Tips to lessen hand tension

[Jamie London]

Hey all!
Recently I’ve been having an issue where my hands tense up noticeably while playing, I’ve always been very conscious of trying to avoid this and it’s happened from time to time. Recently though, it’s been a lot more prevalent.

I did take a short break from playing as much earlier in the year and I’m almost certain this is happening because I’m just getting fully back into the swing of things. I always warm up and even do some hand and finger stretches, but if anyone has any other tips or exercises they do to help avoid or remedy this, I would love to hear them!

 

[Firsty Lasty]

Massage your forearms, front and back. This is where your "hand muscles" are. Warm up not only at the beginning of practice, but frequently throughout.

 

[Christian Schulze]

When it comes to fretboard tension...I try to relax my shoulder and elbow.

Also! Dont press on the fretboard more than you absolutely need to. Remember economy of motion! Don't waste unnecessary energy!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Hey all!
Recently I’ve been having an issue where my hands tense up noticeably while playing, I’ve always been very conscious of trying to avoid this and it’s happened from time to time. Recently though, it’s been a lot more prevalent.

I did take a short break from playing as much earlier in the year and I’m almost certain this is happening because I’m just getting fully back into the swing of things. I always warm up and even do some hand and finger stretches, but if anyone has any other tips or exercises they do to help avoid or remedy this, I would love to hear them!

Which hand is it? Fretting or rhythm? Hand tension is the result of mostly improper technique and poor training and practicing approach. And there's different things to do for each hand

 

[Jamie London]

Which hand is it? Fretting or rhythm? Hand tension is the result of mostly improper technique and poor training and practicing approach. And there's different things to do for each hand

It’s been my fretting hand the last few weeks. It’s not really a problem I’ve had too much prior, usually when it’s happened before it’s just been too much pressure because I get anxious haha but after coming back after a little break, it’s been a decently and more regular issue. That being said I really focused on and made an effort to relax my shoulder and elbow today while playing as the good mr @Christian J.S. Schulze Aguiar suggested above and that really seemed to help. Once I got it in my head that I really need to pay attention to those things, there was a massive and noticeable difference. It’s odd how even after just a short break, what bad habits you ca come back to, or forget how important other things are outside of just what your hands are doing.

 

[Ezequiel Romanko]

it's important to have a good posture while playing, because sometimes you may be doing an unnescessary effort holding the guitar with your arms, also doing stretches with your hands, because its like if you're doing sports, you need to get every muscle warmed up in order to not suffer a lession, so look for arms and hand stretches to do before playing, because its no so obvious that when you play you're using EVERY muscle in your arms and hands not only your fingers, so if you didn't warm up properly you may hurt your arms or hand here's a video that shows you some excercises to do before and after playing i hope it helps you