Left hand "tightness" after playing PSG

[Bob Sykes]

Most of my gig sets consist of about 50 mins of PSG playing, then finishing out with 2-3 songs on 6 string. My 6 string playing seems worse (to me) than if I had just picked up the guitar cold. This is mostly during fast soloing. Playing chord grips not so bad. I have started holding the bar a little more loosely but not sure if that's helping. I use a 1" BJS so it's heavy.

There is no discomfort when this happens. It just seems that my left is hand is less fluid. Tight maybe.

Anyone else experience this? Hints? Haven't seen this pop up on here before, so I'm guessing it's not too common.

[Mike Auman]

Bob, I wonder if left-hand warmups just prior to starting the gig would help? There are lots of different ones available if you Google it. I'm not sure how long your hand would stay warmed-up after that, hopefully long enough. And maybe flexing your left hand between songs during the first part of the gig would help you stay ready?

[Bob Sykes]

Thanks Mike!
I'll try that. I have some good warm up exercises from classical guitar lessons long ago. Once I get set up and tuned, I'm usually trying to warm up on steel.
I do know that the warm up I get from the last few songs on the first set doesn't carry me through to the end of the second set. I like the idea of hand flexes between songs.

[Justin Shaw]

Bob I get that too. The bar hand doesn't need to change its shape very much, so if I play for a long time when I stop it's stiff. To combat this I move it whenever I get the chance: open the fingers, loosen my grip, etc. I do this between licks even, but also between songs, etc. I've also been working on keeping my hand as relaxed as possible when I do grip it, and let the bar push down by itself as much as I can. Finally, I find it very helpful for my hand if I keep my core and back muscles active. That way I'm not pushing down with my shoulder but pulling down with my armpit, lats, abs, etc.

I'm not sure how common this all is. I have a bunch of health problems.

[Dave Mudgett]

Yes, yes, and yes! I frequently switch between steel, fretted guitar, and slide guitar. Especially when switching from steel to fretted guitar, I have to do something to 'refresh' my left hand muscles into "guitar mode". I usually put down the bar, stretch out my fingers and make a bunch of fast fretting movements in the air, for as long as I have before the next song starts. Occasionally someone makes a wry comment to ask if I'm going spastic, so I try to keep this mostly out of public view, LOL. Let's just say that getting older has not made this any easier!

I generally also play fretted guitar with a 358-size small teardrop flat pick and either fingers or finger picks on middle and ring fingers - i.e., hybrid picking. So I usually also stretch out my right hand fingers, especially thumb and index finger. Using those small flat picks requires one to be pretty precise with them. But I find that the larger flat picks interfere with my other fingers picking.

I find switching between steel and slide guitar easier. I do use the left-hand fingers a lot when playing slide, but I use thumb pick and fingers for both slide and steel.

[Paul Seager]

Yeah I get that problem. I have since had a diagnosis of early arthritis in my left hand, particularly in my left ring finger, which of course is extended and not moved when playing steel.

Ok, at 61 I am at an age where one may expect this but it I have to admit it began as I started to practice PSG more intensely. I didn't have this problem with regular steel, possibly because the hand position changes more with tilts and slants.

My solution is to use a series of exercises for hand arthritis. I do these every morning but also a few between sets.

[Dan Kelly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWxIPrBSdQ

Here is a video about stretching exercises for guitarists. I have been doing this for a couple years and have noticed that the added fluidity I feel is worth the small amount of time. It is a 6 minute, or so, video. However, It takes much less time to go through the stretches. Also, I find my self doing the stretches throughout the day and that helps when I sit down to play.

Also, I have noticed that there is a better "connection" between my brain and my hands. I can say that these stretches have helped my playing, for sure.

I have noticed the same stiffness you are describing after playing for extended time periods. The "hand shaking" recommended in this video takes care of the stiffness in short order.

[Bob Sykes]

Thanks guys. Great ideas. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out what was happening. I will be doing some exercising and stretching between steel songs.

As luck would have it, the band played a single, unusually long set this past weekend. Instead of the usual lists; The band leader just called random tunes which ended up including all of my six-string tunes in the one set. I did a lot of switching back and forth which normally annoys me but i noticed an improvement in dexterity and playing on the six string.

[Dave Mudgett]

As luck would have it, the band played a single, unusually long set this past weekend. Instead of the usual lists; The band leader just called random tunes which ended up including all of my six-string tunes in the one set. I did a lot of switching back and forth which normally annoys me but i noticed an improvement in dexterity and playing on the six string.

Yup - sometimes, tunes get called in an order that requires me to change from steel to fretted to slide, etc., practically every song. Drives me crazy! It's not just the dexterity, but the guitar/amp/settings changes too. I usually will have a talk with whomever is calling the tunes, LOL. That usually fixes it for a while, but the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (increasing entropy) virtually always sets in.

[Bob Sykes]

Dave, I hear you. The equipment changeover contributes to my sucky guitar playing dilema. I can't play it as well if I'm not getting the sound I want out of the amp. That problem goes away (for me) when I use separate amps (and everything between), which I don't usually. Keeping the schlep down.

My experience with band leader setlist discussions mirrors yours. Devolves into entropy. It's a singer's world and most lead singers are also band leaders in my world. To be fair, our lead singer is switching between electric and acoustic 6 string as well as mando. His instrument groupings get priority.
Such is life