Quote: "Internet research established ulnar nerve issue. Probably from a huge amount of practice sessions this year. I was getting ready to do a lot more. Pain mainly in the wrist."
Hi Gtrfinger! This is a condition I have encountered repeatedly over many decades amongst obsessive practisers, (it's the only way you are ever going to get perfect right?) and such thinking Players, intensely dedicated Players, and Professional Session Players. One very famous one of which had to drop out of Session Work for some while, and subsequently went into Musical Education.
You have to adjust your mental thinking, you have to moderate your methodologies, and you have to fundamentally change the manner in which you address your Instrument. If you do these things you can virtually eliminate the issue, and enjoy a long, happy, successful relationship with your Instrument Playing at a Professional Level.
If you don't do these things, this problem will continually dog you your whole Playing career and probably even Stop You Playing Altogether. I am not a Doctor. Rather I am someone who has Played at a Professional or Serious Level for Recordings for Fifty Years and don't have the problem at all, although when I was much younger, around your age I did. So I must have learnt something to great advantage.
Furthermore, it's an issue I have helped Professional Players with at the Highest Level, Repeatedly over the years, and is a Perennial Topic for Discussion And because it makes the difference between whether they can actually earn a living or not, it actually is a Life Changing Subject. I am also very interested in How Musical Instruments are Manufactured. So am fascinated by Factories and Production Methods. I also work directly with Large Corporations involved in Manufacturing at the Highest Level. High Productivity Ergonomics and Health and Safety are today at the top of the agenda for Companies, as there is a huge, entirely avoidable cost to the Business to bear, when workers suffer from Repetitive Strain Injuries.
So what I am going to discuss with you is based upon all that Professional Experience.
What you must realise, is that as a Totally Objective Fact for instance..
I take the view based upon my personal observation and experience, that 99% of Guitarists do not even know how to properly open their Guitar Case without doing damage to their Guitars.
Although you may find that difficult to accept, the evidence is there, plain to see all around you, to back that up. However, the Salient Point that relates to you and your problem. Is that you first Need To Accept, that there are issues related to Guitar Playing, that people assume to be merely a matter of common sense.
When that is clearly not the case. Areas where when beginning to learn to Play, they merely copy what they have seen many other Players do, or indeed simply do what feels convenient to them. It's just plain common sense right? We don't need to think more about these things than that.
Well just like the FACT, that you can do great damage to a Guitar simply by not opening the case in an entirely correct manner.
We can do also great damage to ourselves, and our Bodies by not Playing the Instrument in the Correct Manner. And there is an Optimal Manner to do so.
The thing is, we must First Accept that what we thought to be a matter that's simple, just common sense, requiring no thought whatever. is really Rather Complex indeed, when we consider it holistically, in its entirety, and with the full benefit of hindsight.
Unless you can Accept This, I fear the rest of what I write will not really help you much, as you will be reluctant to make the essential changes you need to eradicate the issue, as completely as possible, and thus the cure cannot possibly work and you will continue to have problems throughout your Playing Career.
Let me begin like this. Much of my experience, has come from helping Bass Players.
A recent one that comes to mind has a habit of jumping all over the Stage while he is Playing, and this places further strain on his hands. But basically, he had the same problem as you. Bass Playing is an easy way for you to understand my points.
If you ask any Bass Player, (many of which suffer with your type of problem, as a Bass String requires rather more strength that a Guitar to Finger, and the Scale Length creates far more strain), who their favourite Bass Player is. Pound to a Penny they will say James Jamerson. Or perhaps Jim Fielder, who is another good example.
Then I say, well why don't you hold your Instrument to your body like James Jamerson did, if you admire him so much?
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...1150068/JJ.jpg
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...1150505/ff.jpg
The point is Jamerson moved from Upright Bass to Electric Bass and carried over his technique from one Instrument to the other.
Like Jim Fiedler, he held his Instrument in the Optimal Playing Position. In other words, his Left Hand employed a Solid Classic Technique which was greatly enhanced by the fact that the Neck of his Instrument was addressed to his Body more vertically than usual.
This manner facilitated the Classic Playing Technique which involves the use of all four fingers, addressing the neck in a way that ensures they all can be utilised, with as little strain as possible being placed upon the muscles and nerves, through Incessant Repetitive Playing.
You should easily be able to see the sense of this for Upright Violin Bass Players. And hopefully, can now properly understand how Electric Bass Players too can have both an Improved Playing Technique, and far less Hand Strain Problems, by adopting a Similar Stance with their Instrument.
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...1150506/gg.jpg
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...150507/hhh.jpg
So now let's see what great Guitar Players do.
I have here some picture of Segovia, the man who single handed, defined what Classic Guitar Playing is, and should be in the context of an Orchestral Instrument, and thus set the Rules of Concert Playing for everyone that followed. Before Segovia, The Classical Guitar was not accepted in that Arena. People forget or usually don't realise that he invented the concept!
Segovia
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...%20%281%29.jpg
Djano Reinhardt
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...%20%282%29.jpg
Joe Pass
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.c...%20%282%29.jpg
Joe Pass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLGf5tPPfe8
Martin Taylor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLU8md9JFg
P
|