Releiving tightness in your Hand?

AGB_Ghost

I have taken guitar back up after a few months of being busy with life, im no pro and im no new guy either, I have about 2 years experience of guitar on my back but one problem I always face is stiffness or 'tightness' in my little finger, its in my knuckle area, every time I do a pull off my finger tightness up when its curled, leaving a gap for be to loosen it up and do another pull off, its a problem I want to rid myself before I begin to practise more and eventually become good at the instrument.


any tips?

Rigsby

Check out the link below. Lots of general information here. It is meant for bass, but the physical side of things is the same. Do you warm up with gentle stretches before and after a practice session ? Some good stretches are given in the link. Warm up on the instrument gently and gradually. Dont go into fast complex playing from the very start. The hands/fingers need about ten minutes to warm up. Keeping well hydrated is a good idea too when playing.

Hope this helps.


http://chriskeuken.nl/health/stretching-and-strengthening.html

Hayte

I used to have this problem too (and still do to a much more limited extent). I think the problem is the way you grip the neck. If you grip the neck more over the top and put alot of pressure on the back of the neck with your thumb, your wrist will lock up and your pinky will be stiff. Not only that you have to "curl" your fingers round the fretboard more which exacerbates the problem.

These days I tend to play with a much looser grip and I play with my fingers flatter (not curled so much). I find it difficult to describe and may have to post a video. I wouldn't say that I have vastly more flexibility in my pinky, but my grip doesn't require me to curl my pinky so much to run up and down scales.

I would experiment with changing your grip slightly. The idea is that you want as little movement as possible and still be comfortable. You want your grip to be consistent. i.e. you don't want to adjust your grip to reach notes on the bass strings with your pinky and then shift back when playing on the treble strings.

If you have a really bad grip, you are constantly adjusting pressure/grip to reach notes and you may need to fully extend/fully curl/fully extend your pinky. Thats means you will not be able to play fast with your pinky.

I think it is perfectly natural for your pinky to be less dexterous than your index, middle and ring finger but if your grip is right, you don't need it to be as dexterous.

I also note that you can and sometimes will get this problem on your picking hand. A good exercise is to pick the top 2 strings with your thumb and then 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th string with your index, middle, ring and pinky finger. Then do it in reverse.

Get a constant rhythm going and just run up and down the strings like that and build up the tempo. If your hand is not poised correctly, you will notice that your pinky is too stiff to play in time when you build up speed. I think this is normal. If you poise your wrist to finger pick correctly, you will be able to do this run much quicker without the dexterity of your pinky finger being an issue.

strobe

Potassium helps too. So eats your cod, spinach and avacado. Surgeons make sure they eat high potassium foods regularly to make sure their hands don't tighten up during surgery.

WhitestBoyAlive

Problems in your hands and fingers can come from any part of your body. So make sure your shoulders and neck are relaxed aswell as your fingers and thumbs

-=al=-

Rigsby wrote: »

Check out the link below. Lots of general information here. It is meant for bass, but the physical side of things is the same. Do you warm up with gentle stretches before and after a practice session ? Some good stretches are given in the link. Warm up on the instrument gently and gradually. Dont go into fast complex playing from the very start. The hands/fingers need about ten minutes to warm up. Keeping well hydrated is a good idea too when playing.

Hope this helps.


http://chriskeuken.nl/health/stretching-and-strengthening.html

nice little video there, had tendinitis for like a year or 2 and was a bitch to shake off, catching back up again with some extra computer work goin on lately, nice exercises there!

often overlook stretching lately too but will have to get back into it

Rigsby

-=al=- wrote: »

often overlook stretching lately too but will have to get back into it

Yeah, a lot of people don't bother with any kind of warm up like stretching. They just pick up the instrument and dive head long into fast or complex playing. Then they wonder why they are getting cramps, pains, tightness etc. Five minutes of gentle stretching before even touching the guitar ( and after a practice session) is definitely not time wasted.