Hi, all! I am a beginner with an acoustic guitar, it's a Yamaha dreadnought (FG700S) that I bought a few years ago, that I seem to be in the habit of playing for a couple of months and then putting down for a year or two and then trying again. I've never got very far with it; I have a beginner book/DVD set that I always start with, that has me go through basic chord-less songs, which helps me to (re-)learn notes and fingering, and then I've learned parts of "real" songs, but never been able to switch chords quickly or do more than some of the more basic chords.
Every time I've played, I've gotten the impression that I am not holding my left (fretting) hand properly and I feel it. My wrist feels strained and sore from the way I bend and put pressure on it and my thumb and my wrist makes some clicking/popping noises after playing.
I've looked at countless guides and pictures and videos to try to figure out exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, but I don't know that I've ever quite figured it out. I know:
- I'm not supposed to have my thumb wrap around over top of the guitar (though I see this done all of the time)
- My thumb is supposed to be in the middle of the neck
- It's supposed to be perpendicular to the neck (I've spent a lot of time playing with it mostly parallel)
- There's supposed to be a finger width of space between the top edge of my palm and the side of the neck
- And my fingers are supposed to curl around parallel to the frets (I have a hard time with this, particularly with chords as my fingers slant downward to reach all the frets, and my index knuckle frequently rests on the side of the neck)
I've also seen the way I'm supposed to hold it described as the same as holding a baseball or picking up a credit card, with my thumb parallel to my middle finger. But none of these tips or tricks seem to help me with the practical application. And I can't figure out if, as I'm moving my fingers around to change notes and play chords, if I'm going to break some of these rules (e.g., slant my fingers down somewhat, have my thumb be perpendicular, etc.) And I'm worried about it because I don't want to set myself up for bad habits and limited playing abilities, injury, or unnecessary pain now (I know my finger tips have to go through that, but I don't know that my wrist does. Also, I expect this to continue as I know it did during my last month-or-two stretch of playing and is part of why I set the guitar down again.)
Does anyone have any advice? I'm a woman, 5'5", pretty thin, and average hands for that, and it's possible a smaller guitar might have helped, but I'm not in a financial position to make that switch now (nor to take proper lessons, unfortunately.) I notice that it's easiest for me to hold my guitar flat against my body and prevented some right shoulder soreness if my right leg is on the ground due to the combination of my chest being in the way and my arm being short (not because I was trying to look at the notes I was fingering), but to make the neck angle slightly upwards I do have to cross my legs. (I think I've learned to relax my shoulder this way as well, thankfully.) For my left arm, I've naturally played with my elbow touching my side, but I think I might have to bend my wrist less if I move it out ~4 inches--I don't know if I would hold it there or move it semi-frequently? I'm also not sure if the neck of the guitar should be against the flat of the last third of my thumb or more against that joint and how much my thumb should feel like it's straining to press into the neck (I think this is part of why it being diagonal, between the center and top edge of the neck, in line with my slanted index finger seems more natural) or my wrist be bending and if those things vary.
Thanks for any help you guys can give me!
- Nicola
I play several ways. Thumb over the neck and thumb behind the neck. When I play barre chords my thumb is parallel or nearly so with the neck. open chords my thumb changes position. I fret behind the fret wires. the guitar neck is pointing at an angle upwards. this helps to relieve wrist pressure.
it sounds like you are holding the guitar properly. keep your fretting hand's elbow loose. donot anchor it against your body.
I use this method in describing how to hold the guitar neck.
you are going to hitchhike. hold out your hand with the thumb outwards just like a hitchhiker. open your fingers and then set the guitar neck into the palm. close your fingers. your fingers should be pointing stright up and the thumb pointing towrds the neck. this works for me.
Thanks for the tip! I've been trying really hard to keep my elbow loose this past week and trying to focus more on keeping my wrist straight than agonizing over where my thumb is supposed to be and that does seem to help alleviate most of my wrist pain! So maybe I'll try not to think too much about my thumb, since it sounds like there's a lot of reason to move it around anyway?
do you sit most of the time when you practice? I find when I sit I develop worse posture. now that I have to stand when I play, everything changed. it is more difficult to see the frets my hand, arms, joints, and shoulders are only tired after four hours. they bounce back the next day easy.
sitting on the couch or bed was my old practice style. I tended to bend over the guitar in my lap. craning my neck right over the fretboard. I watched where my finger tips went so much I neglected to think about wrist, elbow, neck, etc.
when I became more proficient; I could play chords without looking hardly at all. my 'body technique' became better.
it is good that you are thinking about posture and hand placement.
