Step 1 · self-check
Begin with the playing-dose self-check
Separate what happens during playing from what lingers afterwards, then adjust duration before intensity.
Check how much to playArthritis, stiffness & playing longevity
Adapt the instrument and the dose—not your love of playing.
Arthritis and aging joints can make practice less predictable, but they do not automatically mean stopping. Start with joint load, playing time, chord choices, equipment, and recovery.
The aim is not to force pain away. It is to make your playing demands more negotiable.
Step 2 · focused support
Want the full system in one place?
Keep Playing brings movement checks, setup, common pain patterns, recovery routines, and a gradual return to playing into one practical book.
Explore the Keep Playing bookBest places to begin
Start with the closest match
Longevity & Arthritis
Easiest Guitar to Play with Arthritis: Finding the Best Guitars for Comfortable Playing
If choosing the wrong guitar with arthritis feels like wearing shoes two sizes too small, you’re not wrong you can force it, but you’ll pay for it later. After years of working wi…
Longevity & Arthritis
Arthritis-Friendly Guitar Chords That Feel Easier on Stiff Hands
You know that F chord? The full barre, thumb crushing into the back of the neck, index finger flattened across all six strings like you're trying to squeeze juice from a stone one?…
Longevity & Arthritis
3 Guitar Exercises for Stiff or Sensitive Hands
Sensitive and stiff joints don’t mean the music has to stop. They do mean you need to change how you move. As both a guitarist and a movement specialist with training in manual os…
Explore the full topic
More longevity & arthritis guidance
Longevity & Arthritis
Anti-Inflammatory Habits That Actually Support Your Guitar Playing
The short version Anti-Inflammatory Habits That Actually Support Your Guitar Playing Most advice for guitarists with sore hands focuses on what happens at the guitar. Li…
Longevity & Arthritis
Steel vs. Nylon: Which Strings Are Best for Arthritic Fingers?
Steel strings might sound brighter. But if your hands hurt after twenty minutes, what's the point? You're standing in the music store or maybe scrolling online. Trying to figure o…
Longevity & Arthritis
3 Arthritis 'Reset' Moves to Do Before You Pick Up the Guitar
Two Minutes That Change How Your Hands Feel for the Next Hour This is more than another generic warm up, this is waking your hands up so they actually listen. Have you ever sat d…
Practice Ergonomics
The Best Guitar Chairs and Posture Hacks for Older Players
My lower back made the decision before my brain did. I'd been coaching for about three hours straight, sitting in this wooden chair I'd picked up at a charity shop because it "loo…
Hand & Wrist Health
Three Tension Patterns in Guitarists Over 40 (And Why Each Needs a Different Approach)
Most guitarists over 40 aren’t dealing with “just hand pain.” They’re often fighting three very different tension patterns and that creep in after years of stop-and-start playing.…
The Gentle Octaves Method
Returning to Guitar After Time Off: A 30-Day Comfort Rebuild
The hardest part isn't the pain. It's trusting yourself again.
Practice Ergonomics
Whats What’s the Best Playing Posture for Guitarists Over 40?
If you’ve ever felt stiff, sore, or awkward after a practice session you’re definitely not alone. Most guitarists over 40 experience some kind of postural tension when playing guit…
Longevity & Arthritis
5 Ways Guitarists Over 40 Can Ease Hand Tension and Play Longer
You don't have to quit guitar just because your hands are giving you grief. So you've been playing for a while now, maybe decades, maybe just a few years and somewhere along the w…
Step 3 · choose the depth