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Play comfortably. Keep playing.

Keep playing guitar, even when pain, arthritis, or old injuries get in the way.

Practical movement, setup, and recovery guidance for guitar players.

Get the free guideStart with where it hurts

Clear, educational guidance built from nearly 20 years of movement, rehabilitation, psychology, and lived experience as a guitarist.

Keep Playing book beside a guitar

The complete system

Keep Playing

Written by a movement specialist, drawing on nearly 20 years of movement and rehabilitation experience.

The Release, Reset, Rebuild method in one practical guide, covering movement checks, playing setup, common pain patterns, recovery routines, and confidence after injury or time away.

“This is an amazing book that helped me identify and fix my restrictions which were causing my thumb pain and stopping me from playing. Best of all it was easy to understand and follow and the explanations and exercises were top class!”
Thomas, 59 · Manchester
Explore Keep Playing

Choose your starting point

Start with what is getting in the way

Begin with the pattern closest to your experience. You do not need to read everything.

Thumb and hand tension protocol
01

Hand, thumb, or wrist pain

Explore gripping, barre chords, picking load, and what to adjust before you simply stop playing.

Explore hand and wrist guidance
Shoulder blade and posture protocol
02

Shoulder, neck, or back tension

See how your chair, guitar position, and upper-body mechanics can affect the whole chain.

Explore posture and tension
Joint-friendly guitar guidance for stiff or arthritic hands
03

Arthritis and aging joints

Adapt your playing without treating age as a reason to give up the instrument.

Explore arthritis guidance
Guitar setup and playing comfort guide
04

Guitar setup and ergonomics

Check your chair, guitar position, strings, action, and practice space before asking your body to work harder.

Explore setup guidance

The Guitar Comfort System

Release. Reset. Rebuild.

Pain is rarely just one tight muscle or one weak joint. This method helps you reduce unnecessary tension, change the movement pattern that keeps bringing it back, and gradually rebuild the capacity to play.

See how the method works

Choose the depth of support

Use the smallest next step that fits the problem.

The library stays free and useful. When you need a practical tool, the complete system, or feedback on your own setup, you can move forward without hunting through the site.

01

Self-check

Find the closest pattern

Use Start Here or the free 15-page guide to check playing position, tension, setup, and warning signs.

Use Start Here
02

Focused protocol

Work on one defined problem

Choose a short thumb, hand, or guitar-setup resource when the pattern is specific and you want something practical to follow.

Compare focused guides
03

Complete book

Keep Playing

Use the full Release, Reset, Rebuild system when pain, setup, recovery, and confidence are part of the same story.

Explore the book
04

Personal review

Get feedback on your setup

Choose a paid, one-off assessment when generic guidance cannot show you what your own chair, guitar, and movement pattern are doing.

See the review

Useful places to begin

Reader favourites

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F.P. O’Connor holding a guitar

Movement guidance from somebody who also plays

There is usually more worth understanding between “ignore the pain” and “stop playing.”

I am F.P. O’Connor, a movement specialist, psychology graduate, and guitarist. For nearly 20 years I have worked with pain, movement restriction, rehabilitation, and the nervous system.

About Me and Gentle Octaves

From the library

Latest guidance

See the full library

Free 15-page guide

Make your next practice session easier on your body.

Get a short pre-playing routine, practical posture and setup checks, and warning signs that mean it is time to stop and seek professional help.

Send me the free guide