Help! My Wrist Hurts

When you first start playing guitar you may find that your wrist hurts from time to time, or even your upper arm and shoulder. This is quite normal as your muscles and tendons adjust to the new demands being made on them. However you should not play through this pain. Stop, take a break and, if the pain persists see a doctor.

You also need to check the positioning of your fretting hand (the one that's pressing the strings down) to make sure you are not holding it at too sharp an angle to the neck of the guitar. This is most often caused by having the thumb too far down the neck of the guitar. For a diagram of how best to hold your guitar click here