Pain when playing barre chords - arthritis?

Octavio · August 4

Possibly the most boring subject ever and I didn't know which section to post to (injuries?), but here goes...

I've been playing guitar for over 2 decades, so I know to play a barre chord. I don't mean to toot my own trumpet, but toot toot! 20 years well spent..

Anyway, admittedly when butchering a solo I was probably gripping way to tight with my left hand. I started getting pain between the joints in my left index finger. So I backed off for a bit with my playing as no point in playing through pain if not a gig. 3 weeks later and it's still painful! I can do half bars but I'll do anything to avoid a full one.

Any experience of this and could it be the start of something bigger and worse? I'm the other side of 40 now so have noticed slower recovery time generally.

I don't think it's a warm up issue, as I have been trying to be more disciplined about that.

Roland · August 4

As we get older our joints can get stiffer, and with smaller range of movement. When I was in my 40s I was playing a lot of songs which needed barre chords, and my index finger complained about being constantly banged against the fretboard. It also stiffened so that I couldn’t curl it for C on the B string in an open C chord. With hindsight I probably should have seen my GP, and had my arthritis diagnosed earlier. What I actually did was make more use of my thumb, even swapping between full barre and thumb-over during the same song.

Octavio · August 4

Roland said:
As we get older our joints can get stiffer, and with smaller range of movement. When I was in my 40s I was playing a lot of songs which needed barre chords, and my index finger complained about being constantly banged against the fretboard. It also stiffened so that I couldn’t curl it for C on the B string in an open C chord. With hindsight I probably should have seen my GP, and had my arthritis diagnosed earlier. What I actually did was make more use of my thumb, even swapping between full barre and thumb-over during the same song.

That's useful info, thanks. Did you do anything to improve matters? Use lighter guage strings, or even supplements/diet etc .

I wonder how Bonehead manages it!

Roland · August 4

I changed my technique by using other fingerings and partial chords, which sound better anyway. I no longer have pain in my index finger. It curls a little better. Ultimately it’s part of ageing, and you learn to live with it, just as you learned to live with a growing body when you were younger.

I’m still playing 10-52s, as I’ve done for fifty something years. If anything they’ve got stiffer because I’ve moved to 25.5 inch necks, and then gone headless. That might change as a result of the way arthritis is going in my other fingers. I’m currently building a 25 inch neck, and I’ve bought some 9-46s to try on it.

fastonebaz · August 4

I found when I bought a fender strat for the first time, after paying les pauls for 20 years, i suddenly starting getting various hand and finger strain pains. I decided it was the neck shape my hand didn't like and sold it. Went back to les pauls and SGs and the pains went away. Guess I don't get on with fenders.

Octavio · August 5

Roland said:

I changed my technique by using other fingerings and partial chords, which sound better anyway. I no longer have pain in my index finger. It curls a little better. Ultimately it’s part of ageing, and you learn to live with it, just as you learned to live with a growing body when you were younger.

I’m still playing 10-52s, as I’ve done for fifty something years. If anything they’ve got stiffer because I’ve moved to 25.5 inch necks, and then gone headless. That might change as a result of the way arthritis is going in my other fingers. I’m currently building a 25 inch neck, and I’ve bought some 9-46s to try on it.

Good to hear it's manageable.

For those interested in the subject I found this Tim Lerch video quite interesting

Jalapeno · August 5

Had really bad arthritis in my thumb trapezium joints, probably genetic as my sister has the same thing I had and she doesn't play guitar. Had it in both hands, much worse in fretting hand. Fixed by titanium replacement joints.

Prior to op the the bone-on-bone pain in my fretting hand was unbearable, I couldn't even hold a fork, and I'd learned to play alternative fingerings years earlier. TBH in a 2 guitar band, both playing barre chords sounds dreadful, you end up with the mids crushed into a mush with all the same repeated notes. Non-barre chords sound better IMHO

greejn · August 5

I've ditched barre chords completely. Mainly use three-note voicings which sound better anyway, also due to shoulder problems, try to use teles or thinline archtops and avoid dreadnoughts, even though they are great.Some arthritis pain is now much better.

CaseOfAce · August 5

Octavio said:

I wonder how Bonehead manages it!

I don't think Bonehead had much say in the matter. I'm sure I read somewhere the "chief" told him to ONLY play barres - no open chords - and that's what he does.

- which makes sense to get that spread of sound with Noel (with the blistering volume of course).

flying_pie · August 5

I don't have arthritis, even now I'm in my 50s, but did get a lot of pain from gripping too hard with barre chords, particularly in aggressive punk/grunge songs. These days I make a point of being more relaxed with my left hand but it can still creep in however going over trying to play barre chords with as little pressure as possible in a practice routine can really help. Having the confidence to know you can really back off when you feel it in your hand helps a lot

guitars4you · August 12

I dare say many of us are guilty of this - But how much warming up do we do before playing - Granted pain related to various injuries/illness is one thing - But I'm as guilty as everyone else in that I just go straight on the pitch and play without warming up

I know of a good customer/guitar teacher who started off with finger issues - Went to the doctors, who in the end referred him to a physio - And their first question was about warm up exercises

Maybe look at YouTube and/or google as to what might be suitable for you - But we should all do some warm ups before playing

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Pain when playing barre chords - arthritis?

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