Pain in my left hand, but only in certain riffs/chords

by Cullen

Hi.

I noticed that I have pain in my left hand (for the most part), but only when I play certain riffs/certain kinds of riffs, such as power chords on the bottom strings/frets and D-minor chords in certain places.

I've been playing guitar for 8 or 9 years. I play a really extreme style of metal called black metal. In this style of music you are playing at high speeds throughout entire songs, really fast packing and fast movement across strings. Also in this style of music, there are a lot of chord changes such as minor chords and many 2 note intervals that can have the hand feeling awkward.

I am very, very worried because the guitar player in one of this genre's biggest bands ( a band called Immortal) had to retire from the genre from developing tendonitis in both hands.

How can I stop that from happening, without changing how I hold the guitar or the kind of music I play?



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Joshua Answers:

Hi Cullen.

It's good to be concerned. It looks like that has you be motivated.

For the record, Demonaz didn't -have- to retire. He just never found found the right tools to reverse his tendonitis. And he clearly didn't find a professional that knew what they were doing. If he wants to get back in the game, have him come see me.

Partly I'm tooting my own horn there, but I want you to get the point, which is that Tendonitis is totally reversible. I don't care how bad it is or how long you've had it.

Do I make it sound simple? It is. It really bugs me when people have to stop doing the things they love because of Tendonitis.

So.

From what you describe, your Tendonitis dynamic is currently pretty specific, geographically.

You only hurt doing certain things because the specific structures responsible for those movements are stressing/straining/irritating those specific (parts of your) structures.

Predictably over time if you keep doing what you're doing, it will spread, hurt more, hurt more often, spread, hurt all the time, spread, force you to stop playing.

Predictable. Reversible. It's not rocket science. It does take some time and diligence.

I highly recommend my Reversing Guitar Tendonitis ebook. It costs $20 and will allow you to have a long, full career (because it will teach you how to keep your body healthy and in good working order).

Maybe you don't want to do that. In that case, you should at least learn How To Reduce Inflammation.






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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com