Should learning to play be this much of a strain?

[WRGKMC]

A first thing a really good teacher would do is evaluate the neck and see if it fits your hand properly.

It all begins there. It doesnt stop your finger tips from getting sore but everything else in volving the wrist

and joints are impacted by the neck size, width, depth, countour. A good excercise regimine will work

the wrist aerobically and fatigue all the hand muscles which you build up over time. If you have pain in one specific

area ist a sign of a bad neck fit or bad technique. Cramping can be a sign of a bad neck fit or a lack of

aerobic workout. In any case, a neck workout is not lifting weights.

 

If the necks too small for your hand you wind up supporting the fingers with the wrist because there isnt enough neck

there to do the job. A neck thats too fat will prevent you from having a good reach and slow your playing ability.

A properly fit neck will qork the fingers, not the wrist.

 

I'm not sure about the newer Casinos, but the original I owned had a very thin neck. It was narrow with a deep D shape

like some rickenbackers. Its not the best fit for most peoples hands. For me it worked well because I cut my thumb tendon

on glass as a child and it healed a bit shorter. I can play any neck because I keep my thumb tip on the back of my neck

when I play. (something you learn to do playing chords requiring a wide stretch and playing leads properly)

 

Wrapping your thumb around the neck is bad technique. Its something beginners do playing root chords, but they should be mentored to use the thumb

on the back of the neck as soon as they move past the first position. The pinkey should be used just as much as the other fingers as well.

 

Show me a guitarist that doesnt use his pinkey, and I'll show you a guitarist that never had proper lessons.

Each finger is responsible for one fret. Many self taught guitarists will go from his first finger

on a string to his third finger 4 frets up instead of his pinkey to bend strings. This puts stress on the wrist thats unnessasary.

Put the pinkey 3 frets above the first finger and bend the string with all 4 fingers. Over time you can bend, hammer on or pull off any note

with any finger.

 

The rest is just hard work both physically and mentally mastering the instrument.

A 4 hour workout is needed in the beginning to show any improvement progress.

If you do 30 minuites, forget it. you cant even get warmed up in that time.

 

As a pro musician you should be able to handle 8 hours of playing without breaking a sweat.

That will get you a solid three hour endurance window for playing out live. When I was in my 20's I could easily

put in a 12 hour day and still have plenty of energy left over aftter hauling gear to and from a show.

Even after 46 years of playing I put in a good 3 hours on week nights and maybe 6~8 hours oon weekends

to keep in shape. I may go through cycles where I practice more and less. I skip a few days to a week and

its a big effort to get back up to speed, but I have a lifetime of dicipline to work off of for getting back up to speed.

[Deadbeat Son]

I opened this thread and only needed to read the first sentence. After half a year? Yes it should be this strainful. It is not easy at first. Or at second. Or third.

 

 

Agreed.

[DaveGrima]

Take your guitar to a professional guitar tech and have it-set up properly with 9 or 10 gauge strings. Then get a book or something and learn to do it yourself. I think alot of beginning guitar students are making it harder than it should be because they dont know how a properly set-up guitar is supposed to feel. Then they give up because its too hard.

[billybilly]

You are pretty new to it and it just hurts, did for me for a couple of years (sorry to say). You are probably pressing too hard and bends are not easy, especially early on.

Don't play right after you have showered, swam or did anything in which your hands were wet for any period of time. They are fragile for a bit after they get wet.

[DaveAronow]

I collect pre-WWII passenger ships. Having a pilots license is so cheap compared to that.

 

 

I collect multibillion dollar conglomerates.

 

Playing with a few toy boats in the bathtub is very cheap comparatively.

[Flintc]

Guitar is a difficult instrument. My observation is that beginners always squeeze the neck much too hard, for a couple of reasons. First, their fingers don't "know" exactly where the strings are, and partially miss them. So the string isn't pressed down well, and isn't clean. So people press HARDER to get a clean sound. Very hard on the fingertips. And second, their hands don't exactly know where to go next on the neck, and have a certain amount of "seek time" to get there, and this also tends to make muscles cramp up and squeeze harder. If you watch a skilled guitarist, you find he exerts almost no pressure on the strings because he's nailed them perfectly, giving him both speed and clean notes. I'd estimate this takes at least 1000 hours of dedicated practicing. If you can grind out a focused hour a day, that's about three years of hard work.

 

Maybe this can be sped up a bit with a lot of work on scales and chord chains. This can be made less boring by taking some simple melody (like "happy birthday"), starting the melody on the 6th string with every finger, then on the 5th string with every finger, then on the 4th string with every finger. Don't change position (use 5 frets per string where required). There are plenty of exercise books for lines and chords.

 

Expect slow and painful progress. With enough determination, you'll be able to practice 3-4 hours a day (and it STILL won't be enough).

[LGK_Dude]

 

I collect multibillion dollar conglomerates. Playing with a few toy boats in the bathtub is very cheap comparatively.

 

 

 

[Doctor49]

too soon be feeling like you do.
you will have to play and play and then play more.
if I don't play for a while my fingers get sore when i start again and thats after 50 years playing.

I have a 335 with Bigsby and don't find it to be particularly big or heavy. That should not be a factor for you.
Buying new stuff won't help you learn.
It won't help you to get better at this stage either.

Play along with stuff, play while you watch tv, get so the thing feels like another body part!
I don't think you are doing anything wrong - just not enough of it.

There is no quick fix.

[fenderbender56]

Never give in and you'll gain the rewards you seek grasshopper! Relax when you play see how much pressure it realy takes to fret a note and practice this.

[Pine Apple Slim]

Relax when you play see how much pressure it realy takes to fret a note and practice this.

 

 

Good advice!