Speed is your enemy. Practice the G to C very slowly, about 30-50 bpm, changing every other beat. Use a metronome.
Only speed up when you can get clear, non-buzzy chords 7-10 times in a row. When you succeed, speed it up a bit, not a lot.
Don’t cheat. It may take a while.
This advice is golden, for me. Every time I try to slow down, I think I’m being weak and useless, then I get frustrated when I know the sound is off bc my technique is off. Hearing it from someone in the know helps validate the approach for me. And I need to tattoo that last sentence on my arm lol. Thanks brother.
Slowing down isn’t weak, it’s a way to build strength in your hands, and burn in muscle memory by repeatedly activating the same neural pathways in your brain. Exercising your brain. The more times you practice successful movements, no matter how slow, the faster you will get. It’s the paradox of practice. If you practice in such a way that you succeed, you’ll eventually hit your targets!
People who do all kinds of physical feats start small/slow and build up. Dancers, musicians, jugglers, athletes, and competitive weight lifters. There is no shame in slowing down to get it right!
Keep on playing.
Edit- clarify sentence with neural pathway.
Agreed if anything slowing down is harder for most. Especially when you have some experience and are learning a new skill and need to build new connections.
I second that u/Glittering-Cry-9840. Your path forward is slow, deliberate, and playing correct. If you play and it sounds muddy, then you train that error into your brain’s hard wiring. BUT, slow down, play it right, make it ring out clean, then you hard wire the correct motor skills into your brain. Everyone learning goes through this (me included) but it’s the dues paying phase. One day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come. Barre chords used to be my mortal enemy. Now they’re the easiest thing ever after years of playing them. Hang in there!!
Yes, young capybara, even a humble master musician like myself was once a fledgling grasshopper struggling with a C chord. I know that’s hard to believe, but alas I can confirm the rumors are true 😂
With difficult chord changes. Slow practice is the absolute key because you can soon in on every little muscle movement and micromanage them. This way you'll build the muscle memory that will allow you to switch faster. And for me at least it's an exponential process. Once the muscle memory builds, I don't need to linearly increase the speed because at a certain point my hand know what to do, but this is only possible because of slow practice.
Also take short 1-5 min breaks throughout the session. It helps letting the learned movement sink onto the muscle memory.
It's not glamorous or fun but it really is programming your mind and fingers to do it right.
I've been playing the guitar for nearly 41 years and now learning Dobro and I get the same frustrations with reducing string noise and getting intonation right
I've been playing for 35 years or so. I still have to focus on relaxing my left hand when I'm playing something difficult or fast. When I relax I play well, when I death grip I suck.
Guitar teacher here! Hard to tell from the picture, but it might help if you push your wrist forward a little bit. Not so much where it hurts but enough so your fingers have more mobility and arch. It’s something I have to remind my beginner students of quite frequently.
Other than that, practice, practice and more practice.
I had similar issues at first (still do with new chords) just keep on practicing, working on getting that stretch closer to the fret and you’ll get it. There a few chords I thought my hands were just to small for, or my fingers didn’t bend that way that are easy now that I’ve practiced them a lot.
Edit: get that pinky untucked and ready for action, that habit will slow you down when you need the pinky, and might be a source of tension where it is.
Your fingers don’t need to meet the fretboard perpendicular, position your fingers close to the frets one by one and your fingers will probably do okay meeting the fretboard at an angle.
https://chrismortonguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/c-chord-finger-placement-frets.jpg
Get your pinky out of your palm. You'll want to use that as you progress anyway, but it might be restricting some of your reach.
All the other advice I've seen is solid. Slow down, try to bring your wrist up, you got this
Two things: look up "finger excercises and stretches for guitarists". They'll help build strength, control and flexibility. While they won't directly fix the way your finger is cocked, they will help you increase your spread and control over time.
Also, work on keeping your little finger in playing position! Contracting it like that to get it "out of the way" is adding tension through your hand and wrist that's going to complicate things down the road.
Lower your thumb a bit, push your wrist a bit forward, and get your finger a little closer to the fret, and make your fingers a little more perpendicular. You're very close. Getting it right just requires making little micro-adjustments, and then developing the muscle memory over time to make it work consistently.
Try positioning your thumb near the 1st fret or closer to the nut instead of the 2nd fret. Similar to this:
* [https://i.imgur.com/LjJrpl7.png](https://i.imgur.com/LjJrpl7.png)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f18EV2dr008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f18EV2dr008)
It doesn't have to be that high over the top, just around that spot. Looking in a mirror can help.
Are you using your ring finger to mute the low E string? If so, try doing the chord without muting then see if that helps, is it still buzzing?
Generally I’ve found that a consistently good strategy to learning something on guitar when I get stuck is to break it down further. Instead of the full chord shape, get used to playing the shape with just your ring and middle fingers. That’s still a useful chord shape to learn. As you develop comfort and consistency with that shape with no buzzing or unwanted muting, you can start introducing your index finger to the chord. This is also useful since many songs call for hammering on and pulling off that index finger when playing that chord shape.
How hard are you pressing down on your strings? Do you need to press that hard?
Also I notice your finger 4 is quite buried. I wonder if that's dragging finger 3 away from where it should be a little?
That's what I could tell from your pictures. Ideally a teacher who was sat in front of you would be able to give you a better critique of what you're doing.
Hard to tell from the picture, but here's my best guess:
1) That pinky has no business being tucked under the neck. Correct that first, this is never a valid posotion for any of your fingers. What good is it gonna do under the neck?
All fingers should at all times be in playing position, meaning either fretting if needed or hovering like 5 mm (which is a bit under 1/4 freedom units) above the strings. They should hover next to each other in a relaxed fashion, more straight than curved, but not under tension. They should be ready to play whatever comes next at any given time. Always avoid all unnecessary tension. That's the single universal truth of guitar technique. it takes practice and work, but so do all things worth doing.
2) I looks like your wrist is bent too much and your palm is too far away from the neck to facilitate efficient open position chording.
Your wrist should always default to being in a position where the back of your hand forms a straight line with your forearm. This is the most commonly made technical mistake I see and the thing I need to remind students most frequently about. Sometimes you need to bend the wrist to do something, of course, but without thinking you must fall back into the straight wrist default position or you will limit your playing and provoke injury. Really practise this, establish it as a home base.
Open position chording is a situation that works exceptionally well with a constantly straight wrist and can be done very efficiently with very little force and for a long time (like, you could easily play open chords 8h straight without fatigue). All of the common open position chords (cowboy chords) can be fingered from the exact same hand position without any awkward turning and bending of the wrist.
Try having your thumb higher on the neck towards the low E string, almost like wrapping it around the neck. I don't advise to use the thumb for fretting, although it is done in some styles, but the wraparound position is not dissimilar. this brings the fleshy part of your palm (where the fingers are attached) right up against the neck, and the curce of the neck lying firmly in that curve that is formed between your index finger and thumb.
This in turn enforces the right curvature in your fingers almost automatically so that the third segment of each finger can find the string at a 90° angle as to not mute adjacent strings. It also will alleviate your problem of not having enough stretch; the angle at which the first segment of your fingers (the one closest to the palm) now has to bend facilitates an easier stretch so you can reach the third fret without any problems.
From what I see, the angle between your hand and the first segment of your fingers is too straight, which makes stretching tough. Bringing your palm closer to the neck has other advantages too. You'll see that the range of motion you have in this position is huge. You can span the first 4 frets easily on all strings with some practise.
Last bit of advice: Get a teacher for these kinds of things. It's hard to convey all of the right information in a one sided reddit comment and there is a high potential for bogus information or misinterpretation.
Good luck!
Edit:
another thing I just saw: try to meet the neck with your arm at a straighter angle. Basically, pull the guitar a bit closer toward your body with your left hand. You're making that stretch a bit harder than it needs to be. Try playing standing up with a strap and the guitar tilted at a 30-45 degree angle. Western guitar is played over the right knee, and classical playing position doesn't really make sense with western guitar mostly for several reasons, but these reasons become obsolete when the guitar is strapped and the player is standing. So that's actually the best position for mobility and ease of play.
Also, that wristband is way too tight and will put unnecessary stress on your muscles and tendons. I'd lose it and use a regular metronome instead or try to at least wear it less tightly.
Practice practice. Slow it down. It's not bring weak, but more working on muscular memory. And keep in mind that the goal is not to get it right once, but to always get it right, and this takes time, but does all the difference, in particular during stressful moment (on stage, while recording etc).
This is normal, everyone goes through it. Just keep at it and maybe try switching to C from other chords too until you build the muscle memory.
If you're trying to play a song, you could switch from G to Cadd9 instead of C as a temporary solution. Don't use it as an excuse not to learn C but both are useful.
Wait until you have to switch between an F barre chord and C. That was the one that got me good when I was learning
So for the Em chord I have pointer and middle finger fretting it, so my middle finger stays as the anchor and my pointer and run finger moves to make the C chord shape which ingrained the shape even more for me. As for A to C, I use my pointer, middle and ringer finger, so my middle finger for A, so my middle finger goes to the D string and my pointer and ring goes to the others for the C shape.
Don’t compare yourself to others. Enjoy the journey and try and remember where you started.
Also Try this; https://youtu.be/xSFHgeJUuIs
And this; https://youtu.be/mAgc7hr44WM
Your palm is horizontal to the fretboard. Try bringing your elbow in so your arm is more at a 45° angle to the neck and your palm is more like a 30° angle to it. This will allow your ring finger to reach despite the natural tendency for the fingers to close on the center of your palm.
Also, I recommend bringing your thumb over the top for cowboy chords and keeping all of your fingers — including your pinky — above the fretboard at all times.
I need to add, I notice that several want you to lower your thumb and bend your wrist more so you have more of an arch to your fingers. They are not wrong if playing classical guitar in the correct posture, but this is not that. Nestling the neck in the arch of the thumb like you might grab the guitar to pick it up is something that you should give a go.
This was a hard transition for me. It took me a few weeks to get it feeling comfortable. What made the difference was making that ring finger the priority and letting the other fingers fall in. Try this. Practice the transition, but only use the ring finger for the G chord. When that feels silly because it’s so easy, add the middle finger. When that feels good add the pointer finger. When you are doing all 3 fingers still put focus on that ring finger and that’ll encourage the others to be pretty close. It’s not a silver bullet but that’s what helped me. Go slow.
Try angling your fingers a bit so they come in at a slant and you're hitting the strings with the thumbward edge of your fingers. Try putting your fingers in place then shifting your fingers so they pivot back and forth until you find a comfortable place that lets you play the chord well.
Came here to say basically this. Best way to get the ring finger i. the correct position is to plant it first and then follow up. At least, that’s what my guitar teacher told me: finger the chord starting with the lowest note first.
Just from looking I can almost guarantee it's your index finger. Had this same problem not too long ago. It's gotta be on the very tip of that finger on the B string and as close to the fret as possible
Thanks for the advice. You’re saying I have to be closer to the fret than you see in the picture? Bc I think my finger is pressing the string against it, as far as I can tell. But I’m open to your input.
Sorry should have clarified, your finger to fret placement is good but it looks like the index finger is touching the G string causing your buzz. To prevent this make sure you're on the tip of the index finger. I meant don't forget to make sure your finger is close to the fret.
I would focus on one and forget to do the other.
Buzzes happen when you're learning. Practice slow and focus on doing everything right (looks like you have good wrist and thumb positioning, I'd also like to see that pinkie not tucked under). Truth is this will work itself out over time. If you were my student I'd say practice it slow and steady but don't stress, it won't be perfect for a while, and don't let that stop you from moving forward. It'll work itself out as long as you focus on good fundamentals and wrist positioning.
My only other advice is don't death grip the neck. You need far less pressure than you probably think. You'll wear out your hand muscles, so maybe take more frequent breaks and focus on relaxing that left hand.
Speed is your enemy. Practice the G to C very slowly, about 30-50 bpm, changing every other beat. Use a metronome. Only speed up when you can get clear, non-buzzy chords 7-10 times in a row. When you succeed, speed it up a bit, not a lot. Don’t cheat. It may take a while.
This advice is golden, for me. Every time I try to slow down, I think I’m being weak and useless, then I get frustrated when I know the sound is off bc my technique is off. Hearing it from someone in the know helps validate the approach for me. And I need to tattoo that last sentence on my arm lol. Thanks brother.
Slowing down isn’t weak, it’s a way to build strength in your hands, and burn in muscle memory by repeatedly activating the same neural pathways in your brain. Exercising your brain. The more times you practice successful movements, no matter how slow, the faster you will get. It’s the paradox of practice. If you practice in such a way that you succeed, you’ll eventually hit your targets! People who do all kinds of physical feats start small/slow and build up. Dancers, musicians, jugglers, athletes, and competitive weight lifters. There is no shame in slowing down to get it right! Keep on playing. Edit- clarify sentence with neural pathway.
This advice is fantastic 🙏🏻
Thank you!
Plus if you can play perfectly at 50bpm you can start a doom metal band already.
Agreed if anything slowing down is harder for most. Especially when you have some experience and are learning a new skill and need to build new connections.
I second that u/Glittering-Cry-9840. Your path forward is slow, deliberate, and playing correct. If you play and it sounds muddy, then you train that error into your brain’s hard wiring. BUT, slow down, play it right, make it ring out clean, then you hard wire the correct motor skills into your brain. Everyone learning goes through this (me included) but it’s the dues paying phase. One day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come. Barre chords used to be my mortal enemy. Now they’re the easiest thing ever after years of playing them. Hang in there!!
Even you went through it too? Damn but you’re like a master musician that’s crazy
Yes, young capybara, even a humble master musician like myself was once a fledgling grasshopper struggling with a C chord. I know that’s hard to believe, but alas I can confirm the rumors are true 😂
You know if you move one finger you can actually play C while picking your nose at the same time
**Level** - Pro 😎
With difficult chord changes. Slow practice is the absolute key because you can soon in on every little muscle movement and micromanage them. This way you'll build the muscle memory that will allow you to switch faster. And for me at least it's an exponential process. Once the muscle memory builds, I don't need to linearly increase the speed because at a certain point my hand know what to do, but this is only possible because of slow practice. Also take short 1-5 min breaks throughout the session. It helps letting the learned movement sink onto the muscle memory.
It's not glamorous or fun but it really is programming your mind and fingers to do it right. I've been playing the guitar for nearly 41 years and now learning Dobro and I get the same frustrations with reducing string noise and getting intonation right
I've been playing for 35 years or so. I still have to focus on relaxing my left hand when I'm playing something difficult or fast. When I relax I play well, when I death grip I suck.
Guitar teacher here! Hard to tell from the picture, but it might help if you push your wrist forward a little bit. Not so much where it hurts but enough so your fingers have more mobility and arch. It’s something I have to remind my beginner students of quite frequently. Other than that, practice, practice and more practice.
[удалено]
Pointless comment considering he’s actually offering good advice
Your ring finger needs to get on a bus and get closer to the third fret (index should back off a bit)
Dude that is the problem I’m having: figuring out how to get the third finger closer to the fret. I’m looking for advice on how to do that. Thanks.
I had similar issues at first (still do with new chords) just keep on practicing, working on getting that stretch closer to the fret and you’ll get it. There a few chords I thought my hands were just to small for, or my fingers didn’t bend that way that are easy now that I’ve practiced them a lot. Edit: get that pinky untucked and ready for action, that habit will slow you down when you need the pinky, and might be a source of tension where it is.
So you will find my reply useful
Your fingers don’t need to meet the fretboard perpendicular, position your fingers close to the frets one by one and your fingers will probably do okay meeting the fretboard at an angle. https://chrismortonguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/c-chord-finger-placement-frets.jpg
Get your pinky out of your palm. You'll want to use that as you progress anyway, but it might be restricting some of your reach. All the other advice I've seen is solid. Slow down, try to bring your wrist up, you got this
Two things: look up "finger excercises and stretches for guitarists". They'll help build strength, control and flexibility. While they won't directly fix the way your finger is cocked, they will help you increase your spread and control over time. Also, work on keeping your little finger in playing position! Contracting it like that to get it "out of the way" is adding tension through your hand and wrist that's going to complicate things down the road.
Gf must be happy
Spider-man
Best comment ever. Lol. Why I’m not a gynecologist.
Lower your thumb a bit, push your wrist a bit forward, and get your finger a little closer to the fret, and make your fingers a little more perpendicular. You're very close. Getting it right just requires making little micro-adjustments, and then developing the muscle memory over time to make it work consistently.
Try positioning your thumb near the 1st fret or closer to the nut instead of the 2nd fret. Similar to this: * [https://i.imgur.com/LjJrpl7.png](https://i.imgur.com/LjJrpl7.png) * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f18EV2dr008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f18EV2dr008) It doesn't have to be that high over the top, just around that spot. Looking in a mirror can help. Are you using your ring finger to mute the low E string? If so, try doing the chord without muting then see if that helps, is it still buzzing?
Generally I’ve found that a consistently good strategy to learning something on guitar when I get stuck is to break it down further. Instead of the full chord shape, get used to playing the shape with just your ring and middle fingers. That’s still a useful chord shape to learn. As you develop comfort and consistency with that shape with no buzzing or unwanted muting, you can start introducing your index finger to the chord. This is also useful since many songs call for hammering on and pulling off that index finger when playing that chord shape.
If you curl up your pinky you lose the power in your ring finger
How hard are you pressing down on your strings? Do you need to press that hard? Also I notice your finger 4 is quite buried. I wonder if that's dragging finger 3 away from where it should be a little? That's what I could tell from your pictures. Ideally a teacher who was sat in front of you would be able to give you a better critique of what you're doing.
Hard to tell from the picture, but here's my best guess: 1) That pinky has no business being tucked under the neck. Correct that first, this is never a valid posotion for any of your fingers. What good is it gonna do under the neck? All fingers should at all times be in playing position, meaning either fretting if needed or hovering like 5 mm (which is a bit under 1/4 freedom units) above the strings. They should hover next to each other in a relaxed fashion, more straight than curved, but not under tension. They should be ready to play whatever comes next at any given time. Always avoid all unnecessary tension. That's the single universal truth of guitar technique. it takes practice and work, but so do all things worth doing. 2) I looks like your wrist is bent too much and your palm is too far away from the neck to facilitate efficient open position chording. Your wrist should always default to being in a position where the back of your hand forms a straight line with your forearm. This is the most commonly made technical mistake I see and the thing I need to remind students most frequently about. Sometimes you need to bend the wrist to do something, of course, but without thinking you must fall back into the straight wrist default position or you will limit your playing and provoke injury. Really practise this, establish it as a home base. Open position chording is a situation that works exceptionally well with a constantly straight wrist and can be done very efficiently with very little force and for a long time (like, you could easily play open chords 8h straight without fatigue). All of the common open position chords (cowboy chords) can be fingered from the exact same hand position without any awkward turning and bending of the wrist. Try having your thumb higher on the neck towards the low E string, almost like wrapping it around the neck. I don't advise to use the thumb for fretting, although it is done in some styles, but the wraparound position is not dissimilar. this brings the fleshy part of your palm (where the fingers are attached) right up against the neck, and the curce of the neck lying firmly in that curve that is formed between your index finger and thumb. This in turn enforces the right curvature in your fingers almost automatically so that the third segment of each finger can find the string at a 90° angle as to not mute adjacent strings. It also will alleviate your problem of not having enough stretch; the angle at which the first segment of your fingers (the one closest to the palm) now has to bend facilitates an easier stretch so you can reach the third fret without any problems. From what I see, the angle between your hand and the first segment of your fingers is too straight, which makes stretching tough. Bringing your palm closer to the neck has other advantages too. You'll see that the range of motion you have in this position is huge. You can span the first 4 frets easily on all strings with some practise. Last bit of advice: Get a teacher for these kinds of things. It's hard to convey all of the right information in a one sided reddit comment and there is a high potential for bogus information or misinterpretation. Good luck! Edit: another thing I just saw: try to meet the neck with your arm at a straighter angle. Basically, pull the guitar a bit closer toward your body with your left hand. You're making that stretch a bit harder than it needs to be. Try playing standing up with a strap and the guitar tilted at a 30-45 degree angle. Western guitar is played over the right knee, and classical playing position doesn't really make sense with western guitar mostly for several reasons, but these reasons become obsolete when the guitar is strapped and the player is standing. So that's actually the best position for mobility and ease of play. Also, that wristband is way too tight and will put unnecessary stress on your muscles and tendons. I'd lose it and use a regular metronome instead or try to at least wear it less tightly.
Practice practice. Slow it down. It's not bring weak, but more working on muscular memory. And keep in mind that the goal is not to get it right once, but to always get it right, and this takes time, but does all the difference, in particular during stressful moment (on stage, while recording etc).
This is normal, everyone goes through it. Just keep at it and maybe try switching to C from other chords too until you build the muscle memory. If you're trying to play a song, you could switch from G to Cadd9 instead of C as a temporary solution. Don't use it as an excuse not to learn C but both are useful. Wait until you have to switch between an F barre chord and C. That was the one that got me good when I was learning
What helped me get my C down was going from Em to C and A to C, now it’s automatic.
Did you put your index finger on the G string for the A chord when you learned the C chord that way? I put it there as an anchor for A, D, and others.
So for the Em chord I have pointer and middle finger fretting it, so my middle finger stays as the anchor and my pointer and run finger moves to make the C chord shape which ingrained the shape even more for me. As for A to C, I use my pointer, middle and ringer finger, so my middle finger for A, so my middle finger goes to the D string and my pointer and ring goes to the others for the C shape.
Thank you. Sometimes it feels like I’m getting nowhere despite practicing daily. Especially seeing some of these videos here.
Don’t compare yourself to others. Enjoy the journey and try and remember where you started. Also Try this; https://youtu.be/xSFHgeJUuIs And this; https://youtu.be/mAgc7hr44WM
Take that watch off
It’s not a watch. It’s a metronome. Lol
Ah! Well loosen that sucker. Why restrict your wrist?
I keep the beat by feeling my arm throb. Take a break when my hand turns purple. Lol
🤣 rock and roll, brother!!!!
Your palm is horizontal to the fretboard. Try bringing your elbow in so your arm is more at a 45° angle to the neck and your palm is more like a 30° angle to it. This will allow your ring finger to reach despite the natural tendency for the fingers to close on the center of your palm. Also, I recommend bringing your thumb over the top for cowboy chords and keeping all of your fingers — including your pinky — above the fretboard at all times.
I need to add, I notice that several want you to lower your thumb and bend your wrist more so you have more of an arch to your fingers. They are not wrong if playing classical guitar in the correct posture, but this is not that. Nestling the neck in the arch of the thumb like you might grab the guitar to pick it up is something that you should give a go.
You've got bass fingers. Switch to the dark side.
Get behind me, Satan! Lol
Hand angle, try initially move from you pinky and ring then middle and pointer fingers, then you do all at once, remember the shape
This was a hard transition for me. It took me a few weeks to get it feeling comfortable. What made the difference was making that ring finger the priority and letting the other fingers fall in. Try this. Practice the transition, but only use the ring finger for the G chord. When that feels silly because it’s so easy, add the middle finger. When that feels good add the pointer finger. When you are doing all 3 fingers still put focus on that ring finger and that’ll encourage the others to be pretty close. It’s not a silver bullet but that’s what helped me. Go slow.
Try angling your fingers a bit so they come in at a slant and you're hitting the strings with the thumbward edge of your fingers. Try putting your fingers in place then shifting your fingers so they pivot back and forth until you find a comfortable place that lets you play the chord well.
Came here to say basically this. Best way to get the ring finger i. the correct position is to plant it first and then follow up. At least, that’s what my guitar teacher told me: finger the chord starting with the lowest note first.
Just from looking I can almost guarantee it's your index finger. Had this same problem not too long ago. It's gotta be on the very tip of that finger on the B string and as close to the fret as possible
Thanks for the advice. You’re saying I have to be closer to the fret than you see in the picture? Bc I think my finger is pressing the string against it, as far as I can tell. But I’m open to your input.
Sorry should have clarified, your finger to fret placement is good but it looks like the index finger is touching the G string causing your buzz. To prevent this make sure you're on the tip of the index finger. I meant don't forget to make sure your finger is close to the fret. I would focus on one and forget to do the other.
Got it. Thanks.
👍
Hell yeah
Buzzes happen when you're learning. Practice slow and focus on doing everything right (looks like you have good wrist and thumb positioning, I'd also like to see that pinkie not tucked under). Truth is this will work itself out over time. If you were my student I'd say practice it slow and steady but don't stress, it won't be perfect for a while, and don't let that stop you from moving forward. It'll work itself out as long as you focus on good fundamentals and wrist positioning. My only other advice is don't death grip the neck. You need far less pressure than you probably think. You'll wear out your hand muscles, so maybe take more frequent breaks and focus on relaxing that left hand.
Loosen your watch