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Reason #1: Squeezing The Neck: If you feel a lot of stress within your fretting wrist if you fret notes or chords for a certain period of time, it likely means that you are squeezing the neck of the guitar with your thumb. Once you relax your hold slightly so it feels as though you’re holding the guitar neck, but aren't squeezing it, much of the tension you are experiencing is going to disappear. Reason #2: Finger Misalignment: Another reason your fretting hand, especially the section close to your thumb, gets tense happens because your thumb is out of place with your fingers. Any time you glimpse down at your fingers and thumb while you are holding your guitar neck you should see approximately a straight path through your middle finger down to your thumb. Bear in mind, this is just a place to start since everyone’s physiology differs; yet, if your thumb is too much higher or lower compared to this finger, you are placing a large amount of unwanted tension on the hand and you will find it difficult to play for much more than a few minutes at a time. Reason #3: Bringing Thumb Over The Neck Of The Guitar: There is a inclination for players, especially novices to want to bring their thumb over the guitar fretboard when they fret certain notes and chords. To help illustrate what i'm saying, stand up and play looking at a mirror. When you fret several chords or play some notes, do you notice that your thumb is visible over the neck in the mirror at any time. If your response is yes, then you will need to make an effort to keep your thumb below the neck (not noticeable in the mirror, however, you don’t want it physically underneath the neck of the guitar) to cut down on pressure and ensure that you are providing yourself the largest potential reach/ability to stretch out across the guitar fretboard. There are several unique scenarios (for instance while bending a string), but for the most part when playing notes and chords it's best to keep your thumb beneath the neck. Reason #4: Guitar Neck Is Too Low: The common method for most guitar players to play when standing up is with their guitar’s body hanging just above or around their waist. Playing like this puts incredible strain on your wrist because it forces you to hold the neck at a really aggressive angle! You can already feel just how tense and hard your hand will be the second you grab your guitar so it’s no wonder that people that play this way complain of discomfort. Playing with a guitar too low on your body also makes it really hard to stand-up straight so many people end up slouching. This places extra tension on your back and neck. There's two different ways to reduce this stress. The 1st strategy is really self-explanatory. Shorten your guitar strap/make it so the body of the guitar is practically inline with the bottom of your chest. This lets you contact the guitar neck at a convenient angle. The other thing you can do is to slightly lower the left shoulder (for right-handed guitar players, for left-handers it’s the opposite). This will make it easier still for the fretting hand to wrap around the guitar fretboard and get an even more direct attack at the strings. Need guitar jam tracks? Find them here...
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