Left Hand Position

This is a 3.2 minute video response from Mark Lincoln on Dec 4th, 2008

Question:

"Lucasholland asked "Hello JamPlay, I just got an electric guitar and I'm 100% comitted to making this thing talk. Now the problem is my left hand. I can play chords just fine but doing my finger exercises on the lower 3-4 strings (E,A,D, sometimes even G) hurts my hand, my wrist and my entire forearm to the point where I have to stop playing. This happens after a couple of seconds. I know that this is a sign that my left hand technique is severely flawed. Here's what I've tried to do so far: - I have tried using a strap to put the guitar at an angle. Doesn't help. - I have tried different thumb positions behind the neck. No luck. - I know not being relaxed is a part of the problem but surely something else must be wrong. I really want to learn how to play guitar but I'm starting to think about giving up on it because of my problems. If I had any good teachers near me I would've started taking private lessons by now but that's not an option. PLEASE help! Lucas.""