Cramps in both hands

[Harro72]

Every 3rd week the blues society in my home town have an open jam. I jumped up and had a play yesterday and was really nervous.
Halfway through 2nd song in a 3 song set, my hands started cramping. I mean serious pain to the point where I was only playing root notes in 12 bar blues.
I was talking to another bass player when I got off the stage and he said that "Death Grip" can cause that kind of problem.

Has anyone else had the same problem??
Remedies??

[cabrego]

Once while taking a certain medication I experienced dehydration. My hands were so dry that my skin was cracking between my fingers. I also got really bad cramps in my hands. Might not be your problem, but this is what happened to me.

[Mr_Sore_Fingerz]

try stretching your hands and forearms out before playing, im assuming you probably warm-up but the stretching helps a lot as well. I have smaller hands than most of you guys and those octave jumps for pop/slap can kill me after a while, but the stretching before i play helps a LOT

[Martin Bormann]

Originally Posted by Harro72

Every 3rd week the blues society in my home town have an open jam. I jumped up and had a play yesterday and was really nervous.
Halfway through 2nd song in a 3 song set, my hands started cramping. I mean serious pain to the point where I was only playing root notes in 12 bar blues.
I was talking to another bass player when I got off the stage and he said that "Death Grip" can cause that kind of problem.

Has anyone else had the same problem??
Remedies??

Yeah, I've got a remedy, but you probably won't do it, so it's pointless.

You need to get an instructor with a very excellent technique and completely re-learn how to play the bass. Cramping hands are a good sign that your technique isn't ergonomic. And by continuing through the pain you can seriously injure yourself.

[Phil Smith]

Originally Posted by Harro72

Every 3rd week the blues society in my home town have an open jam. I jumped up and had a play yesterday and was really nervous.
Halfway through 2nd song in a 3 song set, my hands started cramping. I mean serious pain to the point where I was only playing root notes in 12 bar blues.
I was talking to another bass player when I got off the stage and he said that "Death Grip" can cause that kind of problem.

Has anyone else had the same problem??
Remedies??

It easy in a situation such as this where you are nervous for this to happen. Part of the remedy is going to be mental as in getting yourself to a place where you are comfortable enough in your abilities to sit in so that the experience isn't so stressful. The other part of the remedy is to embark on a physical fitness program that includes strenght training, if you're already doing this you don't need to worry about this part just the stress part.

[armywalaby]

As I said in another thread, try practicing without your left thumb removed from the neck. It teaches your hand to not rely on the thumb so much and teaches you to strengthen the fingers by putting the work on them.

[huckingfuskie]

Originally Posted by armywalaby

As I said in another thread, try practicing without your left thumb removed from the neck. It teaches your hand to not rely on the thumb so much and teaches you to strengthen the fingers by putting the work on them.

I never heard about this type of finger training but it makes sense i guess. It's kind of like playing baseball with 2 bats. It's alot easier afterwards with just 1.