Hi! I’m a 66 year old retired man. I’ve been learning from Justin Guitar for about the last two or three years, and I’ve got as far as grade 2, module 12. A few weeks ago I developed trigger finger in the ring finger of my left hand. This is where flexing your finger produces a clicking feeling accompanied by a sharp jab of pain. All of a sudden I find myself unable to make chords. I’ve been using a finger splint to immobilise the problem joint, and that seems to be helping. But it’s a slow process, and I just hope it does completely mend at some point, as I dearly miss playing. Plus my finger pads of course have gone soft again, so I will have to start again building up the calluses.
This isn’t really a request for advice, more that this feels like a place where I can have a moan and maybe even hear from people who have had a similar experience. Thanks!
Nice to meet you Pete and feel free to moan with me my mate I am Hec and I have just turned 65 so yeah I got pains as well but I do hope you get better man and return to playing your guitar
get well soon as
Welcome to the forum Peter. Hope your finger recovers quickly. Could be a good time to take a look at the Theory course. The first 2 grades are free. Could help to pass the time.
How frustrating, in addition to being painful! This is a wild shot, but free and harmless…I was having pain in the thumb of my strumming hand. Someone elsewhere on this community mentioned this website with massage techniques specifically for guitar players. It helped me, maybe they can provide some relief for you as well.
As for moaning - I think that’s often step 1 in the recovery.
Hi, Peter. I’m genuinely sorry to hear about your being sidelined by the trigger finger. You can definitely commiserate with me - I have 3 trigger fingers, including both the middle and ring fingers on my fretting hand. In addition, I can’t curl those fingers as tightly as the others. They’ve been this way for at least 15 years.
The combination of those effects is that some chords (like D) are sometimes difficult to form. I’m a beginner, too (a year and a half), so much of this still feels very new to me. So far, I’ve been fortunate that they’ve only locked up on me a few times while playing.
Like the rest of our anatomy, everybody’s trigger finger behaves differently, so what has worked for me may not work for you. One thing that I’ve found to be extremely helpful is to be very (very) mindful of how much force/pressure you apply to the strings with the fretting fingers. You really want only to press as hard as is necessary to get the note to ring cleanly. Anything more than that is not only wasted effort but can be harmful in multiple ways. I include in my warmup some exercises that remind me of how that minimum pressure feels and sounds, and then I try to carry it through the rest of my practice and playing. That becomes even more challenging when I’m playing a song at a fast tempo and trying to land those chords (especially D!) accurately.
I’m glad to hear that you’ve only just begun to experience the symptoms. There’s a decent chance that with rest the swelling could subside and maybe you won’t have trouble with it again. That’s my hope for you.
Best wishes to you. Please update us on how it progresses. Meanwhile, I second @stitch’s recommendation of delving into music theory a bit while you heal.
Hi Peter,
Sorry to hear about your difficulties… it’s not easy to put down the guitar indefinitely… I had a bad cut on my fretting hand fingers (1 & 2) a while back & used the time to work on fretboard memorization & learning a bit of theory. Also, I’d strum along to songs with the fretting hand just muting all the strings - kinda drove my wife crazy - but at least I was keeping the feel & vibe of playing going!!! Good luck & I hope you heal quickly!
Hi Peter, sorry to hear about your problem with your trigger finger. When I had a bad cut on one of my fingers I picked a song with a couple of chords I could play with just 2 fingers. I was thinking that even though you are grade 2 module 12, this could be a good opportunity to look ahead to grade 3 module 17 and look at the lesson on easy triad chords. They are actually easier to play than C or G chords and you can play all the chords with one or two fingers (index and middle finger, not ring or pinkie) and play almost any song with those chords. It wouldn’t require using your ring finger and you would get a lot of practice with strumming. You would have the fun of playing guitar and would also be ahead of the game when you reach grade 3.
I’m 69 and sometimes my ring finger doesn’t cooperate when changing chords, but fortunately no pain, just popping.
Hi, Peter.
I have had a few instances with trigger fingers on both hands. When I reached a point where the fingers would lock up for a few seconds, I went to see a hand doctor. I did three rounds of shots over the course of three years. The shots provided immediate relief and movement each time. However, three shots seems to be the maximum the doc will do. He said the next time surgery would be the only option. Not going there. I started playing guitar about the same time the fingers started giving me trouble. I love playing enough that I decided to make some changes in the rest of my endeavors. I greatly scaled back activities that stressed my hands i.e., sawmilling, chainsaw work and lifting heavy timbers. Sold the mill, bought new guitar
I use a CBD infused hand cream every night to help reduce swelling, Tumeric is also a great anti-inflammatory. I practice guitar about two hours per day. I find playing the guitar and doing the finger stretch exercises Justin recommends very helpful. When I don’t play my fingers feel much stiffer.
Ouch! Best of wishes for a good and speedy recovery!
All these different hand issues that creep up on us older players are a real drag. Other than a few bashed and cut digits, and mild arthritis, I have been fortunate, but 60yo is the next birthday.
Trigger finger is not in my area of medicine, so no real advice, except it is always good to have it looked at. A bone chip or other issue in the joint may be handled differently. A simple X-ray would do, and a doctor who knows hands.
Make sure to take the splint off for a while daily and move the finger around. Joints that are fully restricted for too long lose mobility.
Maybe it is time to work on barre cords. You don’t need to bend that finger!
Thanks everyone for the support and the suggestions. At the moment my finger seems to be improving. I only wear the splint for a few hours each day, and it’s getting more mobile and less painful. I’m cautiously finding my way back into playing guitar, going very carefully as I don’t want to make things worse again. The suggestion about the easy triads lesson was particularly helpful, I’m enjoying trying those out. Also the suggestion about minimizing the pressure I use when making a chord. But you all had helpful or encouraging things to say. Thank you!