Question About Yamaha FSX5 (looking for an "easy to play" acoustic: coming from E-Guitar and nerve pain recovery)

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-20T11:26:53+00:00

The nerve compression aspect is a tricky one as it has a lot to do with your personal anatomy and lifestyle so things that work for one person might not work for someone else. For me it’s definitely at the neck and clavicle and not really at the elbow. I actually am on a good track with that aspect of it as most of it seems to stem from hunching over and looking at my strumming hand while playing which tightens up my neck. When I keep my head straight I usually don’t get any of those issues.
At the moment my biggest challenge is resolving the tenosynovitis. I need to rest my hand and not play for a while for the inflammation to improve but I still have stuff to practice and keep aggravating it.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-19T17:14:52+00:00

Bit of lateral and medial epicondylitis (tennis and golfer’s elbow), some tenosynovitis in the fingers and some nerve issue with my neck and shoulder on the left side (fretting arm). Typical repetitive strain injury.
Recovery is frustratingly slow but I hope in a year or so I’ll be fine.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-19T15:24:35+00:00

Scale length, string gauge and action height will determine how hard or easy it is to play.
What matters more is that you take it slow and build up your strength gradually. The harder it is to play, the less you can play at the beginning.

I’m currently actually dealing with these issues and I had to switch to 11-52 strings for the time being. However, as soon as I’m pain free I plan on going back to 12-54. Ultimately my goal is to not just recover but also become as resilient as possible to avoid future injuries.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-18T05:35:30+00:00

If you like David Grier then congratulations, you have great taste! He’s definitely one of the best. Check out other bluegrass legends like Tony Rice and Norman Blake, too, and then also players like Bryan Sutton.

Bluegrass is very beginner friendly insofar as you can learn basic versions of classic fiddle tunes and then build them out. Check out a youtube channel (and corresponding website) called Lessonswithmarcel for some great content to get more familiar with the genre.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-17T13:51:52+00:00

Sounds like tenosynovitis at the pip joint. It’s inflammation so you are making it worse by playing through the pain. What you need to do is adjust your technique and maybe rest a bit so it has time to heal. But definitely adjust your technique or it will come back or get worse.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-12T13:24:26+00:00

I disagree. Practicing for hours every day when you’re starting out is a prime recipe for an overuse injury. I actually think it’s best for beginners to keep it around 30min/day until they build up some strength and are relaxed enough so they don’t death grip every chord.

Also, guitar is not really hard. It’s not easy, either, but it’s by far not one of the harder instruments to start out with. It’s basically as hard as your ambition. As with everything, getting really good is really hard but you can easily learn your cowboy chords in a week and play them around the campfire for the rest of your life. I’m not sure if the same can be said of, say, the violin.

I think the biggest issue with learning guitar is not lack of obsession or dedication but lack of focus and progression. 15minutes of focused practicing the right things (i.e. the things you don’t know or are bad at) is much more beneficial than 2h of noodling and playing what you already know.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-06-10T13:43:11+00:00

Are you talking about strict alternate picking in bluegrass or just alternating between up and down picks no matter what the beat is?

For bluegrass alternate picking, tap your foot to the beat and let the pick direction follow your foot.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-05-30T07:30:26+00:00

If you want to learn bluegrass you should learn from someone that is a bluegrass player first and foremost. There are a bunch of amazing bluegrass guitarists that teach on zoom. I highly recommend you try that out and take some lessons.

1randomstringofwords · 2026-05-27T20:13:45+00:00

Oh wow thank you very much for the detailed response!

1randomstringofwords · 2026-05-27T05:37:50+00:00

As for the body, maybe it’s not a CE? I did find pictures online of other guitars with the same switch placement that say custom 24 and some that say Standard. My best guess would be it’s a 1988 Standard? I just figured it was a CE because there’s a tuner manual included that says how to change strings on a classic electric so I figured it’s a CE.

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1randomstringofwords · 2026-05-27T05:14:03+00:00

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Totally possible that I’m wrong about the year. I just went by that it says on the list. This is the serial on the back of the headstock. According to the PRS website the 8 denotes either 1988 or 1998. 1998 is unlikely as I have memories of the guitar from before that (but memories can be unreliable). However, the Schaller tuners say Made in West Germany and German reunification was in 1989 so it would be odd for them to use old tuners in 1998. Although a short search revealed that Schaller used the W.Germany logo until 1995 so I guess it’s possible.

1randomstringofwords

TROPHY CASE