and the parameter still says, “Private.” Any ideas how to fix this?

#31

OK. I downloaded YouTube Studio. The issue was that it was in Draft mode…not yet published. It’s now published and set to Unlisted, so it should work.

#32

Honestly, I still think the best thing to do is speak to a doctor when you make any of these changes. If you’re going to adopt an approach to something and do it for any length of time, it would be good to get a check in from a medical professional who is familiar with wrist injury just to make sure what you’re doing isn’t aggravating the existing issue. I know these are challenging times to get a doctor appointment, but telemedicine could potentially work for something like this given that it’s visual. If one good thing comes out of this, hopefully easier access to telemedicine will be one of those things.

Re: the picking motion itself, this looks like stringhopping to me. Meaning, if you try to speed this up, you may get arm tension and be heading down a whole other injury road. So I wouldn’t keep using this motion specifically.

If, when you speed up, you change your motion so that it’s not stringhopping any more, but something more efficient, that’s fine. But in this video, at this speed, the motion is bouncy and repetitive, and will cause muscle and tendon strain if you try to put power or time into it.

I’m sorry to be the negative voice here! I just want you to stay in fighting form.

1 Like
#33

Hi, Troy:

Your honesty is appreciated. I want to work with a doc on this. The problem is finding the RIGHT doc. I consulted a sports medicine hand specialist who wanted to surgically remove a bone in my hand, and that’s a non-starter. This is why I asked, earlier in this thread, if anyone knows who Steve Morse consulted. I understand he’s been having similar issues.

Thanks for your review of the mechanics I’ve experimenting with. I don’t know how much of what I’m experiencing is arthritis and how much is soft tissue strain. I’m seeking a new and efficient motion more but haven’t found one that works for me. It’s certainly no fault of yours; your analyses have offered plenty of options. Maybe the right doc can help me with that, too.

Can anyone on staff or in the forum suggest an appropriate doctor?

#34

Don’t have firsthand experience here, but a while back Troy spoke with Howard Hillstrom and Aviva Wolff at the Motion Analysis Lab at HSS to learn about hand / wrist motion.

I just looked them up again and I see Aviva runs a practice called Hand Therapy for Musicians specifically doing consultations to help musicians with injury avoidance and treatment. Not sure how that works exactly but may be looking into.

A couple other places we’ve come across that specialize in this kind of thing:

And some other general resources I’ve seen online:

1 Like
#35

Thank you, Brendan. Very considerate of you.

Johns Hopkins has a similar practice, if you want to add it to your list.

Meanwhile, as I woodshed in the basement, I’m getting more into finger-style solo jazz. Not quite as fast, but cool in its own way: orchestral and harmonically sophisticated. Also less painful and and stressful, and therefore less frustration to interfere with learning.

I don’t suppose you folks are into finger-style? I haven’t seen it on your site, but I would love to learn more. Especially when it comes to efficient ways to sequence right-hand finger choices. I’ve worked up a few drills; but mostly, I’m winging it; and I would like to avoid developing bad habits while it’s still new enough to me so that I can learn good habits without having to break bad ones.

I don’t think standard classical guitar texts would help because my nails are very short and so I pick with the calluses on my fingertips.

1 Like
#36

Guys, I want to suspend my membership.

Thanks for all your advice; you’ve been terrific. However, I’ve gone completely over to fingerpicking and that doesn’t seem to be your bailiwick. Fingerpicking is at least as fast as I’m able to play with a pick, less painful, and less frustrating because instead of fighting my physical limit, I’m developing. It’s also more textured and nuanced.

I see you charged my card eight hours ago for the next month. I would appreciate if you would refund the $25. Please let me know when that’s done. I will leave the account open solely so that I can receive your reply. Thanks again, congrats on the Magnet funding, and best of luck.

#37

Not a problem! I’ll do that refund now and follow up by email to confirm.

Indeed we don’t have much material on fingerpicking but I’m sure at least a few others here interested, please feel free to stick around and discuss / share stuff on the forum any time :slight_smile:

#38

Thank you, Brendan. I’ll take you up on that.