Conference napalm::guitar

3151.0. "Using arm weight" by PTPM05::HARMON (Paul Harmon, ACMSxp Engineering) Wed Dec 20 1995 12:47

Last summer I suffered what seemed like a very minor overuse strain in my
left thumb.  I've gone as long as 3 weeks without touching my guitars, but
the problem is persisting (I guess even apart from playing guitar, it's
pretty hard to keep from opposing one's thumb and fingers).  I really
should see a hand therapist, but I hate going to doctors.

Anyway, in my search for ways to continue playing guitar without hurting
myself, I've found myself doing something that I wonder if other people do
without it being necessitated by a problem.  Instead of using thumb opposition
to get more pressure when my fingers can't generate enough from the first
knuckle, I've been using the weight of my left arm to do the same thing; my
thumb exerts basically no pressure, and seems to just be a stabilizing
influence.  This technique sometimes creates a funny sensation of my needing
to lift fingers in order to keep from producing a note, rather than needing to
press them down to get one.

Does anybody else use this approach?

Paul

    
    Sounds right to me.  I don't think you should
    squeeze the neck, that will make your arm tense. 
    
    One thing legit string players do is think about
    vibrato (not the string bending kind) as a way
    to relax the hand and arm.  You can't be 
    squeezing the neck when you've got a good
    relaxed finger or wrist vibrato going.  I have 
    arm soreness from typing, stress, guitar etc. and
    I find this helps.  I've also got a routine of 
    "crab" excercises I always do to warm up.  They're
    like the classical Ablonez excercises for the left 
    hand.  
    
    Generally I'd say the thumb should be resting
    on the back of the neck with minimal pressure.  This
    is possible even on acoustic bass, where even more
    leverage is needed to depress the strings. 
    
    
    Dave
    

    Along the topic of arm tension:
    
    I recently discovered "The Book of Stretching", a
    '70s book that describes stretches for the upper
    body and arms that seem to help relieve/prevent
    soreness and tension in the arms.
    
    Dave