Hand & Finger Pain from Playing Guitar? Here's What to Do!

We can't forget about those other four digits!
Your fingers are obviously a pretty important part of playing guitar, so knowing how to take care of them is a necessity for any guitarist. Here's a quick video about muscle fatigue and fingertip pain that you will experience as you progress in your craft. It's NOT a sign that you should stop, or that guitar isn't for you! It's only a sign that your most important tools need to be well taken care of.

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[pkortalk]

Been watching you since you started. Nothing about lessons but you have good genes and are aging ☺️ well. Have a long healthy happy life.

[michaeldrevyankosr]

Erich,
I broke my neck and back and have plates and screws in my neck, lost All strength in my hands . I ended up building my own guitars with super low action, 9-40 balanced strings . I play it well without a lot of pain

[violetsky]

Thanks for this video. I had to quit guitar and bass for a while due to tendinitis but then I improved my technique and have been feeling much better since.

[davegreeley]

Such a deep sound for that guitar. Carpel tunnel is nasty.
Fingertip soreness goes away never to be thought of again after a while. You start to realize you don't have to press as hard, just more precise between the frets.
Great info for players.

[ikkezegtie]

omg after building resistance in my fingertips, i started to get pain in a joint. I stumbled on this video and i realised that my technique improved more then i knew. also less feeling in my fingertips made me press the strings too hard like i did a few weeks ago, i was unaware as my fingertips are not sensitive anymore. Indeed now i dont have to press so hard at all, which also makes it more easy to keep my wrist forward. The fact that nowadays i can stumble upon someone like you is a godsend. Thank you very much for the efforts in providing us with your explanations <3

[AdrianClement]

This is why I love my teacher (Erich)
He teaches about real life. I changed my diet due to arthritis pain in my neck from an old injury and the results were well worth it!! My pain is gone.
Thank you Erich for addressing this!

[ariekoren]

Hi Erick, I always enjoy watching your videos, (for years) as there's always something significant to learn from you and thank you for that. To prevent pain and other problematic issues, such as tendonitis and other various joint and soft tissue minor or major injuries, that eventually might cause one to quit playing guitar, I think it's important to mention the necessity of of stretching exercises along with warming up exercises to the fingers and wrists to increase flexibility and local blood circulation pryor to start practicing and also to play slow in the beginning of the practice. I say this as a Doctor of Physical Therapy.

[Craig-zqbt]

Been playing guitar 60 years. I suddenly have finger tip pain, like bad arthritis in the finger tip joints.
I have to keep playing. Sixty years already, not stopping, now.

[iwearstilts]

Love these vids I learned the notes on a guitar from you and I really appreciate what you do. Keep up the great work.

[paulhadfield]

i hurt my arms at work, but i find playing guitar makes the pain go away, but i do press the strings lightly and play acousitc mainly, good video cheers

[TokyoBlue]

I second the recommendation to see a physical therapist if there is unusual pain. Some of these issues can be successfully treated with physical therapy. Physical therapy aims to treat the cause of the pain, whereas a lot of doctors will just give you meds to mask the pain. Find a good PT and don’t risk doing further damage to your hand.

[owensterry]

Having a guitar with jumbo sized frets helps too.Gibson uses them on all of their acoustic and electric guitars.

[marinemomma]

Erich thank you for this video. Before my pain gets any worse I’m going to change the gage from 11 to 8. I’m working on the diet because I do have autoimmune and lots of immflamuation. Arthritis and Hashimoto’s. I wish I could go vegan... but with Hashimoto’s... beans, tofu my body antibodies would go through the roof.

So much great information to help and prevent further damage. THANK YOU. 🙏🙏🙏

[johnnga]

Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us and making this video. I was wondering if you had any insight on the picking hand pain I have wrist pain that I didn't have until recently and I've been playing for about 7 months I don't know what I'm doing wrong do you have any ideas what I did thanks

[goofy]

I play bass aswell...i dont have any feeling left in my fingertips anymore

[dirtworshiper]

Soak your hands in ice water whenever possible for about 10 minutes each hand. Especially right after. Brings the swelling down. Well it works for me.

[eagali]

My index finger 's upper knuckle pains when i play C and F chords .
Please help me

[paulowen]

Get an outdoor all terrain full on physical job! Works for me, never had sore fingers from a guitar but a few black nails from a hammer!. Is that a band " The Black Nails " ? It should be. Thanks Erich ill share this with my office worker buddies 😀

[chosenone]

My pain is on top of my hand leading towards upper middle part of hand trying to do solos of Dave mustaine killing my hand feels like it’s about to split in two horrible pain

[razzymarcus]

I woke up today and my fret hand was so sore and my ring finger was like semi trigger fingering