Need Tips On Relaxing My Left Hand.

[denny1948golf]

I've come to realize I'm playing with too much tension in my left hand (fret hand). I find my left hand is getting tired and it's because of the tension. I watch a lot of youtube and it's easy to see how some of the better players hands are so relaxed. I've had my acoustic set up by a local pro and the action is very low and it's easy to play, so that's not the problem. I start out ok but after a couple songs I find I'm getting tight and squeezing the neck. My hand gets tired and I soon have a hard time fretting the guitar at all.

Anyone else have this problem? Any advice is very much appreciated.

[rick-slo]

My right hand never gets tired out. There is no reason yours should if your health is ok and the action light. Hard to tell without a video. Besides just pressing too hard it could be poor posture, neck position, thumb position, fretting position...

Regarding barres read the many prio threads on how to economize energy.

Fret close behind the frets. Thumb behind the neck and play something with pressure light enough to cause some of the notes to mute. Keep playing this way a bit to teach yourself a lighter grip. Then increase pressure a little to lessen the muted notes. Find that line between too little and just enough pressure.

Also when you first strike a chord or a note is when you need the most pressure on the frets. You can ease up the pressure as the chords or notes decay a without a problem. Easing up a bit is important to making quick fluid chord changes and not tiring out your hand.

[bluende]

Originally Posted by denny1948golf

...I start out ok but after a couple songs I find I'm getting tight and squeezing the neck. My hand gets tired and I soon have a hard time fretting the guitar at all....

It may not be obvious, but I'd guess that there is excess tension in a lot of places in your body as you play, not limited to just your fretting hand. As Rick says, it could be a combination of posture, neck position, etc., too.

In terms of relaxing while playing, much of it will come down to your willingness to sort of unlearn/relearn your repertoire of tunes. If you know your tunes so well that the muscle memory includes all that tension, I am afraid you'll most likely have to go back over each one, S L O W L Y, and practice playing it without tension. Just as when learning the tune for the first time, you will be able to increase speed as you go, only in this case, you should only allow yourself to increase tempo when you can truly maintain the relaxed playing throughout the tune. No zoning out, and slipping back to the old way of playing.

Sometimes, we forget that our whole body is involved in making music, so another thing I'd suggest is to try to become aware of your breathing as you play. Right now, as you tense up, your breathing most likely also becomes shallower. Try to work on maintaining deep/open breathing as well as staying loose -- especially in your jaw, neck, shoulders and all the way down your arms to those hard working fingers. Try to learn to be aware of tension anywhere in your body as you play and how you can release it.

It's not easy and it's hard to maintain the focus at first, but just like with any skill, the more you practice it, the more natural it will feel.

It's a great goal and will improve your musicality by leaps and bounds! Good luck!

[JCave]

Originally Posted by bluende

It may not be obvious, but I'd guess that there is excess tension in a lot of places in your body as you play, not limited to just your fretting hand. As Rick says, it could be a combination of posture, neck position, etc., too.

Bingo. I sit at a jewelers bench building various bobbles. All sorts of issues arrise as a result. We have various stretching and relaxation excercises for elbows, neck, shoulders and etc. Don't be afraid to just put it down, stretch and relax for a bit.



Jerry

[bluesbassdad]

I'm not a guitar teacher; I'm barely a guitar player.

However, I know one source of excess tension that you might look for.

Suppose a beginner forms a six-string barre chord. When strummed not all six strings sound clearly. What is the normal response? Of course! Press harder. But which finger? Probably all of them, even though insufficient force may not be the problem. (Often the problem is improper placement of one or more fingers -- either too far from the fret or directly on top if it.)

Rather than do the normal thing it's better to pluck each string individually to determine which fretting finger is causing the problem. Then reposition that finger and maybe use a bit more force from that finger only.

An exercise that I've found generally helpful is to play the chromatic scale in first position very slowly, using the least force possible to get a clear sound for each note. A player doesn't know how much force is enough until s/he knows how much is too little.

[mr. beaumont]

Tension also comes from not really being comfortable with what you're playing. Practice, practice, practice.

Make sure you're breathing normally while you play.

[denny1948golf]

Thanks for the great response. I've changed from playing with the guitar resting on my right knee to the classical position recently. I think the neck is in a much better position now and I'll work on the tension from here.

[jeastman]

One more suggestion that worked for me is to play a bit on an electric guitar. With such light strings it is much easier to over-press and chords sound horrible. After a while playing on an electric it was much easier to feel the right amount of pressure.