Hi,

 

I've been playing Rocksmith for a couple of months now and it's great!

The only issue I have (other then not able to go faster and more precise) is that I tend to feel pressure/stress where my (left hand) thumb connects  to the arm.

Obviously this has to do with how I hold the fretting hand...

 

This is not constant and it passes rather quickly - but it's still an issue not to be ignored.

 

Anyone experienced the same?

Any suggestions?

I've just been playing bass 1 year, so i'm not an expert here, but my humble suggestion would be to try to play SOFTER, I know it's easier said than done, but seriously when you start feeling pain on your fingers chill your playing and remember yourself to play soft :D such is my personal experience and I wanted to share it with you cus that helped my first months a lot :)

One of my biggest technique issues is that once the music starts getting fast and exciting i tense up, and that has caused some other problems in my wrist.

 

I would just say relax and slow things down a bit, work on the fundamentals

May be tendentious from overwork.  sometimes that pain can actually manifest from the tendon that where your forearm meets your elbow.  Try putting probing that area and if its tender, find the pressure point and hold it for a few moments.  It's happened to me and a few sessions of holding that point will reduce the pain in the thumb area.

To much pressure, When I first started out 2 years ago I did the same played and got tired very quickly I was just putting to much pressure on my fret hand, You will gradually find yourself easing off as you progress it just takes as with everything a bit of time.

I have the same issue. My left wrist hurts after 5 minutes of playing power chords. My fingers / hand's position may be wrong. However, I didn't feel such intensive pressure in the past. I started to learn electric guitar in March. Some chords were difficult to play clearly. I was also playing songs with power chords in Rocksmith upto 3-4 hours, e.g. "The final countdown". The problem escalated after buying a strap and playing while standing. Imagine playing a live concert - rock, metal, hardcore, Oi! Should I continue learning guitar or switch to key-based instrument? I'm also in programming and many other activities so I can't screw my hands owing to one lady-killer piece of wood.

If you it hurts when playing a lot of chords in a row such as power or barre chords you could try and holding like a bat with the flat of your hand on the back of neck. Heck you could even try using your thumb on the E or A string. 

...I tend to feel pressure/stress where my (left hand) thumb connects  to the arm.

Obviously this has to do with how I hold the fretting hand...

 

Silly question, but have you taken any lessons with a professional guitar teacher? If not, then I suggest you do. RS is great for learning, but it can't really teach you proper hand techniques. There are some great suggestions in this thread for you, but we can't see what you are doing. The best way to learn is to use RS and a professional teacher for at least a few lessons to get the proper techniques down.

 

Also, after consulting a teacher, you should visit a doctor and have that hand looked at. It might be something to do with some kind of damage to your hand, or your playing technique might be damaging your hand, and our advice won't help much if that is the case. If you are causing damage and don't have it looked at, it could turn into a permanent issue. Good luck!!

First of all thanks for all the replies.

 

I didn't take any classes from a professional teacher, don't have the time or money at this point.

 

As for the doing damage - I don't think that I'm doing any damage since it goes away if I stop or after a some playing - like after a warm-up (a very long warmup...). I also tend to play alot when I do, but the pain begins in the beginning and goes away after a while.

I know that if I was causing damage it would manifest somehow in other situations as well - it doesn't. I'm not ignoring it, if something will feel "unusual" - I'll stop and see a doctor immediately. I'm keeping my attention on it.

 

However, I'm pretty sure I don't hold it "right". It is mostly (perhaps only?) felt when doing power chords - I think I support my hand with the thumb incorrectly... Any proper videos/explanations on how to hold it right? the RS tutorials are abit... weak...

Yeah I get the same pain in that thumb, like others have said, when you feel the pain, if you are playing , stop for a bit and cool down. And play softer with fretting ( easier said then done ) , that is what has helped out with me. Hope it helps you too! 

I actually get pain on the palm where it connects to the thumb. I have tried holding the bass like a bat where you wrap your hand around the neck but I find that I can't hit the strings just right and gets that loose string fuzz. Especially so with guitar when doing chords.

I'm sure part of it is technique.   Also I had the same thing happen.  I didn't play any for about 3 weeks due to being away on Xmas vacation and other family stuff, so now I get my thumb hurting, plus the strings are digging in a bit due to calluses seem to start fading pretty quickly.  

Yeah I get the same pain in that thumb, like others have said, when you feel the pain, if you are playing , stop for a bit and cool down. And play softer with fretting ( easier said then done ) , that is what has helped out with me. Hope it helps you too! 

 

7 months ago I was trying to play 4 hours a day.   I ended up with thumb joint pain and fingers that wouldn't stop aching.  This was from not warming up nearly long enough, and far too much pressure when fretting notes, or bar chords.

 

I started warming up for 45 minutes using legato only.   I've been training my fingers to independently fret notes across all 6 strings, diagonal runs backwards and forwards, chord shape arpeggios, 5 and 6 fret stretches, with eyes closed so your fingers can get to know where they are by touch only.  Pretty much imperative to sight read while playing Rocksmith.   It does take a while to train the hand, but the results have been no more pain in my hands, and much better accuracy, touch, feel and fluidity in my playing.

 Kasnitch, can you suggest a practice routine?

Hi,

 

I've been playing Rocksmith for a couple of months now and it's great!

The only issue I have (other then not able to go faster and more precise) is that I tend to feel pressure/stress where my (left hand) thumb connects  to the arm.

Obviously this has to do with how I hold the fretting hand...

 

This is not constant and it passes rather quickly - but it's still an issue not to be ignored.

 

Anyone experienced the same?

Any suggestions?

2 months actually means nothing,after a considerable ammount of time you will get used to it. Don't hurry yourself in anyway. Remember to master the guitar,the best way is nice and slow first, rather than fast and messy. :D

I got some thumb ache too, I wasn't relax trying to play beyond my level of speed, RS is an awful teacher in this domain.

Why does it only let you play the song slower in the Riffrepeator, and not let you reduce the BPM just a little for the real song.

 

I got some good advices from Youtube teacher Pebber Brown,

where to put the thumb, when you slide up and down the fretboard.

The thumb should follow the position of the middle finger. 

 

But when my fingers slide on the fret, my thumb often stayed in position.

Holding to tight.

 

My advice is, the thumb should always be able to slide at any moment.

I trained this, away from RS, and gone was the pain.