neck relief

Hootsmon

not the guitar....MINE!

getting on a bit and beginning  to get some neck and temple pain from looking down at the guitar neck for hours at a time....any good post practice neck relief/exercise/stretching you can recommend?

many thanks

Victor the Giraffe

johnnyurq

Thai massuese, job done.

Maybe she could sort your neck too whilst she is there. 

When I had a bad whiplash the physio told me the best thing is gently moving your neck to all the extremes a few times throughout the day and stopping for a few seconds at the extremes (up/down, side to side) seemed to work although it still gived grief and turns me into a neck monster at times.

@Grunfeld is the dude to advise you better though as it is his profession.

zenzeypher

Stop staring at the board?

make a conscious effort to play yours/their songs without looking at the board. you'll flubb all the time but you'll get there.

I started learning all our tunes whilst actively not staring at the board.. was shockingly bad for a few days, then it felt very similar to touch typing. Only because some gig photos came back once and I looked like a bored out my skull on stage.

after awhile a quick glance at the board here and there should be all.

oh on my old guitar i used to use dents/dings in the neck as position markers..

mike_l

Put something at eye level in front of you when you're practising.

Currently I have the book I'm working through on a stand in front of me, which I consciously look at. Even when I'm just playing along with the CD, and it's the front cover.

Maybe also try to loosen your neck up a bit.

lean your head over to the left, then centre, then  right, front, then back, do this 3-4 times, then do a couple of circles so you're doing all of these in one smooth, slow motion. 

viz

Play in front of a full length mirror

mike_l

Don't suggest that viz, he'll do it naked.......

viz

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab217/Vizzage/Mobile Uploads/image_zps232f08e4.jpg

Grunfeld

johnnyurq said:

@Grunfeld is the dude to advise you better though as it is his profession.

Yeah but useful advice is often tricky though because people are such awkward buggers… they will insist on being individual and having particular problems. Best “neck” example I can think of for that was my own neck pain which I knew was computer related. I had everything set up “by the book”… correct heights and angles for chair, monitor, desk, mouse distance. One day I get a new chair and it’s “wrong” but I decide to leave it to the weekend. Result: no neck pain. Retest with official ergonomic measurements: neck pain. Back to “wrong” chair: no neck pain.

So, there’s no recipe for everyone. You feel a neck and you might notice a movement being blocked by just a couple of little joints, so you loosen them up, and the patient is as right as ninepence. An exercise can never replicate that.

Having said that, my “go to” exercise for the older neck is a combination of the movements of retraction and extension. These are often a bit limited. Tip: people tend to do them way too quickly. They don’t work if they’re done too quickly. There are probably examples on YT.  Yep, here's one (and NB the cautions mentioned in it.  They are important!) :

@hootsmon — consider seeing a therapist, we do this stuff all the time and it might be something we can sort out quite easily.

thomasross20

I get a sore back as I do tend to hunch..

ThePrettyDamned

thomasross20 said:

I get a sore back as I do tend to hunch..

Your guitar is probably slung too low - bring it up a bit and watch everything improve

mike_l

ThePrettyDamned said:

thomasross20 said:

I get a sore back as I do tend to hunch..

Your guitar is probably slung too low - bring it up a bit and watch everything improve

He's not talking about playing guitar.......