What’s the difference between a vice and your guitar?
By Chris Glyde
We all know the theory that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. When a vice is clamped to a table, both sides exert the same amount of pressure. When I press my finger against a table, the table and finger exert the same amount of pressure. How does this relate to guitar?
In fact, the same concept works with the guitar. If you press on the fretboard, the opposite equal pressure has to come from somewhere. Where does the pressure come from when you play guitar? I want you to take a second and think about that. Even better, I want you to pick up your guitar and play.
If you’re like most people who attempt to play the guitar, the opposite force is coming from the thumb. When it comes down to it, if you have pressure on both sides of the fretboard —the thumb and fingers—it creates a vice between the thumb and the fingers, with the piece of wood (the fretboard) in between. There is one major flaw in this: vices don’t move left or right, they just stay put. When playing guitar, you need to move left and right, so you don’t want to replicate the physics of a vice when playing guitar.
Maybe you do this and can still play pretty well, or at least up to the level you want. Great! So why should you care? This is a case of mismanaged tension. This particular phenomenon can cause serious medical issues, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. I assume you’d like to play guitar for your whole life, right? So you should avoid mismanaged tension to ensure longevity in your playing. Mismanaged tension also makes learning pieces or developing chops much more difficult because you have to deal with how to handle the extra tension that is so clearly getting in your way. Would you like to make it ten times easier for you to learn how to play the guitar? If you said yes to any of the questions above, then let’s talk about how to resolve this issue by asking the following question: Where should the tension/force come from that works against my fingers?
The proper force should come from the center of the guitar (picture shown below).
This part of the guitar will press or dig into you as the opposite force to your fingers on the fretboard. This will create a “one with the guitar” sensation. The pressure should not be coming from the thumb! It should be obvious whether or not you’re pressing with the thumb or other parts of the hand back there. But just to make sure we’re thorough, let’s talk about some signs you’ll see if you are. Your thumb should look exactly the way it does when you’re not using it. The thumb’s only real function while playing guitar is leverage. The related state for each person is different, though, so the best trick is to hold your thumb out in the air and look at its natural state. You need to make sure it’s relaxed. As an example, here’s a picture of my thumb in a relaxed state:
If your thumb looks like it’s in its natural state while you’re playing guitar, then you’re alright. But if it’s drastically different, then we have a problem. In picture 1, below, you will see an example of my thumb pressing against the fretboard. Notice how my thumb is bent backwards. My thumb is naturally bent forwards a little, not backwards. This tension in the thumb then causes tension in my palm and, in turn, my wrist. This is definitely to be avoided! Some of you may have thumbs that look like this in a relaxed state, which is why it’s important to know what your thumb looks like at ground zero.
For those of you who still aren’t that sure, another sign to look for is the white pressure points of the skin. In the picture below, you will see an example of this. Do you see the pressure on the thumb? It’s where the skin starts to turn white. If you see this, then you’re placing the pressure from the instrument on your thumb and wrist, and not the center of the guitar.
You will feel instant freedom and your technical skills will soar when this is no longer a problem. In order to fix this, you simply need to pay attention, start off slowly, and work on pressing the fretboard with just the fingertips. Many of my students have found that taking their thumb off the fretboard while they learn to play is very useful toward curing this problem. If you struggle initially, realize that sometimes all of this can take time to get down, but when you start to see some results, the rest of the results will come fast. This is much more comfortable and natural than using your thumb, but you simply have to give it time.
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