Repetative Strain Injury

[Mai Zure]

It appears that I'm beginning to suffer from a Repetative strain on two of the fingers of my fretting hand. I'm certain that this stems from not having the correct hand posture, and I've never been able to have anybody show me the proper way to hold the guitar even though I've been playing for a year. Could someone give me some insight into this, or even better a run down of the hand position? Thanks!

[Christoph]

RSI is pretty serious business, so if it hurts those fingers when you're playing I'd suggest you lay off the guitar for a while and give them a rest. I once strained a tendon in my thumb from playing weird chords, and it took a week or more for it too get better so I could play. . . . so anyway, don't play for little while.

About the hand posture, your hand and arm should be held away from the body at a right angle to the neck of the guitar. Then place your thumb at the middle of the neck for support. This is especially important when playing scales or barre chords as you will eventually jack up your hand by playing with your arm and fingers at a crooked angle. So once again, keep your arm, hand, and fingers straight, at a right angle to the neck.

Peace.

-Christoph