My Shoulder Hurts!!!

Hey,

Even if your posture is good, you still might have muscle tension, especially you're getting frustrated by pain. Try to kinda "feel" where the tension might be and loosen it up. Maybe someone else can get specific direction.

Hope your should gets working right soon

1st

GuitarNinja:

It is really hard to say (without watching you) why you are having shoulder pain while palm muting. The technique simply has you lay the side of your hand against the strings at the bridge. Your shoulder shouldn't really be in the mix at all. Try playing normally and then start to do some palm muting - while you are palm muting notice your shoulder. Are you tensing it or bringing it up towards your shoulder? If so, relax the shoulder and concentrate on palm muting by just altering your hand - the shoulder stays the same.

Thanks for the advice guys! I've been working on it, its became better, but it still kinda hurts. I think it happens because when I palm mute, i bring my hand down by the bridge and it causes my shoulder to rise where normally it hangs loose and relaxed. It somehow becomes tense, but I'll continue to try and relax it.

-Joe

This is not normally advice you give to new players, but you should probably hold the guitar a little lower. Look at the picture of Jimmy Page in your avatar. He has the body of the guitar down low and the neck angled up around 45 degrees. This position may help you.

As I said, usually you want to tell a guitarist not to hold a guitar low-slung, because it decreases the reach of your fretting hand and also makes that wrist bend. But this is not good for everybody. I myself have tried to wear my guitar higher and it actually makes playing a little more difficult for me. And I too have problems with palm muting when the guitar is held high, also makes me raise my shoulder up which is uncomfortable.

So, despite it being considered poor technique, I wear my guitar pretty low. This allows my picking hand to rest on the bridge very comfortably. I angle the neck up like Jimmy and this gives me good reach. I also tend to let the guitar sit on my right hip, not in front of me.

I don't want to give you poor advice that teaches you bad habits, but the traditional methods do not always work for everybody. Sometimes you have to play or wear your guitar a little differently than others for physical reasons.

It actually only happens when I'm sitting. It doesnt hurt at all when i stand. I also where my guitar pretty high when im standing, It feels comfortable for me.
When i practice, its usually for an hour or more so i like to sit usually. Could the problem be because I always rest my forearm on the side of the guitar? Is it better to have my arm free?
Thanks for advice!

-Joe

It actually only happens when I'm sitting. It doesnt hurt at all when i stand.

If you use your strap when you are sitting, does the strap hold the guitar, or does your leg?

If the strap is doing most of the work, try using it when you play sitting.

I'm no expert, but I think I remember someone suggesting that at one time.

I think it's a position thing, too. when you stand up, the strap automatically moves the guitar to an optimum playing position. You can't always get than when you're sitting so your hand has to get to its palm-muting position in a different way.

Sit with your arm hanging down by your side. Then without moving the elbow move your hand up to the strings. Then move your hand back along the strings to the bridge. See how it goes.

Best,

A :-)