How do guitar players avoid excessive stress to their fret-hand finger joints ? - 02/10/13 09:42 AM
Just a little tip I've learned about my poor fret-hand technique that I've begun to work on improving.
With flamenco guitar, and steel-string acoustic for that matter, it's easy to fatigue your fretting hand by inefficient position. I recently learned from my guitar teacher that I was placing too much tension in my left hand (e.g. thumb pressing against back of fingerboard to hold bar chords, for example) - he could see this through a video cam ! In the past, after long practice sessions, at times the muscles in my pinky and third finger would hurt very much.
What he noticed about my fret hand fretting was that too much of the fretting motion was coming from my interphalangeal joints (IP joints - the 2 joints nearest the ends of the fingers) instead of my metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP joints - or knuckle joints).
http://www.assh.org/Public/HandConditions/Documents/Web_Version_PDF/MPJoint.pdf
Note in this article "The MP joints are less often affected by arthritic conditions than the smaller joints in thehand or the joint where the thumb joins the wrist (CMC)".
Thus - to extend the life of your fretting hands, most of the fretting motion should come from the MCP joints. I would very much like to know I will have enough techniqe to be playing guitar well into my 80s and 90s; Paco de Lucia is still playing faster than Superman (or Flash Gordon - if you remember him). According to my guitar teacher - Sabicas gave his last concert in his 80s and was still playing exceptionally well. I want to make sure I have hobbies to do with my friends as I get older that go beyond golf (in fact, I need to quit paddle ball - too rough on the knees, and start playing golf ASAP - for those of you that haven't heard of paddle ball, it's a city sport played against a wall, similar to hand ball, but you use paddles; because it's played on concrete and involves lots of sprints and running - lots of wear and tear and knee and hip replacements that paddle ball players need as they age).
Can anyone share their take on this, whether they ever experience finger pain in the fretting hand, and what they do to minimize the tension in their fretting hands as they play ?
With flamenco guitar, and steel-string acoustic for that matter, it's easy to fatigue your fretting hand by inefficient position. I recently learned from my guitar teacher that I was placing too much tension in my left hand (e.g. thumb pressing against back of fingerboard to hold bar chords, for example) - he could see this through a video cam ! In the past, after long practice sessions, at times the muscles in my pinky and third finger would hurt very much.
What he noticed about my fret hand fretting was that too much of the fretting motion was coming from my interphalangeal joints (IP joints - the 2 joints nearest the ends of the fingers) instead of my metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP joints - or knuckle joints).
http://www.assh.org/Public/HandConditions/Documents/Web_Version_PDF/MPJoint.pdf
Note in this article "The MP joints are less often affected by arthritic conditions than the smaller joints in thehand or the joint where the thumb joins the wrist (CMC)".
Thus - to extend the life of your fretting hands, most of the fretting motion should come from the MCP joints. I would very much like to know I will have enough techniqe to be playing guitar well into my 80s and 90s; Paco de Lucia is still playing faster than Superman (or Flash Gordon - if you remember him). According to my guitar teacher - Sabicas gave his last concert in his 80s and was still playing exceptionally well. I want to make sure I have hobbies to do with my friends as I get older that go beyond golf (in fact, I need to quit paddle ball - too rough on the knees, and start playing golf ASAP - for those of you that haven't heard of paddle ball, it's a city sport played against a wall, similar to hand ball, but you use paddles; because it's played on concrete and involves lots of sprints and running - lots of wear and tear and knee and hip replacements that paddle ball players need as they age).
Can anyone share their take on this, whether they ever experience finger pain in the fretting hand, and what they do to minimize the tension in their fretting hands as they play ?
Not so bad when I'm playing solos, as my hand moves about much more. 
Regards, Joe G.
