Hi Moonchild,

I'm glad to hear you went to the Doctor. More importantly, I'm glad you found the root of the problem. Learning new chords can be very difficult because you're not used to them (duh! Obviously) -- bar chords can be the worst since they usually put your wrist at a very awkward angle. Your hand and arm will have much more strength if your wrist is as straight as possible. Be careful that this thought doesn't cause you to tighten up, though. Try and relax as much as possible when playing, using only enough pressure to push down the strings. You can get used to this by using the following exercise:

1. Push a string down as hard as possible and play a note 2. Barely touch a string and play the muted note 3. Experiment in between these two extremes to find just the right amount of pressure needed to get a clear sounding note. Many people use far more pressure than necessary

Also (and this may be my main problem), breathe! Every once in a while notice what you're doing with your breath. If it's not smooth and relaxed you may be holding too much tension. And if you play in that state, you will fatigue much quicker.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to relax my breathing yet. I still find I hold it too much (especially when I play a difficult part). I'm working at just strumming simple chords while focusing solely on my breathing. Hopefully it'll get easier for me. I even find this when I'm away from the instrument.

If anyone else has any ideas on how to relax while playing, and in particular how to relax the breath while playing, I'd love to hear them. Thanks.

One word of caution, Moonchild: be careful with the anti-inflammatories. If you cover up the pain, remember that the problem isn't necessarily gone. You could end up hurting yourself more and not even know it. I was given some originally that I never used (Actually I just threw them out because they were past the due date). I decided not to take because of all the side effects. I actually got two prescriptions, one for the pain, the other to counteract the side effects. And the 2nd one had it's own problems too. I'm curious if you've noticed anything from taking them, besides less pain?

Goodluck to us all, Jason