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Barre chords are a lesson on how a little bit of ignorance can result in physical injury.
Picture me sitting there cheesing like a 5th grader for the school year book. Proudly plucking out chord progressions all over the neck with my newly acquired barre chord skills. Wincing in pain.
Always waking up the next day with half my hand and wrist hurting.
Why had this happened? I paid for an online course in guitar - hundreds of hours of video. They promised I would be an expert at the end of it all. I studied the correct posture and made sure I was pushing all my figgies onto the fretboard correctly. Every note rang out perfectly. My wrist was straight. What was I doing wrong?
Deep in the recesses of the internet I found the answer and I want to share it here with you so that you do not make the same mistake.
Instructors tell you time and again where you should position your thumb on the back of the guitar neck. And when you play barre chords your instinct is to squeeze the neck using your thumb and fingers. This is wrong. This will hurt you.
You are supposed to brace the body of the guitar against you with your right arm and pull the strings and neck of the guitar toward you using the strength of your left arm. If you do this you can actually take your thumb completely away from the guitar and still play a barre chord just by digging in with your fingers as you pull towards yourself.
No. In fact the guitar already has up to 200 lbs of pressure going in the opposite direction you are pulling due to the tension of the strings. You are not going to hurt it playing barre chords.
If you are experiencing pain when you play do not try to play through it. Go out onto the internet and seek out help. Post questions on forums. You will likely discover that you are doing something wrong.
Take days off for your hands to heal if you are new to guitar. Any new skill involving the body will require time for the body to adapt and become stronger. Get plenty of rest.
Learning an instrument is more than playing the instrument. If you are taking a day for rest you can still watch videos online covering theory. You can still listen to an interesting song and dissect it. Try to figure out what makes it great.
You can also play a different instrument that does not tax your body in the same way. Pick up the harmonica and work on a melody in cross harp.
Enjoy Yourself. Have Fun.