Avoid Fatigue On Left Hand

Written by Angel Sanchez

5 Ways to Avoid Left Hand Pain and Fatigue

Positioning the thumb over-the-top creates many issues when forming barre chords.

1. Mastering the art of guitar playing takes time and practice.  With that in mind, a novice guitarist should not expect to have the same level of stamina exhibited by more experienced guitarists.  Patience and consistency in your work are crucial as stamina will be an end-result of your dedication.  A word of caution on repetitive motions.  You body lets you know something is wrong whenever pain becomes acute.  If your experience such pain quickly stop doing what you are doing, something is not quite right.  Unlike weight lifting, where some pain is gain, in the guitar world some pain could mean trouble.

2. The way you grasp the neck of the guitar affects how much time you can barre chords before your hand cramps and hurts.  Make sure to anchor your thumb close the center-back of the neck and not over-the-top as if it was peeking at the fretboard.  Placing the thumb in the center-back of the guitar neck should help you with the proper form; thus, increasing your hand's stamina.

Placing the index finger right in the middle between the frets requires greater force to press down the strings.		Placing the index finger closer to the fret on the right will make pressing the strings down much easier.

3. Precision in finger placing on the fretboard is priceless not only to your sound; but, to your hand's stamina.  Placing the index finger closer to the fret that is closest to the bridge, instead of placing it dead-center between frets, helps decrease the force needed to barre chords.  The less force needed to press down strings, the more time you feel comfortable playing all sorts of barre chords.

4. A guitar with high action will also require more force to press down strings.  If you cannot afford to have guitar's action fixed by a repair technician, then consider using a capo on the first fret of the guitar as a temporary alternative.  Placing a capo on the first fret helps bring the strings of the guitar closer to the frets; therefore, you should use less force to press them down.  Remember to re-tune your guitar; because, placing the capo on the first fret increases the pitch by at least half a step.

5. Neck shapes play a major role on how comfortable it feels to play the instrument.  Different brands and styles of guitar offer many neck styles and shapes to their customers.  I strongly recommend that you always try-out a guitar before buying it.  Just like when you buy a pair of jeans that just feel right; you will want to play guitars that not only sound great but also feel right.