Is the area between my thumb and wrist meant to be hurting this much?

Hi is the area between my thumb and wrist meant to be hurting this much? I hold my thumb the way Justin said to in module one to prepare for barre chords later but it hurts so much when even my fingers don’t anymore. It’s been a week since I started too

1 Like

It’s not unusual for beginners to have these sorts of issues. You are putting stresses and strains on hands and wrists that are not accustomed to it. I’m not qualified to comment on technique. If you post a video of what you are doing some other very knowledgeable people here can give you some feedback.

1 Like

No, it’s not normal. Pain is never normal. Some discomfort can happen, but not pain.

A video/pictures of how you hold your guitar/play would be helpful. How hard does your thumb push against the neck? How much is your wrist bent? These are possible factors contributing to the problem.

1 Like

Hii, thank you for your reply, I attached pictures of me holding it. I was hoping to upload a video of it but I cant seem to figure out how to send one here :sweat_smile: but yeah I thought my hold wasnt too shabby. What do you think?


When i was starting out with barre chords, i too followed Justin’s recommendations.
A few years later, it seems that my hand has found it’s own way of playing barre chords and my thumb seems to stick above the neck.
It works for me. I don’t think there’s a golden standard on how to hold your hand. If it gets the job done, without pain, i’d go with that.

Now, when you start with barre chords, it’s normal to have some pain, if the strength in your hand isn’t sufficient yet to hold barre chords down. (but a good setup does wonders too.).
But the pain should go away relatively quickly. You don’t need that much force either to get a barre chord down.

Hi Demilade and welcome to the community!

Regards the above quote: You need to upload the video to YouTube or Vimeo or any filesharing thing like Google Drive and copy/paste the link in here.

Regards the pain: a little strain is ok as if it was sore muscles afters sports. But pain is never normal and should not occur during guitar practice (except the pain on the fingertips ^^).

From your two pictures, I can’t see an issue with the position of your hand. Your wrist is bent a little, but not too much. Having a video seeing your movements would help for further investigation, though.

How hard do you push on the strings? Often, when people start out playing guitar, they press way harder then necessary to get clean, ringing notes. In case you put too much pressure on the strings/fretboard, this might cause tension in your hand and, thus, the pain. If that’s true, you could try the following exercise: Fret a chord (any) and put your fingers just slightly on the strings and strum. Keep increasing the pressure ever so slightly, strum and see, how less pressure is actually needed to get the strings ringing. It works also the other way round: Fret as usual and decrease the pressure until you get buzz/muted notes. Trying to get awareness and practicing this low pressure might help. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Its not a constant pain, at least, it just comes once in a while after playing for a while. Maybe I just need to get used to it :sweat_smile:

1 Like

Thanks for the tip! I never would’ve figured that out haha.
It may be that I apply to much pressure. I’ll try out your exercise for sure!

https://youtube.com/shorts/i4xJ7m1_QNY?si=hsUV0DW3V4L8Zz4T

1 Like

It should disappear as time goes by and your hand gets stronger, more used to the motion.
If it doesn’t, or you find that you need to apply a fair amount of pressure, to get a nice ringing barre chord, i’d suggest taking your guitar to a luthier for a setup.

1 Like

We’re not yet talking barre chords here, Demilade is only in week 2.

2 Likes

Oh yes I know but I brought it up cause of the thumb placement. Justin mentioned how holding it in that way would help with barre chords later on

If the pain do not go away or keeps coming back , seek some medical advices from a doc

1 Like

I finally checked your video. There’s nothing wrong with they way you hold the guitar and the way you place your fretting hand from what I can tell. :slight_smile:

A little soreness or short feelings of hurt are totally normal, only real pain even after you stopped playing are a thing to worry about. It’s really a little like going to the gym. ^^ I suspect it’s a pressure/tension-thing and it will resolve soon with more (gentle) exercise and avoiding pressing to hard. If it doesn’t get less or go away with in few days or weeks, do as Deborah said and seek out a medical advice though.

For now, all that’s left from me to advice: Have fun learning to play the guitar and enjoy the ride! :smiley:

Definitely!

Thank you so much for checking it out and your advice! ^^

1 Like

You hit the nail on the head. You’re using muscles in your hand that are not used to the pressure between the thumb and fingers bar chords create.

Work your way into using bar chords a little at a time until you build up those muscles.
It will come. Just don’t rush it and create muscle strain which could mess up your overall progress.

If only there was a way to speed up the guitar process and forgoe the pain eh😂

2 Likes

Your muscles are telling you they are mildly strained. If I were you, I would temporarily stop playing all bar chords and give the muscles in my hands and wrist a chance to rest and “unwind”. After about maybe 10 days, try playing a couple of them again SLOWLY and for a short time. Then, as you body tells you, gradually add more time and more chords.

Not playing barre chords yet!:upside_down_face:

1 Like

Then you are probably pressing the strings too hard. This is something many newbie guitarists do while they are learning. I fell into the same trap when I started out. I found my fingers and hands got tired quite quickly. Sometimes even got cramps.

Practice playing chords with as little pressure as needed to make a clean sound from all strings being played. It takes a little while to get used to it. But the rewards are worth it.

1 Like