Beginner left forearm pain When practicing

Is there any lessons that really show how to hold left arm(fretting). I get continuous pain in my left forearm and wrist while practicing. It goes away when I stop. I assume this is due to hold my arm in an incorrect way? Or is this part of strenghting my arm since it isn’t used to these positions?

More top of forearm than wrist

I haven't experienced much in the way of pain at the top of the forearm that I can recall, but certainly pain in the wrist, the area from the meaty part of the thumb extending down through the wrist and into the bottom of the forearm. If you are just starting this is normal as you stretch and strengthen things.

I forget where it is but in Lisa's fundamentals she goes over how to hold a guitar and she does talk about arm position, that may help you.

How close to your body is your left arm? Don't do the chicken wing, it's a cause of pain. Allow the right side of guitar to sit on your leg, allow the neck to come outward so that you're holding your left arm in a natural position. When you're fretting, pay attention that you do NOT bend your wrist at a sharp angle. If you need to move up, try moving your hand forward to give your fingers more upward reach, and if needed, angle the elbow down just a bit more for that angle to keep your forearm and back of your hand as straight as possible. When moving up-down the neck, let your shoulder do the work and keep your forearm and wrist as stable and straight as possible. I hope that helps.

Wow me too. The exercise is called Spider Legs. I practiced for 10 minutes, with my brand new electric guitar Squier Super-Sonic. Left forearm pain lasted 4 hours, like having a charly horse. Is it because I am not using enough strength with my thumb? Thanks for the kind reply. P.S. the pain came 30 minutes after the exercise, it is not immediate.

I used to have this problem until I moved my guitar ( classical style ) onto my left leg when sitting down and allowed the neck of the guitar to be slightly more upright, this seemed to straighten my wrist into a more comfortable relaxed position. When standing the guitar is in the same position provided your guitar strap is adjusted so as not to allow the guitar to be too low . Works for me.

JohnGC.

All of the replies are good and contain great info: the only thing I might add is the set up (action) on your guitar might be too high . Are you working really hard to fret the notes ? If so, lowering the action and substituting lighter guage strings could help if you haven`t tried that already. Just a thought.

Do you do any stretching exercises before you begin playing guitar?

look at the following video https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=19586

Playing guitar is like sport, if you don't want injuries you better do these exercises, every great guitar player does them before exercising or playing a concert.

Herman

Seasons' Greetings Y'all with a COVID-free 2021.

I discovered for finger strengths this handheld device called : https://prohands.net/collections/frontpage/products/gripmaster.

I think my problem with the Low E chord, is not strength, but flexibility. My left fingers won't open up in full wide range. Is there a handheld device for that ? In the mean time, trying my best to go 4 frets on low E chord, but wow, ouch, wow and ouch 😣

Originally Posted by: laurent65262

Seasons' Greetings Y'all with a COVID-free 2021.

I discovered for finger strengths this handheld device called : https://prohands.net/collections/frontpage/products/gripmaster.

I think my problem with the Low E chord, is not strength, but flexibility. My left fingers won't open up in full wide range. Is there a handheld device for that ? In the mean time, trying my best to go 4 frets on low E chord, but wow, ouch, wow and ouch 😣

I had the same trouble trying to stretch to 4 frets until I kept doing the following exercise. Take the 4 fingers of the right hand and place between each of your fingers on the left,you can then spread your right hand fingers to open the left ones. Do not force the fingers open to cause pain but stretch gently, hold each one open for at least 20 seconds and then shake out. Do the same with the right hand in case you decide on finger picking later. You can do this any time anywhere. Worth a try. Good Luck.

Lots of great advice here and from my perspective it is normal when starting out. You are using a muscle group that isn't used to it.

If I had one tip it would be to check how hard you are pressing down on the strings. I constantly have to remind myself that I don't have to press that hard for the string to ring true.

Learning that a death grip on your chords is not a good thing, is one of the biggest hurdles beginners must learn to clear. Many get away with it just happening, others focus on it and progress faster. In fact that Death Grip can actually push strings out of tune. The progression is that...you go from no grip, to death grip, to the right grip. Listen to what Iman is telling you and you will come out the better for it.

I have been told by Physical Theripists that if you have constant pain in your forearm...STOP PLAYING UNTIL IT STOPS. You don't want a chronic problem to develop and this is one of the places it can happen. Chronic Pain is where you don't even have to pick up a guitar to have pain. Don't cultivate that kind problem. If it goes away when you don't play, it is probably just normal muscle pain from the exercise you are developing. This is normal... If the pain does not stop...YOU SHOULD.

Hello, i know this is old thread but i feel like i might have an answer for the original question. I was struggling with the same. I am having huge issues with my left forearm pain. I went to couple of guitar teacher, they gave me similar advices to the above ones. Still, the pain was always there. Regardless how less force i would use on my fingers/fretboard etc..  So in my case the problem with the left forearm was my posture.

I keep guitar on my left leg btw, not that it would matter.  this would happen if i would keep guitar on left leg or right leg. no difference.

For me it was my shoulders. I am not sure if you are also sick like me ( bechterew disease/zzsk ), long story short i have big issues with my back etc. So it could be the case why it is not that natural posture for me while playing.

My left shoulder when playing would lean forward (in the direction of guitar) too much.

You know if you are young and they tell you : 'wyprostuj sie/shoulders back' , when your nose is diving the ground. You you have to move your shoulders all the way back, to have straight posture. i will post a picture with my 'bad posture', and the 'good posture' so maybe it would give you better view.

All i have to do, is to keep focusing on my left shoulder to move to the back. By doing so , the wrist changes a bit posture as well. 

When i do this i can practice 10-30 mintues,  and i dont feel any pain.  when i will forget about it pain will be back in 5 mintues.

The above posture will generate pain.

The below posture will not generate pain

What i am essentialy doing is this:

Give it a try, and let me know if that also helps you.

I completely realize this thread is old ,but i was googling about this today and found this thread ;) so i thought i would update it with my findings. I literally discovered this today. I can not stress out how happy i am !!!

Maintain a straight or slightly arched wrist position rather than bending it excessively. Avoid bending the wrist inward or outward, as this can strain the tendons and muscles in the forearm.

Merge Fruit