This classical guitar came to the shop because its top was buzzing. The proper playing position, in their book, is with the guitar on the left leg and a footstool under the left foot. 5) You have a prior (non-guitar related) injury that is aggravated by playing guitar. The last thing you want is for your extensor tendon to tear and cause you problems. I'm a professional classical guitarist. This column will expand upon a specific type of injury, cubital tunnel syndrome, which affects mostly the inner side of the forearm and the pinky side of the hand. This may require you to take a week or two off from playing guitar. Tips for the Left Arm: Maintain good posture and sitting position by following the X- Y axis with the shoulders and the spine. It’s not uncommon for guitar players to have such severe elbow pain that they can’t even pick up their guitar, let alone play it. ; Your left wrist is should be generally flat, or in a slight and natural arch. If you feel pain when you play guitar, stop and rest. the elbow should not be flying around like a chicken. Pressing on the top outside, I could see a gap open and close inside. It demands that we use our left and right sides of our body in different ways. Tennis elbow. I’m finding the casual posture is more comfortable for me, at least with the steel-string, and I’m also playing Celtic tunes on the classical guitar in the casual posture. So off to the doctors I went and here we are: Tennis Elbow from playing guitar too much (that´s why I call it "Guitar Elbow") Symptoms * Pain on the outer part of elbow (lateral epicondyle). 20 years of classical guitar now left hand thumb pain the last 3 years by: Jim Hi. * Point tenderness over the lateral epicondyle – a prominent part of the bone on the outside of the elbow. Those tight muscles are most likely the cause of your pain, so they need to be released. It demands that we sit asymmetrically, and distribute our weight asymmetrically. I’ve played classical guitar on and off for forty years, and am at home with the classical posture—but it always results in pain. Tennis elbow – or lateral epicondylitis to give it its hard-to-pronounce technical term – is a condition that affects the upper forearm. It demands that we both support it, and play it. The repetitive motion of playing the guitar tightens certain muscle groups. to avoid curling fingers on first string, you move your palm/hand down, away from you to elongate your fingers. The classical players, with all their rules and posture and hundreds of years of tradition, have this thing figured out. The classical guitar is a large, asymmetrically shaped instrument. Over the first couple of weeks of your tennis elbow injury, it is common to have signs of inflammation and swelling. At the tail of the guitar, there was a gap between the top and the tailblock. This guitar tendonitis treatment is for both pain relief and better function These are techniques you can do yourself.. A common problem among both acoustic and electric guitar players is the development of left forearm pain. Looking inside with a light and mirrors, I found the problem. if you are playing 6th string, move palm up, toward you to get those strings. The cause of it? The Classical Guitar and the Body. This principle is critical and cannot be emphasized enough: Do not ever play through pain!!! I used to get pain in my wrist and forearm untill I moved my elbow out from my body so that my fretting hand moves up and down the fretboard by moving the elbow and wrist as one - from the shoulder. If you have tennis elbow, you’ll feel pain when you lift or bend your arm, grip an object or twist your forearm when opening something like a door. Although I've played for over 20 years, only in the past 2-3 years I've had a problem with increasing, acute pain in my left thumb joint when holding particular shapes. elbow will go in and out, but this will be mostly in response to where you're playing on the neck, and not the strings you are playing. See the article on Sitting and Posture for Classical Guitar in case you missed it.