Arm, Shoulder, and Wrist Pain

Some amount of pain in your fingertips is almost unavoidable, when you first start learning guitar, but almost any other kind of pain or soreness is something that should be avoided.

Your body is trying to find a way to do something very difficult and sometimes other muscles end up engaging and if you're not careful that can become part of the habit that you practice. It can be as simple as clenching your jaw while trying to do something difficult, and if you do that enough times, that becomes part of your muscle memory.

One of the things I've struggled with myself is wrist pain, and it came from doing a certain motion. That motion in itself is not an issue, but because I was trying to do hard things I had developed a bad habit of being really tense in my wrist, which caused me a lot of issues.

Now I focus on only keeping my wrist like this for shorter amounts of time and when I do it, I'm extremely careful to keep my wrist completely relaxed and only apply pressure between my thumb and my fingertips.

If that pain returns I instantly slow down my practice and ice it, which works for me.

Do not power through pain like this. It will only get worse. Instead figure out what you're doing to cause the problem and practice unlearning that habit. It's a bummer when it happens, but it's important to nip it in the bud.