Cold weather

[ibanezshredder]

I dont no if this is in the right thread but I am just curious if this issue effects anyone else. Where I live its realy cold right now and before I go to my bands practice my hands get realy cold and it realy slows down my playing speed and accuracy for that matter too, and it usualy takes a while for them to get warmed up anyone else expierence this??

[SC Bassboy]

Oh hell yes. When any part of your body gets really cold it goes numb and affects function. When I go motorcycle riding in cold weather it is not unusual for me to slur words for a while because my mouth is so cold. Also, my band has played a few parties in the middle of winter (i'm talking 30 degrees outside) and my hands were so cold I could barely move the ole' fingers.

[Deacon_Blues]

Yep, playing with cold hand sucks. Even worse is to play outside in the winter when there's no possibility to keep your hands warm unless you can point a 1000 watt spotlight towards your hands...

Always wear warm gloves outside if you're going to play soon, even if it is just a little cold outside. Or at least, keep them in your pockets. It makes it easier to later keep the playing in the pocket too.

[meev992]

Cold weather/hands that have not had warm-ups can severely hamper your playing ability.

Which is why I always ask for all of my band members to do 30 minutes of warm-up / pee break before jamming.

[Jeff Martinez]

Yep. I've experienced that. A good solution I've found is to use the disposable hand warmers that you can get at a sporting goods store. I'll wear wristbands with the hand warmers tucked on the inside of my wrists. It warms my hands up in no time.

[mothmonsterman]

Haven't fold a solution, cold weather and humidity make me cramp up like crazy, some times to where i can't even move. Old thing that helps for me is a good deal of stretching ahead of time.

Little scotch doesn't hurt either.

[Rattlehead]

I think Glenn Gould (pianist) used to soak his hands in very hot water for a fairly long time before playing.

I wouldn't recommend very hot water, thi smight be bad, but soaking your hands in warm water works well, at least for me.


Apparently he also wore gloves all year 'round.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Rattlehead

soaking your hands in warm water works well, at least for me.

+1 Definitely not hot water though.

[T-MOST]

Cool water works best for me. You want to Gradually warm up your hands. Warm to hot water raises the temp too fast and makes your hands hurt like hell!

[Marcury]

Originally Posted by Deacon_Blues

Always wear warm gloves outside if you're going to play soon, even if it is just a little cold outside. Or at least, keep them in your pockets. It makes it easier to later keep the playing in the pocket too.

+1 I always keep a pair of glove liners in my pocket and put them on when there's the slightest chill in the air (I use heavy gloves when it gets real cold). When I get to a rehearsal or gig I do a lot of hand rubbing, massaging and stretching before I touch my bass. i find it also helps to make sure my bass has come up to room temp.

[Phalex]

You can't really tell with the way I play.

[Valerus]

Originally Posted by fearceol

+1 Definitely not hot water though.

That's ALWAYS fun!

[CapnSev]

Dude, here's a trick I use here in the frozen tundra of the Utah winter. When it's winter here, the tourists show up to ski and go to the Sundance film festival, which means I get ski resort/Park City gigs.

I went to Dick's sporting goods and bought the hand warmer pouch that you see football quarterbacks use all the time in cold weather. It straps around your waist, and it's pretty low profile, so between songs and on bass breaks, I'll stuff my hands into that pouch. It keeps them warm enough, and that thing probably lasts a good 2 1/2 hours.

[m2o03]

this happens to me all the time when it's cold out, it was well below zero last night. bummer!

[bkbirge]

What I used to do is wear cotton gloves with the tips cut off, this was before the whole hand warmer thing.

[Lalabadie]

Originally Posted by SC Bassboy

Oh hell yes. When any part of your body gets really cold it goes numb and affects function. When I go motorcycle riding in cold weather it is not unusual for me to slur words for a while because my mouth is so cold. Also, my band has played a few parties in the middle of winter (i'm talking 30 degrees outside) and my hands were so cold I could barely move the ole' fingers.

We can get to -10 -15 (I assume you're talking in fahrenheit) here. Only solution is partial gloves and those directional heaters in front of the band. It indeed affects me.

[Nedmundo]

When I rehearsed in a deathly cold basement, I just ran my hands under warm water for a few minutes, as others have said. I'd sometimes do this a few times. It helped enormously. These days, if it's cold I'll wear gloves as much as possible (driving, etc.) on rehearsal days to keep my hands warm.

In college, I played an outdoor show in April that turned out to be ridiculously cold. My fingers went numb, and I had to place them almost purely by sight. This was a drag, because I did lead vocals on about a third of the tracks so it was tough to look down. Thankfully my bass lines were simplistic enough that it didn't matter too much!