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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| Hand cramps | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25th, 2008 04:14 am |
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1st Post |
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ezmember Approved
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Does anybody here ever get a hand cramp, or bone cramp in the fretting hand, particularly when trying to form a difficult chord? That's happened to me lately, and it takes a couple of hours to 'get over'. How do I prevent it, just try to relax my hand more?
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25th, 2008 04:52 am |
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2nd Post |
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Will Approved 
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Hand cramping in the fret hand comes from over-exertion and tenseness of the muscles and/or joints. Your fret hand should be as relaxed as possible; use only the minimum finger pressure you need to fret the chords without string buzz. There are other adjustments you can make to optimize your hand and instrument position. Try holding your uke so that the neck is angled upwards (30 to 45 degrees - like the avatar cartoon to the left, next to my name) instead of being oriented horizontal, which is the way rock guitarists hold their instruments. Your wrist will be in a more relaxed position if the neck is angled upwards. Your wrist should not be bent severely to fret a chord. Optimize your fret hand position; make sure your fingertips are pointing almost straight down rather than lying flat across the fretboard. See Patrick Costello's videos - he advises the same technique; I know that he's talking about playing banjo and not ukulele, but the fret hand skills and techniques are similar: Cheap Thrills: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yQOx5ptHMRY Banjo Setup: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yiilZ-PD1uQ Last edited on Mon Feb 25th, 2008 07:20 pm by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26th, 2008 04:47 am |
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3rd Post |
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ezmember Approved
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Thanks for the good advice and the links. The cramp usually happens when I'm struggling to reach a hard chord to form. There's definite tension then. But I'm going to have to consciously try to relax that hand.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 26th, 2008 05:55 am |
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4th Post |
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neilg Approved
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A word from the wise and experienced: when it hurts, put the ukulele down and go do something else. If it takes that long to recover you're doing something wrong. Muscles and tendons take time to develop strength and flexibility, so go easy in small doses.
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| Posted: Sat Jun 28th, 2008 02:16 am |
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5th Post |
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sano Approved 
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reposted this in a new thread called "aching hand caused by string buzz" Last edited on Sat Jun 28th, 2008 04:30 am by sano ____________________ sano |
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| Current time is 07:03 am | |
| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Beginner Questions - Ukulele > Hand cramps | Top |
