Hand soreness/stiff feeling?

[Racerxrated]

So I've been avoiding this obvious issue for awhile; been taking much longer to warm up over the past year or so. Being mostly a rock/hard rock guy I love my bends and vibrato; very important to me with my playing. About 7 yrs ago I switched from 10s to 09s; been great ever since until this past year or so.
Well, I decided to look into 08s and some custom lite-heavy sets like the Yngwie Fender set. Ordered a few and BOOM problem solved. The stiffness is still there but I'm still able to play effortlessly; took some adjusting as you really need to be more finesse oriented/fret lightly than you may be used to..but I have no issues being able to do exactly what I want. Tonewise I really only notice slightly thinner tone on the low E, A but I restrung those with the E,A from what I pulled off. A little re-eq does the trick too. Sounds as thick as before. I used the EB 08s on my 84 Charvel and the Gibbons 08s on my 2009. Really a HUGE difference and if any of you are experiencing this, don't be too proud to try a lighter gauge no matter what style you play. It ain't worth the pain to keep playing the same higher gauge strings, IMO.

As an added bonus; I've noticed a higher end 'sizzle' that wasn't present before. Like the often chased VH1 tone high end...with both guitars.

 

[lespaul6]

sorry to hear about your hand condition... I play 10's but I'm using les pauls so its really like 9's I guess. Ive been pretty lucky so far with no issues... Did you go to a doctor to find out what's up?

 

[Racerxrated]

sorry to hear about your hand condition... I play 10's but I'm using les pauls so its really like 9's I guess. Ive been pretty lucky so far with no issues... Did you go to a doctor to find out what's up?

Nah...I’m 52, and for a year or so just alway feel some joint soreness here and there. Gotta really stretch before I lift now. Just figured it’s age lol. I don’t cramp up and have carpal tunnel symptoms or anything.

 

[Exo-metal]

Good, glad this helped too. Thanks for pointing out the hybrid set helping. I just got a guitar and set it up the way I normally do and liked something about it and come to find out it had a hybrid set on it and it just made it effortless. Rock on brother

 

[Racerxrated]

Thanks guys! It really helped; just a bit different feel as well but not bad. Gotta be careful 'digging in' so to speak, can be easy to push out of tune if you aren't mindful. Can't imagine Yngwie; he must have an incredibly light touch to play these and with deeply scalloped frets too! Amazing.

 

[thenine]

Nice post. Will be 52 this summer. I feel it some days too.

 

[Racerxrated]

Nice post. Will be 52 this summer. I feel it some days too.

Yep, feel it when I'm outside doing work, on the car etc. Just the way it is.

 

[Mailman1971]

My right hand.
Like from my middle finger down to my pinky.
Sometimes they just ‘lock up’ and I physically have to unbend them with my left hand.
Kinda painful. It’s like I can crack them knuckles. Then 10 minutes later crack them again and so on...

 

[Laura]

I dropped my string guage too. I really miss 52's but my forearm does not. Proper hydration and stretching should help. Down-picking started to hurt and cramp so the lighter gauges have been better for me too (and I turned 50 a few months ago...).

 

[Racerxrated]

My right hand.
Like from my middle finger down to my pinky.
Sometimes they just ‘lock up’ and I physically have to unbend them with my left hand.
Kinda painful. It’s like I can crack them knuckles. Then 10 minutes later crack them again and so on...

So that sounds like it could be carpal tunnel? I had a friend yrs back, in his 20s that's what would happen to his left hand. Had micro surgery to correct and it was successful. I'd get that checked out.

 

[Racerxrated]

I dropped my string guage too. I really miss 52's but my forearm does not. Proper hydration and stretching should help. Down-picking started to hurt and cramp so the lighter gauges have been better for me too (and I turned 50 a few months ago...).

I've had these on for a week, and even when I feel like I'm gonna need a long warm up period I start playing and no need...it's been a huge success so far. In 5 minutes I'm doing my warm up scale stuff pretty fast, and usually it took at least 10-15 minutes before I'd even try it. Lol. No gigging anymore so this is just for my own enjoyment, I was really starting to think I'd have to give it up. But these light gauge strings have brought me some new life in my playing.

 

[apophis]

try a theraband flex bar...really helped me. Also dropping string gauge helps some but the TONE!

 

[John4021]

My job(Tool and Die Maker for over 42 yrs) and Being the old phucker here can tell you Laruas on the right track with stretching /hydration .
I had Carpal Tunnel operation to both hands a year apart from one another when I was in my 30's because of my job.

Recovery back then was over 3 months on each one. NOW, it's like 6 to 8 weeks.

SQUASH the heavy boozing and replace it with H2O.


Just some words of age'd wisdom from yer ol Unkle John.

 

[Racerxrated]

try a theraband flex bar...really helped me. Also dropping string gauge helps some but the TONE!

It didn't help me some; it helped a TON. I mean like HUGE difference. And tone? Haha not much different at all. Seriously. If you use a high gain amp it's really not noticeable at all. At least not with my setup. It may make a difference with yours. But, Billy Gibbons, Yngwie, Page and others use 08s and they've never had any tonal issues. At least not that I've ever heard. The only difference that was somewhat noticeable was with the low E/A and I just replaced them with the 46/32 that came off. Perfect.

 

[lespaul6]

and malmsteen uses those heavy pics too... he def has his technique down!

 

[thisguy]

I dropped my string guage too. I really miss 52's but my forearm does not. Proper hydration and stretching should help. Down-picking started to hurt and cramp so the lighter gauges have been better for me too (and I turned 50 a few months ago...).

I've had these on for a week, and even when I feel like I'm gonna need a long warm up period I start playing and no need...it's been a huge success so far. In 5 minutes I'm doing my warm up scale stuff pretty fast, and usually it took at least 10-15 minutes before I'd even try it. Lol. No gigging anymore so this is just for my own enjoyment, I was really starting to think I'd have to give it up. But these light gauge strings have brought me some new life in my playing.

Possibly because they are light compared to your hand strength. After a while of using 8s your hands could lose strength, become accustomed to the lighter stress, and be back to how it was using the heavier strings. You may want to consider doing something to help strengthen your hands.

 

[stratjacket]

There are tons of videos out there about how to relieve hands, wrists and arms, etc...
Have you tried some any of that stuff?

Here is one that helped me:

 

[MetalHeadMike]

My job(Tool and Die Maker for over 42 yrs) and Being the old phucker here can tell you Laruas on the right track with stretching /hydration .
I had Carpal Tunnel operation to both hands a year apart from one another when I was in my 30's because of my job.

Recovery back then was over 3 months on each one. NOW, it's like 6 to 8 weeks.

SQUASH the heavy boozing and replace it with H2O.


Just some words of age'd wisdom from yer ol Unkle John.

You are an old Phucker aren't ya

 

[Racerxrated]

I dropped my string guage too. I really miss 52's but my forearm does not. Proper hydration and stretching should help. Down-picking started to hurt and cramp so the lighter gauges have been better for me too (and I turned 50 a few months ago...).

I've had these on for a week, and even when I feel like I'm gonna need a long warm up period I start playing and no need...it's been a huge success so far. In 5 minutes I'm doing my warm up scale stuff pretty fast, and usually it took at least 10-15 minutes before I'd even try it. Lol. No gigging anymore so this is just for my own enjoyment, I was really starting to think I'd have to give it up. But these light gauge strings have brought me some new life in my playing.

Possibly because they are light compared to your hand strength. After a while of using 8s your hands could lose strength, become accustomed to the lighter stress, and be back to how it was using the heavier strings. You may want to consider doing something to help strengthen your hands.

If that happens then yes I'll try something else. But, after 20yrs with 10s, 7 or so with 09s I think this change will be ok for a good amount of time. But if not then I'll look into another solution.

 

[Exo-metal]

I was surprised when I heard priest used 8's and they always had killer tone. Same with malmsteen, Ed uses 8 or 9's too and we all know he doesn't have a problem with his tone.