Video Question: Relaxing Left Hand

August 13th, 2007 - Crosscut619 Says "I have been a JamPlay member for about 4 days now. I get everything that Steve is telling me about positioning my fingers in my left hand. My only problem is while I'm practicing chords, after a while, my left hand gets stiff. I always have to stop and shake my hand a lot. I don't know how to relax my fingers while playing, because when I do, the sound messes up. Any thoughts?" Return to Video Q&A Listing


Length: 0.35 | Instructor: Steve Eulberg Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

Chord Songbook - February 19th, 2008 (2 minutes, 70 seconds)

Mogs asked, "Hi wonder if you can help please. I've only been playing guitar for a few months and still mastering the basic chords. Somtimes this gets a little boring so I try learn a popular song to add a little fun to my practice sessions. The problem I have is how to read chord songbooks. For example I have a Johnny Cash Song 'Ballad of A Teenage Queen' the intro is written in the book as: CAPO 1ST FRET [A] Dream on, Dream on, [D] teenage [A] queen [D] Prettiest [A] girl we've [E] ever [A] seen. I understand the capo part and have it set up correctly. My question is how many times do I strum the chords ? Looking at the above is it, (A) on 'dream' only or (A) on 'dream' and 'on'. I kind of get it if theres only one word after the chord but when theres two or three I'm not sure wether I strum on each word even though it doesnt show the chord before each word. Hope this is not a silly question, but would really appreciate your advice. Thanks Mogs PS. The site is fantastic, its given me so much motivation to keep on with the practice sessions." View Response

Playing Guitar With Otthers - August 2nd, 2007 (1 minutes, 41 seconds)

Tviolet2000 asks, "I'm new at playing guitar and have always played by myself. Some experienced players want me to jam with them. Do you have any tricks or tips for me to practice before I go out into the real world?" View Response

- July 9th, 2008 (2 minutes, 30 seconds)

luelennon asks, "Hello everybody, my question is the following: I play the guitar (by ear and have a very basic musical knowledge) but have always played rhythm. I would like to learn lead. What would you say would be the best way to start? I am now trying to learn to read tablatures, but there are a lot of terms that I don´t know what do they mean ( Riff, Fill, etc), about this, is there any lesson regarding how to read the tablature? Thank you very much. Regards Lue" View Response

Background Tracks - March 17th, 2008 (3 minutes, 25 seconds)

Mtindall asks, "Is there percussion and rhythm software available and if so which would you recommend?" View Response

Progress When to Move On - October 31st, 2007 (1 minutes, 31 seconds)

Kirwin asks: "Well, This is all nice but, Mr S. Eulberg says you have to practise how much, what is my reference point? When shall I know that I made significant progress so that I can continue with next lesson. Thank you" View Response