What is the best treatment for RSI from guitar practice? There are 2 steps:
- 1Fix your sitting position and how you hold the guitar when practicing.
- 2Teach your fingers how to use minimum effort with correct form, and how to relax between efforts
We must first understand that the term "Repetitive Strain Injury" is misleading. The problem is not the we are repeating a movement. I have repeated thousands of movements millions of times in my 50 years of playing guitar and I have never had a strain or injury.
The pain is that we are making the we are making the movements in an unbalanced way. This imbalance places strain upon delicate muscles in the hand, upper body and lower back. When we practice and play in this state of imbalance, pain is inevitable.
Guitar Pain Begins With How You Sit & Hold The Guitar
Pain in playing guitar begins with how you hold the guitar when you practice. This is something I have to fix with virtually every student who comes to me complaining of pain. If we are not sitting and holding the guitar correctly when we practice, it will be impossible to position and use the hands correctly, or to develop the muscles that operate the fingers. It will also be impossible to be truly relaxed and flowing in our playing.
When we play, we can sit, stand, or hold the guitar any way we want, or I should say any way that works, that enables us to get our notes. But when we practice, we must be in a balanced and ergonomic relationship to the guitar. This is because practicing is different than playing, practicing is where we train our muscles to be able to do new things, so they will be able to them when we play.
To learn about the best sitting position for practice, regardless of what style you play or what kind of guitar you have, see "How To Sit With the Guitar For Practice".
Guitar Pain Continues With The 4 Diseases of the Left Hand On Guitar
When our sitting position is unbalanced, and various muscles of the upper body are under strain simply trying to hold the guitar steady, it becomes impossible to position the hands and fingers in a way that allows for their careful and gradual development. This begins a series of problems in both right and left hands.
The best way to begin to fix these left hand problems on guitar is to learn how to touch the strings in an entirely new way. You can begin to do that right now by doing the exercises in the Guitar Principles "Left Hand Transformation Exercises".
To get an overview of the problems that cause left hand pain on guitar, watch the video below, "The 4 Diseases of the Left Hand on Guitar".
The Bottom Line On The Best Treatment For RSI From Guitar Practice....
1) Sit & hold the guitar correctly for practice. see here...
2) Get the tension out of your fingers. see here...
“The Principles” has cured the pains of guitar players around the world! They WILL get rid of your guitar pain, and playing problems....
The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar
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"The Informed Guitar Student"
"""Being able to operate a guitar probably would not have been possible without the Principles. The challenge of holding the guitar and making notes was difficult, painful, and therefore seemed like an insurmountable challenge."
- Allen Francom, Texas
"Hi Jamie. I recently ordered your ‘principles- DVD’. It is truly amazing! I have played both the classical and the electric guitar a coulpe of years. My muscles developed tensions, resulting in growing pain. Then someone told me that correct playing should be done through relaxation, but there was one problem. I couldn’t find anyone telling me HOW that should be accomplished! Thank you for that!"
- Annica from Sweden
"Most people might think that after playing guitar for 20 years, I’d be able to spot “trouble” areas... easily. Not so! After reading Chapter One, I discovered that I was experiencing a significant amount of pain when playing certain passages. After taking a close look at my playing, I discovered something that I learned 18 years ago was causing me all kinds of grief “today”.
- Chris S
“ I had no consistency in my performance. And at higher tempos, I was experiencing pain during practice. Your book (“The Principles”) has made me understand “why”. Until I tried your principles, I never knew how much tension I had."
- Brian