Now, whenever I pick up my guitar i remove my watch.
Wearing a watch impedes my ability to shape my hand/wrist for:
Chord shapes
Barre chords
Finger stretching for scales etc.
I guess the reason is because the watch is wrapped around the area of the carpel tunnel?
I have shared this as I have seldom seen any advice/recommendations to remove these items before playing.
Of course it might be just me
I have a watch and a wedding ring on my fretting hand/wrist and have never even thought about them. They cause me no difficulty whatsoever.
I wear watch with no issue although I wonder if I wear mine slightly further up my wrist because I can see how if I wore it lower then it would be a problem when contorting my wrist to play chords. I think the main reason I wear mine where I do is because itās a Garmin and it seems like the best place for the heart rate sensor - any lower down my wrist and then thereās a gap under it.
I wear a watch plus a bunch of leather bands that cover around a third of my forearm from my wrist up. Never cause me any trouble. You probably havenāt seen any recommendations because there are noneā¦ itās about doing whatever is most comfortable for you.
I do the same when playing. I either loosen or take off my watch. I definitely have better hand flexibility with it off.
I wish I hadnāt read this thread. Now, the next time I play, Iāll be thinking about my watch and whether itās interfering with me instead of paying attention to my playing!
But it does give me something to blame my ineptitude on!
I donāt wear a watch, but I do have my wedding ring on my fretting hand. 90% of the time I remove it before playing- not because it interferes, but because Iām paranoid that I might scratch up the guitar neck on accident there are times that I forget that I have it on and have played with it just fine, but I just prefer to play with no rings/jewelry in general.
I actually am the same way with some belts or jackets with big zippers while playing. I donāt want to scuff my precious guitars. Iām probably a little overly paranoid
I donāt wear any rings, but I do wear a watch. Iāve never considered removing it to play, but, I donāt think it impedes my movement much at all. It is a Garmin activity/fitness tracker, so I wear it at all times. It has a very rubbery band, though, so it moves with my wrist fairly well.
I always have a wedding ring, watch and belt on, but not found any issues hope this post doesnāt make me too aware of the issue.
Michael
I donāt mind wear on my guitars, people pay extra for that.
But sure, my chunky wedding ring is totally why I canāt play wellā¦
Which I just donāt understand. Why do people want their guitars to look like somebody took a belt sander to them?
That I canāt answer!
I can see developing that as you progress on a much loved instrument but faking it on a brand new one I donāt understand
I think as you develop the less things are disturbing to you. I can play with a wedding ring and a watch, although my ring is probably 10% of a size Rob put a picture of and I have a smartwatch with elastic strip so itās quite flexible in general
For a guitarist I have great hands for bricklayingā¦
I do think its easier to ignore distractions as your skills develop in any thing really
Yeah, the same with some of our āidolsā having played live when they were not 100% sober and still played good. With rock-solid skills a lot of things just wonāt distract you, or if they do you will be able to find a way to accommodate them.
A point well illustrated Thanks.
Donāt they use one of those to play slide guitar Rob?
I remove my watch, donāt know why. I should maybe try playing with it on.