I wonder if anyone else is having, or has had, this issue.

When I practice, especially when working at the top of the neck cloe to the nut, I find that my left hand is suffering from poor blood flow. It doesn't fall asleep, but when I let my arm down, I really feel the blood flowing back into it.

Part of it, I know, is from the fact that my arm is the most upright when playing at the top of the neck, and part of it is because that arm is folding up on itself at the elbow, and that's creating a pressure point between my bicep and my forearm. I'm not the skinniest guy in the world, but neither an I really obese, and my biceps are quite normal, so I don't believe that it's entirely a case of my arm cutting off its own circulation.

I'm going to bring this up to my chiropractor next time I see him, but I also would love to know if any of you out there have dealt with this, and how.

Hi Luc,

I'm not a doctor and not trying to give medical advice, but I would suggest that if you allow your hand to form the shape of what you are doing more naturally, that usually helps keep your wrist straight. sometimes you arm will be up and sometimes down, it all just depende on the music.

If you find your arm is staying at the same angle all the time, then you are probably bending your wrist quite a bit on occasion, and this can definitely cause circulation problems.

Another thing that helps is to make sure the instrument is "inside" the shoulder, which means the wrist has an even easier time staying straight.

Send me a front view photo of yourself in a typical playing position, and we can talk about how instrument positioning can be optimized to help you avoid wrist-bending.

Very kind of you. I'll have my photographer work with me on a photo shoot later. (My wife, once she gets home from work.) Thanks!

I am a new Stick owner and I have a similar problem. In my case I think it is a nerve thing. I can get to the low bass notes with a straight enough wrist, but it still hurts before it goes numb. It's the sharp bend in my arm.

I switched hands and tried bass with the right and melody with the left. That worked with single lines. Some of the chord shapes are a lot harder, though.

In the end my plan is to try switching the hands as needed. When I need a low bass note or a tricky bass or melody chord, I'll use the hand that works the best.

John

Hi John,

No need for such gyrations. I make you the same offer. Send me a pic that shows how you're wearing the instrument playing one of those chords that's hard for you, and I'd be happy to make some suggestions for you.

Well, I'm not a doctor either, but... I have suffered from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my left hand since before I started playing Stick in 1991. When I first had it diagnosed, I had mistakenly thought that it was a problem with circulation - the qua- ahem, doctor, told me that it's quite common for people who have it to think this prior to diagnosis. There's a simple and definitive test they can do (by 'tapping' you in a certain place, ironically, perhaps...) which will tell you and them straight away if you have CTS or some other problem.
Anyway, I expect that Greg's suggestion will help you whether or not you have CTS, or with whatever other problem you might actually have.

When I first started experimenting at the piano, I was amazed at how quickly my right elbow started to hurt. I searched the internet and found that this was quite a common problem with people whose wrists were bent while playing the piano. This was easily fixed by adjusting the height of the seat such that my wrists were flat.

I didn't think that a bent wrist could have such an impact...but it did. Find the position of the instrument to maximize the natural and relaxed position of your hands. The difference will surprise you.

Cheers

John

Greg, I'm going to post the pix that my wife took right here, so that maybe, if I'm doing something obviously wrong, others might see it and avoid problems.
In pix 2 & 3 I'm playing an A Major. I hope this works...

Crap. Didn't work.

Hi Luc,

The photos are on a private Facebook page, which is why they wouldn't embed. Since we are friends on Facebook, I was able to look at them by copying the URLs in the response code. You could try attaching them as files to your post if you want.

Your problem is a typical one for Stick players. It has to do with not allowing your hand to form the chord shape in the most natural way. Your thumb is pretty far behind the board, so your hand can't "open up" over the board, and your pinky is much more stretched out than your other fingers as a result.

This instrument is not a guitar. Let your hand be as relaxed as possible at all times, and change the angle of the arm to help your fingers be similarly bent when forming chords. Sometimes the arm will need to be "up" (typically 7th chord) and sometimes at a lower angle (major triads).

Watch the following video for some reference points, and if you have my DVD, check out the section on bass chords:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZi0qKzKCM[/youtube]

I hope that helps. A half-hour skype lesson could have covered this with 25 minutes to spare