Left Hand Positioning

[V11]

I’ve been playing the mandolin for a few weeks now and have noticed that my left index to knuckle joint hurts after playing individual/8th notes for a few minutes. It seems that I tend to anchor there a lot as I also do on the guitar when I do breaks, but without the pain (maybe because my guitars tend to have C (baseball bat) to D shaped necks). It also doesn’t hurt when I play open and chop chords.

Is this normal and therefore I should continue on or should I change how I anchor for individual notes? My whole arm forms a near 90 degree angle with the left hand slightly twisted inward since the mandolin neck is raised a bit. The mandolin also has a V shaped neck so trying to push from the back of the neck is quite impossible for me and pushing down the neck and anchoring using my thumb doesn’t generate enough force for individual notes as much as it does chop chords.

Thanks!

[Mike_R]

@V11, some pictures or maybe even a short video of your hand/arm while picking out notes would be helpful to spot any issues.

[V11]

Only the knuckle joint and some parts of the thumb would touch the neck usually.
Last 2 photos happen when I fret with index finger.
Hope the photos are clear.

[Dave_Long]

What hurts? The whole finger?

Your position doesn’t look all that bad from what I can see.

Sometimes I find myself “torquing” the neck (twisting hand) when playing too hard. This causes soreness in m first finger, particularly in the “contact knuckle”. Pressing no more than necessary for a clean note can help with this.

When playing lead, I find I will roll my wrist slightly so the thumb is a little more toward the back of the neck. There should be a “v” for the neck to set against with a space between the neck and the webbing between thumb & finger.

[V11]

Hurts only on the knuckle joint after a few minutes of playing single notes. Chop and open chords don’t cause any pain.

I’ll try to lessen the pressure and maybe try to slide the thumb down a bit, the knuckle joint may be pressing at the pointed end of the neck at times.

Thanks a lot!

[Mike_R]

with a space between the neck and the webbing between thumb & finger.

That’s what I thought of when I looked at it. When I was a kid learning violin, the teacher told me to leave enough space for a frog to crawl between my hand and the neck. In all honesty, I never had a frog do that. Nonetheless, I would try to open your grip a bit so that the contact with the thumb is closer to the tip. See if that helps and let us know.

I also noted that the base of your thumb is against the neck. Mine doesn’t do that when playing individual notes. Your wrist is bent back. Mine is almost flat. I suspect if you straightened your wrist it would relax things quite a bit.

[V11]

I think you’re both spot on. I’ll try to do all those things. Might need a little more time adjusting to the mandolin neck. I could get away with all those things on the guitar, but with the smaller mandolin neck I guess a little adjustment goes a long way.

Thanks again!