Left hand technique advice? Discomfort from extended playing

[Kevin Obrecht]

Hi all,

I’ve been playing steel since May of last year but over the past month or so I’ve started having a weird feeling in the top of my left hand, mainly underneath where my middle finger meets my hand.

I’m only 27 years old so my body shouldn’t just be falling apart so I’m wondering if it’s a technique issue that’s messing up my hand, like carpal tunnel or tendinitis. I played piano for 12 years as a kid and never had wrist issues, spent 4 years in college writing code on a laptop with no issues and in my day job as a cabinet maker I don’t see the issue.

It’s really only when I sit down and play steel for a long time, which has been common lately, I’ll get home from work and play for about 3 hours every night, it’s an addiction.

But lately this discomfort in my left hand is cutting down on the practice time. I’m wondering if maybe my bar is too small for my hands and as such I have to compensate by contorting my hand to get a good grip on it and that’s stressing my hand out.

I figure I should just take some time off but even one day of not playing sounds like torture, my right hand feels fine so maybe just working on blocking for a week and leave the left hand to rest?

I’ve attached some images showing my bar size, where the pain is on my hand and my normal left hand position.

Any advice from folks who have dealt with this and how to overcome it?

[Bobby D. Jones]

That bar looks short, For the size of your hand.
You are controlling the bar with just your fingers. The bar needs to fit in the pocket between thumb and palm, So palm helps control the bar.

Search the forum for "Franklin", (Mr. Paul Franklin) Has a posts on selecting proper bar size, That may help you pick a bar that is more comfortable and better control, For your hand size.
Good Luck on this problem. Happy Steelin.

[Dave Magram]

Hi Kevin,

I agree with Bobby Jones--that bar looks too short.
Does it cover all 10 strings?
Paul Franklin recommends using a longer, "12-string" bar, but they are usually heavier and I don't believe too many players have switched from a standard-length ""10-string" bar. (Although if you have very large hands, it might help.)

Secondly, the way you are holding the bar is most likely making it very difficult to apply pressure on top of the bar and control the vibrato--and is probably the source of your discomfort...

Most proficient players loosely "corral' the bar between their thumb and middle finger, with their middle, ring, and little finger resting lightly on the strings to mute any unwanted resonance behind the bar.
Their index finger rides on top of the bar, applying a bit of pressure on the nose-end of the bar on the strings being picked, and also rolling the bar to produce vibrato.

Holding the bar properly is a bit of an art all by itself!

I can send you my Blocking Guide (at no charge) which lists about three dozen YouTube videos of master PSG players in action--so you can see how they hold their bars, as well as pick & block the strings.
If you are interested, please send me your email address via PM (Private Message):
● Click on the hollow green bubble "Contact" next to my name on the upper right corner of this posting, and then click on the solid green PM thought bubble that is displayed on the left--because the SGF email doesn't allow attachments such as a Word document or PDF.

For your own protection, please do not post your email address in a public SGF thread—there are lots of nefarious web-bots looking for personal info to steal.

- Dave

[Ricky Davis]

Put some Kinetic Tape on your left wrist and cramping/fatigue/pain/throbbing....which ever you have; will GO AWAY.
You are having some Circulation Problem and K-Tape does exactly that; it creates better Circulation.
I couldn't play without it on my right wrist...as I have bone on bone and the increase circulation helps to where i can play the whole night(we play 3 to 4 hours with NO BREAK) without having to stop from pain.
Oh I'm a physical Therapist; and have been helping folks with movement my whole adult life>

https://www.amazon.com/Care-Science-Wat ... 529&sr=8-5
Here's some application ideas for K-Tape
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... AhgCIAIoAg

Ricky

[J Fletcher]

Perhaps you should do some left hand stretching and pysiotherapy type exercises before you sit down to play , and take rests during your practicing . Al;so make sure you are sitting at the steel in a way that is not straining your left arm , or hand .
That's all I got . Jerry

[Kevin Obrecht]

Hi Kevin,

I agree with Bobby Jones--that bar looks too short.
Does it cover all 10 strings?
Paul Franklin recommends using a longer, "12-string" bar, but they are usually heavier and I don't believe too many players have switched from a standard-length ""10-string" bar. (Although if you have very large hands, it might help.)

Secondly, the way you are holding the bar is most likely making it very difficult to apply pressure on top of the bar and control the vibrato--and is probably the source of your discomfort...

Most proficient players loosely "corral' the bar between their thumb and middle finger, with their middle, ring, and little finger resting lightly on the strings to mute any unwanted resonance behind the bar.
Their index finger rides on top of the bar, applying a bit of pressure on the nose-end of the bar on the strings being picked, and also rolling the bar to produce vibrato.

Holding the bar properly is a bit of an art all by itself!

I can send you my Blocking Guide (at no charge) which lists about three dozen YouTube videos of master PSG players in action--so you can see how they hold their bars, as well as pick & block the strings.
If you are interested, please send me your email address via PM (Private Message):
● Click on the hollow green bubble "Contact" next to my name on the upper right corner of this posting, and then click on the solid green PM thought bubble that is displayed on the left--because the SGF email doesn't allow attachments such as a Word document or PDF.

For your own protection, please do not post your email address in a public SGF thread—there are lots of nefarious web-bots looking for personal info to steal.

- Dave

Thanks for all that helpful info Dave!

I think that’s my issue is the bar is too short to where I can barely get my thumb up to it, without my fingers extending way past the bar.

I’ve realized part of this pain in my hand might be related to work last week when I squeezed a clamp too hard and felt a stab in the back of my hand.

And you actually sent me the blocking guide about a week ago and I was just gonna spend the next week or month solely focusing on right hand technique to let the tendons in my left hand relax.

I’m alright at palm blocking but have no idea how to pick block, and figure while my left hand is out of commission its the best time to learn, excited to dive into the guide!

[Kevin Obrecht]

Put some Kinetic Tape on your left wrist and cramping/fatigue/pain/throbbing....which ever you have; will GO AWAY.
You are having some Circulation Problem and K-Tape does exactly that; it creates better Circulation.
I couldn't play without it on my right wrist...as I have bone on bone and the increase circulation helps to where i can play the whole night(we play 3 to 4 hours with NO BREAK) without having to stop from pain.
Oh I'm a physical Therapist; and have been helping folks with movement my whole adult life>

https://www.amazon.com/Care-Science-Wat ... 529&sr=8-5
Here's some application ideas for K-Tape
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... AhgCIAIoAg

Ricky

Good advice Ricky, I was thinking maybe some sort of brace in the meantime.

Gonna talk to my PT tomorrow and see if he can tell what’s going on. The more I think about it, I think I did injure it at work last week, and then improper technique on the steel all weekend just made it flare up worse.

Time to get really good with my right hand while the left takes a rest!

[Kevin Obrecht]

Perhaps you should do some left hand stretching and pysiotherapy type exercises before you sit down to play , and take rests during your practicing . Al;so make sure you are sitting at the steel in a way that is not straining your left arm , or hand .
That's all I got . Jerry

Overplaying could definitely be part of the issue. I’m so addicted to practicing that I’ll go 3 hours with barely a stop in there besides tuning or finding a tab/song to work on.

I’ve been playing with my seat height quite a bit trying to get as relaxed of an arm as possible. Tilting my steel forward a bit has helped as I’m pretty tall with long arms.

[Ricky Davis]

Good advice Ricky, I was thinking maybe some sort of brace in the meantime.
Gonna talk to my PT tomorrow and see if he can tell what’s going on. The more I think about it, I think I did injure it at work last week, and then improper technique on the steel all weekend just made it flare up worse.

Yeah Kevin; Repetitive Motion of anything can deteriorate the function; and Circulation is the ONLY thing that can Heal the deterioration. But finding out where the bad circulation is triggered; is the key to the source. Your PT can help you with that. If I could see you play and me put my hands on you(shoulder; neck discs; huge tendon in forearm...etc) I could figure you out in 5 minutes and start the healing.....so I'm glad knowing you are going to your PT.....as he will help find the source.....All the other stuff you read are just "getting by relief stuff" as they do NOT heal the source...including the K-tape. So let me know How ya do bro. (oh and if you did injure that knuckle; then YES put Ice on it 20 minutes couple times a day....for few days.....that might just heal it; if that is the only source of bad circulation)
Ricky

[Jerry Overstreet]

I'll add, although it doesn't appear to be the case from your photos, be sure not to squeeze the bar too tightly with the thumb and fingers as those 3 digits work together. Best to hold it loosely enough to roll back and forth but without losing control of it.
Yes, there is an art to using the bar.

[Kevin Obrecht]

I'll add, although it doesn't appear to be the case from your photos, be sure not to squeeze the bar too tightly with the thumb and fingers as those 3 digits work together. Best to hold it loosely enough to roll back and forth but without losing control of it.
Yes, there is an art to using the bar.

I think that was definitely the case, since the bar is short relative to my finger, I didn’t have much thumb contact and I think was gripping extra hard because of that.

I had a Dunlop 3 3/4” x 1” bar delivered today and I just briefly laid it on the steel to see how it felt and it’s a world of difference having that extra 1/2”.

With my shorter bar if I lifted my index finger off the bar I’d have zero control over it and would usually drop it, I can raise the index off this one and still control it with the just thumb and middle.

Well how I like the 1” diameter but I think I’ve got a 3 3/4” x 7/8” order to put into BJS soon.

[Kevin Obrecht]

Good advice Ricky, I was thinking maybe some sort of brace in the meantime.
Gonna talk to my PT tomorrow and see if he can tell what’s going on. The more I think about it, I think I did injure it at work last week, and then improper technique on the steel all weekend just made it flare up worse.

Yeah Kevin; Repetitive Motion of anything can deteriorate the function; and Circulation is the ONLY thing that can Heal the deterioration. But finding out where the bad circulation is triggered; is the key to the source. Your PT can help you with that. If I could see you play and me put my hands on you(shoulder; neck discs; huge tendon in forearm...etc) I could figure you out in 5 minutes and start the healing.....so I'm glad knowing you are going to your PT.....as he will help find the source.....All the other stuff you read are just "getting by relief stuff" as they do NOT heal the source...including the K-tape. So let me know How ya do bro. (oh and if you did injure that knuckle; then YES put Ice on it 20 minutes couple times a day....for few days.....that might just heal it; if that is the only source of bad circulation)
Ricky

According to my doctor it’s most likely a strained extensor tendon in the back of that hand from work, and then playing steel nonstop all weekend just made it flare up worse. Said to give it a week or two limiting the activity with that hand.

With regards to what you said about being able to tell the problem from feeling shoulders/neck/etc, that was something I was really focusing on this weekend when the hand started to hurt was to try and have my upper body as relaxed as possible. That included trying a bunch of different seat heights and guitar tilt levels but I think I’ve got it at a good, relaxed spot.

Now time to spend a good week or two on right hand blocking. I’ve always wanted to devote time to just that but then I get the bar in my left hand and just want to start playing songs. Hopefully come out of this as a blocking machine like you! Watched that awesome clip of your solo with dale watson (Nashville rash) and was really studying your transitions between palm and pick blocking, super helpful.

[Ricky Davis]

Oh this solo?
https://youtu.be/WParxip-RJM?feature=shared
Thanks Kevin.
Well then let me go ahead and still try to encourage you to ice that knuckle; that will take that little bit of inflammation that is in there away, and it'll start moving better and circulating better,,,and to heal, you got to get rid of the inflammation as ICE is still a dream drug.
Ricky

[Kevin Obrecht]

Oh this solo?
https://youtu.be/WParxip-RJM?feature=shared
Thanks Kevin.
Well then let me go ahead and still try to encourage you to ice that knuckle; that will take that little bit of inflammation that is in there away, and it'll start moving better and circulating better,,,and to heal, you got to get rid of the inflammation as ICE is still a dream drug.
Ricky

Ya that’s the one, it’s a great look at your pick blocking on that run. Is all the bar movement during that to mute string 1/2? I especially like that descending palm blocked run you do to start the solo out.

And you’ll be glad to know I’m currently multitasking, got the left hand icing in my lap while I work on blocking on the open strings.

[Ricky Davis]

Well when I do a continuous extended lick of pick blocking like three strings triplets or quadruplets; I think that's triplets> one two three, one two three,one two three; I want each; one two three, to sound like its own triplet and not just a Big Blob of triplets in a row so I move the bar up and down to make it feel like I'm doing a new triplet each time bar goes up, bar goes up, bar goes up!!! Does that makes sense?
also, so glad your icing that and pick'in at the same time ;;you're awesome Kevin, stay with it bro.
Ricky

[Bobby D. Jones]

I have used a Dunlop 11.5oz 1" X 3 3/4" bar for about 8 years. About a year ago, At 81 years old. I found the bar harder to control.
I took the bar, And copper strips to protect the bar finish. Chucked in a friends lathe. Drilled the bar 3 1/8" deep, Weighed it with each larger drill pass. At a 23/64" Dia. hole. When I took it out of lathe to weigh it. It just felt right in my hand.
It weighs 9.7 oz. It takes no down pressure, Just weight of fingers. Is easy to control.
Good Luck with cure for hand problem,
Happy Steelin.