One thing you can't escape is the role of the musculature in your hands, arms, and fingers. If you learn to work with your body, not against it, you can make the most of your ability. Just as you do for any other physical activity, you should warm up every time you play. Warming up can be a simple scale exercise or a daily practice routine.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tendonitis

If you overuse or misuse your wrists, you risk developing either carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis, or both, which can bring your guitar career to a fast end. Tendon swelling can be aggravated by repetitive or strenuous activities, and some people experience repetitive stress injuries if they perform the same motion over and over again. More than one well-known player has been affected by these, but professionals don't usually like to talk about it.

If you ever have any pain from playing guitar, stop playing and rest your hands for the rest of the day. If the problem persists, seek medical advice.

The Bent Fist

Let's prove, in a very dramatic fashion, that a bent wrist causes stress. Lay your arm, palm up on a table. Make sure your wrist is flat, and try to make a fist. Nothing hard or uncomfortable about that motion is there? Now bend your hand toward your wrist and try to make a fist with your wrist bent. Do you feel the tremendous strain in the back of your wrist? That's because your tendons are being stretched and not being allowed to work properly. Most players play with a bent wrist, but because they never force their hand into a fist, they never realize how much strain they're putting on the tendons. But, in reality, the tendons in the hand are getting stretched the exact same way as they are when you tried this experiment; you just don't feel it.

What Do I Do?

Playing correctly is not just better for your body, it actually makes playing easier. If certain chords hurt you before, especially barre chords, learning how to use your hands effectively will change the way you play.

To Sit or Stand?

A hand problem usually gets worse when you stand up to play, because you assume a poor standing position. It seems to be cool these days to play your guitar slung way down low. Having the guitar down that low forces you to play with a bent wrist just to reach the guitar! The guitar should be at the same place on your body whether you sit or stand. Usually if your guitar rests against your stomach area, you're in the right area. When you're wearing a strap, the guitar should not move when you stand up or sit down. Keeping the guitar a little higher on your body allows your hands to work properly. If it looks a little “uncool” to you, just imagine pain in your wrists that never goes away. You can learn to live with the guitar up high, but do you want to learn to live with the pain?

Maintaining good posture when you practice is very important; try to sit in a comfortable chair. And if you read music from a stand, keep the music at eye level so you don't strain your neck.

Take Advantage of the Mirror

Every so often, play in front of a mirror. Really look at your hands, and see what your posture looks like. Look at side angles so you can see the slope of your fretting hand (normally hidden by your guitar neck). The ideal position is to have totally straight wrists on both hands. Although this isn't always 100 percent possible, especially when playing on the lower strings, just try to have as little bend as possible in your wrists.

If you find that you have the tendency to bend your wrists, play in front of a mirror every day and scrutinize yourself. Be diligent about this, because you can retrain your hands to do the right things. Many students find that after they fix wrist problems they have more speed than they had before. Excess tension can rob you of precious energy that you could be directing elsewhere—speed.