Thoughts about avoiding tendonitis

Playing Technique
#1

For context I’m a DBX player; rotating motion, that bone at the base of the pinky side of the palm rests on the bridge as a pivot, and I track from the shoulder.

I’ve had tendonitis in the past, right in the outside of the elbow (tennis elbow.) It’s never been really bad but takes the fun out of playing.

Since discovering CtC I’ve been making better progress with much less practice than I did in the past, maybe an hour to 1.5 hrs per day and was surprised to feel that twinge again . . . it just happened recently (weekends I’ll play two hours, that’s probably the culprit.)

I’m wondering if it’s the speed or sheer number of repetitions causing it; I’m up to 200 bpm or so depending on the sequence which honestly is fast enough, I just want to fix the weak points that are making certain sequences problematic (mainly outside picking.)

One strategy would be to slow down to the slower end where I’m still using the running-vs-walking technique and focus on accuracy,

Another would be to just not pick notes where the left hand is the main problem (so for instance single string shifting patterns use the exact same RH technique, if the picking is good for ascending fours I’d just leave it out for practice; once the LH is nailed down I can just add the right hand after the fact)

Another would be to just place a cap on the number of hours; I’ve been doing this for a few months now (I’ll go for months or years with little or no playing) and only ran into trouble when the hours started to creep up beyond 1.5 hrs.

I don’t mind if my progress slows a bit as long as I get there, just playing less is an option but as long as I’m motivated (we all know how fickle that can be) I’d prefer to keep going at the present rate.

Many thanks for reading, have a good one.

#2

Do you feel like you’re as relaxed as is reasonably possible? How frequently are you taking breaks when you’re practicing?

#3

I’m pretty relaxed for tremolo but may be tensing up sometimes; a little more mindfulness may help.

I don’t take breaks at all . . . it’s just an hour and a half straight though I’ll sandwich in arpeggios and legatos. It might be as simple as that, thanks!

#4

The two questions you posed helped me solve the problem; I was spending too much time on picking, without breaks, and there was a source of tension I hadn’t identified. I used to lock the right hand in one place, trying to keep the movements as small as possible but reaching for the next string would cause problems.

Luckily I didn’t let things get out of hand, even so I was surprised how quickly the discomfort disappeared. Thanks for the reply, it helped.

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