My poor left arm

Hello there

First of all, I'm fascinated by this unique pianist world that Andrew was able to make on the internet. And then I'm fascinated by Andrew as a pianist, by his generosity in sharing his knowledge on music theory, and by his history with its "ups and downs".

I started to learn piano recently (December 2008) and I still have a problem with my left arm. While practicing scales with my left hand, after 2/3 minutes I feel my arm/shoulder hurting. That doesn't happen with my right arm/hand/etc...perhaps I can't relax my left arm yet? Will practice improve this?
I play a string instrument (electric bass) for 8 years and the use of the left hand (and arm aswell) is also very important...but somehow I don't feel this "stress" on the left arm/shoulder while playing bass.
Perhaps I'm doing something wrong on piano?

Best wishes

ramaral wrote:Hello there

First of all, I'm fascinated by this unique pianist world that Andrew was able to make on the internet. And then I'm fascinated by Andrew as a pianist, by his generosity in sharing his knowledge on music theory, and by his history with its "ups and downs".

I started to learn piano recently (December 2008) and I still have a problem with my left arm. While practicing scales with my left hand, after 2/3 minutes I feel my arm/shoulder hurting. That doesn't happen with my right arm/hand/etc...perhaps I can't relax my left arm yet? Will practice improve this?
I play a string instrument (electric bass) for 8 years and the use of the left hand (and arm aswell) is also very important...but somehow I don't feel this "stress" on the left arm/shoulder while playing bass.
Perhaps I'm doing something wrong on piano?

Best wishes

I had some pain in the hands to in the beginning, this is created by tension It will go away with practice

Might be the extended use of your left arm aswell as beeing unable to relax the arm while playing the piano. The ability to relax, and only use as much energy that is needed for the muscle to do the move is important if you wanna be able to play longer and get rid of the pain.

I play guitar, piano and lift weights. I suffered alot of pain last year, but I've been better at choosing what to do and how much. In your case it's probably just the need of relaxing the shoulder/arm, because in the end those parts shouldnt do more work then your fingers, especially if you actually got a correctly adjusted height for piano/chair.

Hmm very well...I'll keep on playing and see what happens.
And my chair, I think it was too low so I lifted it a bit and I don't feel that tension so much now (still feel it tho)...

Thanks

It most likely has to do with an extended amount of static muscle using in your left arm.

Using a muscle statically means that the muscle is tensed up as it is about to do contract again but it stays in the tense position.

For example if you keep your arms out from your body straight and keep them up there for 10 minutes that would be static muscle use of your arms.

Training your muscle statically is in no way bad for you, actually it's VERY good it strengthens your muscleholds and tendons.
However your pain is caused by not stretching out your arm afterwards which causes the muscle to get pressed together and cold and hardened, thus creating alot of pain. Simple stretching your arms everytime after playing will solve your problems. As you get more used you will:

1. Learn to relax more while playing
2. Strengthen your muscles in your arms(now im not talking about the big muscles, but the smaller ones used for balance)

And you will not have any pain anymore

And my chair, I think it was too low so I lifted it a bit and I don't feel that tension so much now (still feel it tho)... bounce

Probably the reason for this was that you changed the position of your arms, by changing it the new position made some of the muscle able to relax, but it might have activated other muscles that will start hurting soon. Take my advice and stretch out after playing theres some basic arm and handstretching guides on the net

I even have feelings where a vein in my left hand feels like it's being lifted up, so I'm guessing feelings like this are expected when you start to play piano.

Playing the piano can develop muscles in places that many activities can't.

If it's sore/tense/cramp-like it could be your posture and position. Make sure you're parallel to the piano. If you sit somewhere else on the bench and play does it make a difference? It could be some kind of rotator injury you incurred at some point in your life, those heal very slowly.

From one to ten, one being "I kinda feel if it I think about it" to ten being "I have to stop because I can't stand the pain, where would you say you are?