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Location: New South Wales, Australia | G'day....anyone out there got any tips on thumb exercises.
I broke my left thumb about 20 years ago and now at nearly 43 all those old injuries are starting to catch up with me.
I can play open chords all day but after 30 minutes or more of barre chords I'm really struggling.
So if anyone has any advice as to thumb strengthening exercises I'd be really grateful. Don't want my playing career to end just yet.
I play right handed |
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Location: big island | sure, me and my daughters exercise our thumbs every day:
"where is thumbkin, where is thumbkin
here i am, here i am
how are you today sir
very fine i thank you
run away, run away" |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | Thanks Randy...I was waiting for an answer like this :D :D :D .....masturbation jokes are also welcome although I've probably heard them all ;) |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Oz - I can sympathize. I was playing a song in church this morning in the key of F and man my thumb was totally cramped by the end of the song. I'd be interested in responses to this one as well. I have one of those Gripmasters - hasn't really helped yet though. |
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Location: SoCal | Either capo up on the 3rd fret and play with D chords, or just grab the F chord and catch the bass F note with your left thumb... |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | Excuse my ignorance, CrimsonLake, but what's a Gripmaster :confused: |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Gee Oz, I don't know what to tell ya...
But I look forward to any serious answers, cuz me and Barre chords don't get along.
But I will tell you that in about seven more years, alot more of those little aches will turn-up. And you will remember how you thought they were no big deal when they originally happened. |
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Location: big island | all ya gotta do guys is...are you ready for this?...
quit eating meat and drinking sodas. your joints will thank you for it. |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | Originally posted by Lanaki:
all ya gotta do guys is...are you ready for this?...
quit eating meat and drinking sodas. your joints will thank you for it. ......cough cough, splutter splutter...sorry Randy I was just choking on my barbecued T-bone. :D It's lunch time here......now...where did I put that gravy? |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | ......but seriously Randy..how does it work? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Suppose you want me to quit smoking and drinking coffee too?
Don't see how that will help my crappy barre chord technique. |
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Location: big island | old man arthur, it's okay to drink coffee but why are you smoking it? ;) |
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Location: big island | Originally posted by ozwatto:
......but seriously Randy..how does it work? "i reckon i don't rightly know, but it do", as spoken by jed clampett
all i know is vegeterians have markedly less joint and arthritic problems. the vegans who don't consume dairy or eggs, even less. i ain't a full-on vegeterian but my red meat consumption is miniscule.
no pork, some chicken, some turkey and plenty fresh hawaiian waters fish, but only the kind with fins and scales please. lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. and ice cream, plenty of ice cream!
i don't wanna get on another one of those long-winded diatribes about meat, especially pork, as back in the days of yore when i first joined the OFC. just wanted to offer a possible solution to those who suffer with joint pains, which alot of guitar players experience.
oh...did i mention ice cream? gotta have it!!!
as far as soda consumption, there is miles of credible, documented info on the internet on the things the cola makers don't want you to know. especially diet sodas containing aspertame. it's a conspiracy, i tell ya'! |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | No Catfish?
I'm screwed on the sodas... I drink those cheapie store brand things all day at work, then coffee at home. And my hands and wrists are alittle tight.
(my knees ain't so great either)
I attributed alot of this to age. I decided to buy the pseudo-Strat for my 49th birthday. Got myself the 1621 for my 50th. (all the rest just for the fun of it) Do you think, maybe, it was a bad idea to try to take up a craft that needs dexterity after years of punching walls and manual labor?
:confused: |
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Location: Snåsa, Norway | One thing to focus on is the force you use to grip your chords. Experiment with loosening the pressure to find how much you need to get the notes ringing out. Also focus on the index finger on the barre chords, how to put it on the finger board to minimize the pressure needed to make tones ring. When playing try to release tension whenever possible, allowing blood circulation in your fingers. If the barres are the problem, find other chords to vary with. |
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Location: big island | old man arthur
~yup, catfish ain't good fer ya. it's a scavenger. farm raised are slightly better than wild caught.
i'm 50 also. i suffer from GAS pains once in a while and the occasional sore back from trying to keep up with two rambunctious toddlers. that's when i really feel my age. other than that, no joint or arthritis type pains, which my mom suffers terribly with. mom was an RC Cola addict for years. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | This is a Gripmaster:
Gripmaster |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I'm extremely disappointed in myself that I have not come up with some witty response to this thread. Jeezuz, a slow handing curve balll and I completely wiff ...
Dave |
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Location: NJ | ". . G'day....anyone out there got any tips on thumb exercises . ."
Hitch-hike around the Island once. |
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Location: big island | :D :D :D i enjoy cliff-notes |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by CrimsonLake:
This is a Gripmaster:
Gripmaster
Does the thing work?
[if not, I just keep-on keeping-on] |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia |
Am I the only one who can't see the thumb button on this thing? I mean, it works everything BUT the thumb! Really, what's WITH that? |
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Location: Central Oregon | One word- Vicadin |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Two words -- Oxy-cotin
[makes folks Oxy-Morons] |
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Location: New South Wales, Australia | Originally posted by Tupperware:
I'm extremely disappointed in myself that I have not come up with some witty response to this thread. Jeezuz, a slow handing curve balll and I completely wiff ...
Dave Awwww...come on Dave...don't disappoint me :D |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Just play and play some more. I found the same thing, my hand would get really tired and the thumb would hurt after a few minutes of bar chords. Since being back south last fall I've been playing a ton and it just doesn't hurt much anymore.
Won't the gripmaster work more on the fingers rather than the thumb? Use the old method, squeeze a tennis ball, that will focus on the thumb muscles. Squeeze and hold. Good luck. Keep it in the car with you. |
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Location: NJ | Get a book on the art of giving massage.
You'll develop thumbs like ViseGrips and your spouse'll love you for it . . . |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I still have a bit of weirdness in my thumb from running myself through last year. I'm glad it wasn't my left hand in that, the muscles effected would fatigue quickly while posting my thumb on the neck and for stuff like Barre chords. |
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| Like Hobbypicker says - ease off. I bet you don't need to squeeze half as hard as you do. I fyou practice playing REAL quiet you'll find that as you use less and less pressure with your picking hand so you use less pressure on your chording hand.
Also - al di meola technique - when you make the bar leave as much of the top of your finger above the fingerboard as you can, so that the top E string is almost being stopped by yhe top of your palm. It feels really wierd, but it seems to lessen the amount of pressure you need.
I've got a gripmaster and it doesn't do anything for your thumb. W2's tennis ball is much better.
Maybe one guage lighter strings would help as well.
Good luck. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by schroeder:
Also - al di meola technique - when you make the bar leave as much of the top of your finger above the fingerboard as you can, so that the top E string is almost being stopped by yhe top of your palm. It feels really wierd, but it seems to lessen the amount of pressure you need.
Good luck. That is sooo simple! And when I am doing Bm and other 5th string barres, just don't hit the big E.
I just read that; reached over, did an F, F#m, G, A, Am, Bm, B7, Dm... Works great! I have been preoccupied with putting the tip of my index finger right on the 6th, or 5th (with alittle muting touch on the 6th). So much for the How-to Books.
That may take alittle retraining but...
Thank-You-Very-Much...
[oh, I already ordered the Gripmaster] |
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| $10 please. I accept Visa, Paypal and Guinness. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | how do you put Guinness in an envelope? |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | C'mon, Bill. You can't put a Guinness in an envelope! You have to pour it in a BOX! |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | " . . .You have to pour it in a BOX! . . ."
<<>> |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Ruins the flavour. And we can't go back to that pub ever again. |
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Location: Stow, Ohio | You may also want to try another exercise.
Hold you freting hand closed (not a fist), thumbs and fingertips touching, then with the other hand, appply anough pressure to add resistance when you open your fretting hand. We exercise our hands everday gripping things, but we never exercise opening them. oh, don't hurt yourself by trying to hard at forst. :) |
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Thumb exercises