Hand Cramping

[gotto]

Any advice for fret hand finger cramping after playing for extended times? I've been dealing with this  a bit at band practices and at my last gig. Usually it occurs after a couple hours but at my recent gig, at about 1 hour. Fortunately we had another guitarist to take over the background rhythm while I tried to stretch out my fingers and went through some exercises to unwind the cramping.

Greg

[Nutty1]

Hello Greg, I am so very sorry that this is happening to you. I know that if I get a bit tense and clamp down too hard with my fretting hand I get cramp and it gets better when I consciously fret the chords much lighter.  But this is not necessarily what is causing your cramp. I hope someone comes up with a solution to this for you. 

Best wishes

Mandy

[Blue Dog]

Hi gotto. Hand stretching before the gig you know . but drink plenty of water and potassium. gator aid  or a banana . take a aspirin. Advil before the gig might help.   tiger balm on hand before gig helps . but give it time to dry first .Last but not least  a thicker neck  guitar. good luck.

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Baseball pitchers use ice on their arms between innings.

When my hand gets warm the thumb and index tendons hurt, I Iceing helps, 

I'm still not successful on my thumb tendon yet

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by Eracer_Team-DougH

[Steve Krenz]

Great advice from everyone on this.

In addition to all that was suggested let me add...

1) Neck Radius - you might want to experiment with a guitar with a thicker neck.  For me, a thin - necked guitar feels great at the beginning but aches at the end of a long night of playing.  So, a thicker neck starts to feel really comfortable at the end of a long night of playing.

2) Stretch Before You Play. - Simple hand stretches or shaking out your hands is always a good idea before playing.

3) Check Your Strap. - Make sure your strap is at a comfortable height so that your hand, wrist and arm aren't at a stressed position.  Also, make sure your strap has enough padding and is wide enough  so that you aren't putting unneeded pressure on your shoulder.

4) Temperature Shifts - Experiment with the ice packs or hands underneath warm water to relax them.  Find which works for you.

5) Check your Hand Position. - Make sure you are using a good hand position.  Keep that wrist low with a little bit of air space between the palm and the neck.

Hope this helps.  Let us know how it turns out for you.

- Steve

[gotto]

Thanks for the advice all. Two things really caught my eye. I already do Steve's finger stretches and others in preparation before and during play. but my history of thumb problems from arthritis and surgeries have left me with a bad habit of compromised wrist position with my thumb straddling the guitar neck, over and along the neck, palm flush to the back of the neck-no space. I have been working on getting back to the proper hand position lately but old habits creep in when playing barre chords sometimes, especially when I have to drive the rhythm on our songs on more "rock-like" songs. Live situations are the worst for this relapse.

Second, when I returned to playing guitar after my thumb surgeries, I found thin necked guitars the most comfortable, just as Steve has suggested. Playing thick neck guitars with my acquired compromised wrist position is more problematic. All of my guitars but one have thin necks. 

So, I have a couple of things to try out. Complete retraining my wrist to a better position and working with the thicker neck guitar to see if this makes a difference. If this is the trick, I may have a batch of very nice guitars to sell....

Greg

Edited July 7, 2018 by gotto

[Nutty1]

Oh Greg, I did not realise that you had been through so much with your hands and wrists and to have come through it and be playing in a band, even with these problems continuing. You are a real inspiration to me. I take my hat off to you sir! ? 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences on this. I am now wondering if some of my cramping is due to poor positioning of my fretting hand also as I have been getting trouble with my wrist from osteoarthritis. 

I hope your plan works, please me know how it goes.

[zeus7625]

Pardon my ignorance here since i have not been playing long but i'm trying to figure out what you mean by a thicker neck.  Do you mean the thickness of the wood or the distance across the fret board from the low e to the high e? Sorry if this seem elementary.

[DianeB]

@zeus7625, I believe that generally we speak of neck width to describe the string-to-string dimension, and neck thickness for the fretboard surface-to-back-of-neck dimension. Fingerboard radius is yet another dimension, one that affects thickness. Greater clarification from Greg Voros and the rest of the community is welcomed. 

Edited July 19, 2018 by DianeB

[Six String]

On 7/6/2018 at 10:11 PM, gotto said:

Thanks for the advice all. Two things really caught my eye. I already do Steve's finger stretches and others in preparation before and during play. but my history of thumb problems from arthritis and surgeries have left me with a bad habit of compromised wrist position with my thumb straddling the guitar neck, over and along the neck, palm flush to the back of the neck-no space. I have been working on getting back to the proper hand position lately but old habits creep in when playing barre chords sometimes, especially when I have to drive the rhythm on our songs on more "rock-like" songs. Live situations are the worst for this relapse.

Second, when I returned to playing guitar after my thumb surgeries, I found thin necked guitars the most comfortable, just as Steve has suggested. Playing thick neck guitars with my acquired compromised wrist position is more problematic. All of my guitars but one have thin necks. 

So, I have a couple of things to try out. Complete retraining my wrist to a better position and working with the thicker neck guitar to see if this makes a difference. If this is the trick, I may have a batch of very nice guitars to sell....

Greg

Greg,

I've had some issues like that also, and my advice is to cheat, cheat and cheat.  Well maybe cheat is not the right word. How about "explore other voicings"?

Finding places in the song where you can switch to using open chords (or modified barre forms) to give yourself a break from the full barre form for a few bars can make a world of difference.

Us older guys can likely build the stamina to play a song or three with straight barres, but when you need to play 3, 45-50 minute sets, it becomes like a marathon and you need to find ways to adjust your pace to reach the finish line or risk crashing and burning.

Our set has several songs where I play barres during the parts that benefit from that big full sound, and swap to open or partial barres to give my left hand a break during other passages.  I'd cripple myself trying to use barres all the time they could be used.

Edited to add: You may want to explore Steve's advice on a thicker neck.  I KNEW I liked thinner neck guitars, until several years ago when Sweetwater offered a too good to pass up deal on a 50's Tribute Les Paul.  I hesitated to buy it, because I liked thinner necks and when I first got it I hated it.  Fortunately for me, that guitar sounded awesome, so I kept playing it alongside my thin neck guitars, and over time noticed exactly what Steve mentions.  This was at the point in LMG that practice sessions started getting longer, since progress was coming faster and lessons sounded something like music.  I remember telling my wife after a long session with that fat 50's neck that my hand felt better than after playing my preferred thin neck guitars.  Since then, I've gradually traded off most of my thinner neck guitars for thicker necks and with the method above haven't had hand issues (knock wood) for a while now.

Edited July 25, 2018 by Six String

[gotto]

Thanks Six. I have been favoring my thicker necked John Page tele lately. Time will tell as I haven't played marathon practices or gigs since July 4th. I think the proper thumb/wrist position Steve mentioned also has a significant value in helping to resolve problems. I struggle with this because of some complications after my left thumb surgery 3 years ago with residual thumb pain  but I will continue to focus on improving at this. I do many different voicings when I play generally...I generally minimize barre cords (unless the song requires it in certain cover songs) in our group play as they are frankly overkill with multiple instruments in play. Open strings and 3-4 note voicings are my preferences now.  I have pulled out my paraffin bath setup for occasional pre and post play-dip the hands like candles. I really hate to think about giving up my thinner necked Suhrs, Tom Andersons and PRS's but I will give this some reflection should I adapt to the thicker neck styles. I do know Cap has been jonesing for a nice traditional Suhr Tele. Mine comes with a few knicks and belt scratch though....? Great for band playing! ?

Greg

[Triple-o]

I agree with the post that said, “Cheat,Cheat,Cheat. The first thing that came to my mind was a Bruce Springsteen show I saw awhile back.I couldn’t help but notice in his performances  he used a capo and he  pretty much strummed the came thing the entire show.Just simple fingering. So, if you have no say in your bands song list, It seems like you need to make changes on your own  that will work and give your hand a break.