Fingers sore?

[Tupac]

Not exactly sure what to call it, but I think sore. After about an hour of playing (I did in hard at the bridge, pretty exhausting) I can start to feel it in my upper knuckles. It hurts each time I pluck. Any stretches to prevent this?

[paparoof]

relax. lighten up. play every single day. if it starts to hurt, stop.

post a video of yourself playing so we can nit-pick your technique.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by paparoof

relax. lighten up. play every single day. if it starts to hurt, stop.

+1. Try to play with a lighter touch and let the amp do the work.

As for stretching, it is a good idea to always warm up first with gentle stretches.

Take your pick....they are all good :

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc....1.33zcJkQZS2Y

[groooooove]

knuckles?

ive never had that one before, after many years of playing very hard with very high-tension strings.

+1 to a video of your playing so we can see whats up. if its sore muscles, just repetition and it will go away. if your wearing out tendons or whatever else is there, then its a bad thing and you must adjust to avoid it.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by groooooove

knuckles?

ive never had that one before

The same thought crossed my mind too.

OP, if after experimenting with different solutions to your problem, you are still experiencing sore knuckles, then a visit to the doctor would be prudent.

[Trayster2]

Originally Posted by groooooove

knuckles?

ive never had that one before, after many years of playing very hard with very high-tension strings.

+1 to a video of your playing so we can see whats up. if its sore muscles, just repetition and it will go away. if your wearing out tendons or whatever else is there, then its a bad thing and you must adjust to avoid it.

Yes, same thing happened to me when I first started playing. It eventually stops hurting in time, but the video above helps a lot too.

[ibateur]

My fretting hand index finger turned blue yesterday, and had a tingling feeling. Took a couple of hours to get back to normal. Looked it up on the web and potentially it could be a repetitive stress injury, or bad circulation. I'm thinking the former, since bad circulation should show up as well in other fingers/toes, etc.

Massage your hands regularly, warm up before playing, exercise, avoid funky angles on your wrists or fingers - these were pretty common as advice.

[Tupac]

Here it is. Please try to enjoy this awful, awful video.

[Russell L]

It should not hurt to play. You're overdoing someting.

[4dog]

Doesnt look like your doing anything wrong per se, maybe just let your amp do some work and lighten up a bit on your pluck, one question, how long you been playing and how long do you practice, ok thats two questions but answer them. Lol

[Tupac]

I've been playing a year and a half and usually practice 1 to 2 hours a day. Well, not really practicing, just playing, lol.

[JeffVanter]

Originally Posted by paparoof

relax. lighten up. play every single day. if it starts to hurt, stop.

post a video of yourself playing so we can nit-pick your technique.

If it hurts, stop? If it's due to bad technique then of course I think it's proper to stop. However if your fingers are just new to plucking like mine were (obviously) when I started playing I just kept pushing through. My fingers we're so fatigued that moving them to the fast punk music was almost impossible. It didn't matter. I pushed and continue to push through and finally never seem to get tired almost ever unless we play song after song for about 2 hours straight.

[fearceol]

All the advice so far is good. It is a process of elimination to try to solve your problem.

The things I would do first, are to play with a lighter touch, and warm up for about three to five minutes with the stretches shown in the link. After an hour's practice, take a five to ten minute break, if you intend to continue practicing.

It could be that this problem is not bass related, but that playing aggravates it. The likelihood is that it is bass related. Just something to be aware of.

No harm in checking out these clips on R/H technique.

http://scottsbasslessons.com/techniq...sitioning.html



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIYuqTsUlyM

[Tupac]

I spend a lot of time at the computer daily. Could that aggravate my fingers? I keep a pretty healthy stance there though, wrists straight.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Tupac

I spend a lot of time at the computer daily. Could that aggravate my fingers?

Hard to say, though I'm sure it does not help the situation. Like I said earlier, try all the advice in this thread, and see if it makes a difference. If it does not, then it would probably be a good idea to get the advice of a doctor or physiotherapist.

[paparoof]

Originally Posted by JeffVanter

If it hurts, stop? If it's due to bad technique then of course I think it's proper to stop. However if your fingers are just new to plucking like mine were (obviously) when I started playing I just kept pushing through. My fingers we're so fatigued that moving them to the fast punk music was almost impossible. It didn't matter. I pushed and continue to push through and finally never seem to get tired almost ever unless we play song after song for about 2 hours straight.

As I tell my kids: pain is God's way of saying "stop that".

Yeah - if it hurts, stop. Rest up and start again. Maybe that rest is fifteen minutes, maybe it's overnight. Depends on what's hurting and how much and how quickly the pain goes away. If it lasts for more than a day or two, you need to go see a doctor.

To the OP - I don't see anything wrong in your technique. Your plucking hand bends at the wrist some but not a lot and not constantly.

I think it's most important to just keep everything relaxed and comfortable and to actually change hand positions (both hands) regularly. It's when you get locked into one tense position that you start causing problems.