How to Stop Left Hand Cramping and Squeezing on the Violin

Playing tips, massage techniques and stretching exercises to heal and prevent cramps in your left hand and the mouse of your thumb. This will help you play the violin fast, relaxed and secure.
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[@emilysearth]

You have no idea how much this helped me omg

[@violinlounge]

Happy to read that!

[@ChrisEbbrsen]

Thankyou! Very good!. Your extremely flexible in your hands! That is good!😅

[@joyroberts6016]

Thank You Maestro. This is really helpful.

[@violinlounge]

Glad to read that!

[@GameOnWithFamilyJam]

You make the best videos. You make learning fun 👍

[@violinlounge]

Thank you 🤗

[@sofiasevilla74]

Thank you for this, I usually practice for more than an hour and the cramping on my left hand and the ache on my back doesn't help when I want to practice for a long time.

[@violinlounge]

I can understand that. Try taking a break every 15 to 20 minutes and do some stretches. A break can be just a couple of minutes.

[@stephensheridan93]

Thank s Mrs Sheridan @StephenSheridan

[@stephanieingham8451]

Thankyou! This is really helpful! 😊

[@violinlounge]

Glad it is ☺️

[@vivothai3310]

Thank so much for the tips, so helpful! 🙏

[@violinlounge]

Glad they are helpful ☺️

[@shipsahoy1793]

Thanks for sharing😎

[@violinlounge]

Thanks for watching!

[@lessienboring]

Hello Zlata, thank you for these tips. Shall I use it too to warm up before practice or another type of mouvement is necessary to properly warm up ? Thanks, take care

[@violinlounge]

I’ve got a great bow arm warm up here kzbin.info/www/bejne/inm3iZ9uir-Af7s

[@deadmanswife3625]

First. Hi zlata. As usual great explanations.

[@violinlounge]

Yay!

[@deadmanswife3625]

@@violinlounge 8:50 in come the chorus. ❤

[@-A-c]

I almost stopped practicing altogether because of fatiguing mistakes on my left hand I didn't even know I was making. Ok Zlata, I'll give this a shot.

[@violinlounge]

Hope it helps!

[@medicinemadisonofficial]

Same here, I practiced much less than usual this month because of excessive tension in the left hand, arm and back.

[@violinlounge]

@@medicinemadisonofficial take care!

[@medicinemadisonofficial]

@@violinlounge I tried the tips in the video and the tension decreased but there is still some left. I'll continue trying though.

[@violinlounge]

@@medicinemadisonofficial find medical care as soon as that’s needed

[@kpcheck1]

Thank you very much for your tips Zlata. Will sure follow your advice. My left hand thumb and 3rd finger have that problem after playing for sometime , I will also try to relax the grip.

[@violinlounge]

Happy practicing!

[@Dmichoacan]

Do you have any tips for injured nails? I do manual labor and I crushed some of my fingers. It only hurt in the moment, but afterwards they didnt really hurt. The problem came with one of my nails on my right hand, which got pretty messed up. It didn’t break, but it’s pretty ugly. It doesn’t hurt, it just feels weird.

[@violinlounge]

As it's your bow hand luckily you don't need much pressure on the bow. Work on a relaxed as possible bow hold.

[@iggyzorro2406]

thanks for this vid - I had to stop practicing just a half hour ago because of pain in the left thumb. I try to concentrate on keeping it from gripping - it just takes time, I guess. My problem is that I find it most natural to play without a shoulder rest, so I have to compromise keeping relaxed with supporting the violin. any tips for that?

[@violinlounge]

When you play without a shoulder rest, you should balance the violin on your shoulder and in your left hand. There are many videos that explain the technique of playing without shoulder rest. Just give it a search and it could take a bit long to learn the right balance and relaxation.

[@iggyzorro2406]

@@violinlounge THANK YOU

[@lh3556]

The only tension I suffer really bad from is a "ring shaped" wrist tension. I had this already when I had a shoulder rest still on but nowadays I play without because it's so much more comfortable. But the tension didn't go away somehow. Any idea where such a tension comes from?

[@lh3556]

I forgot to mentions that it is the left arm :)

[@violinlounge]

What do you mean by ring shaped?

[@lh3556]

@@violinlounge literally that the tension is located on my wrist only. It goes all around my wrist but not on other parts like forearm or hand. It starts already soon after practicing a piece. During the playing I don't feel it but as soon as I let go and move my hand I feel the tension in my wrist.

[@violinlounge]

@@lh3556 Maybe you're pivoting in a too tensed way or don't have your wrist exactly straight. However, if it hurts very quickly, you mind want to have a professional look at it.

[@alanknights2779]

I don't know how these orchestral players , play for hours string players never get a break, it is the same with Irish traditional music , the Irish never stop playing. I only notice my cramps when practising at home, in sessions the music takes over. As they say talent always finds a way. Adam Beanstock.

[@violinlounge]

Talent and lots of training ;)

[@DivaDeb1234]

I do this everyday all the time

[@violinlounge]

Awesome!

[@scharnhorstkaisarbeethoven]

Yoga become very popular in the recent decade

[@DivaDeb1234]

I broke my wrist and still have metal plate on bone from surgery. My wrist fingers and thumb need lots of stretch

[@violinlounge]

Auch! Was this long ago?

[@DivaDeb1234]

@@violinlounge 2005

[@scharnhorstkaisarbeethoven]

Oh my I too got hipermobility

[@violinlounge]

High five, haha! It can be useful in some violin stretches, but because of the flexibility for me I had to work a bit harder and train more to get things stable.

[@scharnhorstkaisarbeethoven]

@@violinlounge it works well in shifting Me doing everything experiment on the e string because it's the only string where I could reach higher positions

[@meyerbeer13]

If you have hand cramps after playing for just an hour your technique is probably bad. Same for your back. Go to a teacher (not online) that has a real career and get advice.

[@ahmadetotech2005]

Hey... I would really want to but I can't get violin so tbh I'm here to ask about the give away .... I really need this violin I want to learn violin but I can't afford any soooo pls 🥺 ... Ahmad from jordan

[@violinlounge]

I'll announce the winner this week :)