Best,
Klaus Crow

Hi Matt,
That’s a good addition. A guitar on your guitar stand in eye sight is a great reminder. Whatever your eye picks up on will be the focus of your attention.

Great one there Matt!
Thanks,
Klaus Crow

Hi Becky,
My wife who also plays guitar had carpel tunnel syndrome. She had the same symptoms you describe.
When she played chords, especially bar chords her hand went numb right away.

I know you don’t want to, but my wife had surgery with good results.
It’s now like 8 years ago and she’s still doing fine.

Disclaimer:
I’m not a doctor and I don’t want to play one on the internet, so I suggest you to seek advice from your doctor.

Hope that helps.

Best,
Klaus Crow

I’ve been using the 5 minute trick for quite a while now. I heard about it from another Klaus. (also an Internet guitar teacher) It is fairly effective. Another one of his gems was while you’re sitting there thinking about how you should be practicing it only takes a second of mental effort to stand up and go do it. When you find yourself thinking I should practice just stand up and go practice, it works well with the 5 minute trick because we are often thinking I should but I can’t be bothered. Turn that I can’t be bothered into I will for 5 minutes then I’ll go back to being lazy. As you say above 5 minutes often turns into much longer. If it doesn’t at least you’ve done 5 minutes more than you would have!

Another tip probably obvious but maybe some haven’t thought of it. Keep a guitar out on a stand, if it’s in a case that just adds another barrier to practice. I also keep a guitar in the room next to my kitchen so when I go boil the kettle etc I often pick up the guitar even if it’s just a couple of minutes.

I still don’t practice as much as I’d like or should but with the above tips I certainly practice/play more than I would without.

Cheers
Matt