I have been playing guitar for abotu 3 years now and have really started playing alot in the last few months. The problem is that recently I have noticed that the "meaty" part of my thumb starts to cramp up alot after just a few songs (and sometimes a few chords). Does anyone have any suggestions that will possibly help me get rid of this cramping? I have checked my guitar for the proper setup and several guitar experts say that the guitar is setup correctly for me.
God Blesses Everyone with a talent use it to glorify Him,
George Knight
Left hand or Right?
If you want to be good, practice. If you want to be great, you must constantly change the way you think.
acoustic or electric?
"After a few chords" was mentioned; probably the chording hand.
You might be squeezing too hard. Also, check the angle of your shoulders; sometimes the side connected to your chording hand will start to lift as you're going along. That throws all the 'hinges' off a bit, making you over compensate.
It could just be thumb position; playing at the beginning didn't make it noticeable; now that you're playing a lot, it's starting to become a problem. And if you don't rest up enough between practice sessions, the pain could appear right away.
Sometimes a new, more advanced technique you're getting into - like bending notes more - can push things a little bit too.
Hope this makes sense.
Yes, you are correct it is on my fretting hand. I played tonight for church and noticed it was not as bad. But it did progessively get worst. I also noticed that the meat of the thumb was resting on the back of the neck...instead of the thumb on the back of the neck. Could this be the problem?
Thanks in advance for you help in this matter... :?
God Blesses Everyone with a talent use it to glorify Him,
George Knight
Yah that could very well be the problem right there. Next time you play (after resting up tonight), be aware of that part of your technique and see if, by changing the thumb so it's at the back of the neck, it allows you to play longer. I don't know if you can get a picture of your hand on the neck like you normally play, but if you can, it might help us out a bit.
But it seems like the way your thumb is positioned is probably the cause.
I get a bit of a cramp in my fret-hand thumb if I play nothing but barre chords for a couple of songs / 10 minutes or so. I've just learned to leave a gap between two songs that have no open chords, and whenever I'm transposing or arranging I'll make sure there's at least one open chord in there somewhere. It's getting better over time, but I can get around it while I'm getting over it.
I get a bit of a cramp in my fret-hand thumb if I play nothing but barre chords for a couple of songs / 10 minutes or so. I've just learned to leave a gap between two songs that have no open chords, and whenever I'm transposing or arranging I'll make sure there's at least one open chord in there somewhere. It's getting better over time, but I can get around it while I'm getting over it.
That's the way to go. Also, in certain 'non-guitar' keys where barre chords are pretty much required, you can, once in awhile 'cheat' a little bit and play partial chords - half-barres or just a root and third to get the flavor - anything to give your hand muscles a moment to relax. I mean just because it 'says' barre chord doesn't mean you have to play a full barre.
Hey, maybe that's why guys came up with 'runs' between chords, so they're doing something else between barres ;)
