is this fretting technique bad?

[xiketero]

I haven't been playing very long and to keep the wrist on my fretting hand straight I've had to touch my palm to the back of the neck. I haven't really had any problems with that, but I remember reading somewhere to put my thumb on the back of the neck. However, when I do that I can't seem to keep my wrist straight and my wrist ends up hurting after about a minute.

Is there anything wrong with keeping my palm on the neck? If there is, what should I be doing?

Note: My schedule doesn't permit regularly scheduled lessons, so I don't have a teacher, but I am trying to find on that might be willing to take on a few "once in a while" lessons just to keep me from messing myself up too much.

[Jason Gale]

You should have your thumb on the back of the neck pointing vertically to the neck, ie not pointing in the same direction. This enables all four fretting fingers to move freely.

Jase

[ThatGermanDude]

try putting you thumb on the back of the neck opposit from your middle finger, pointing upward.

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by ThatGermanDude

try putting you thumb on the back of the neck opposit from your middle finger, pointing upward.

This and raise you bass so that the upper horn is touching your nipple.

lowsound

[Pilgrim]

I respectfully disagree with the advice to raise your bass up. You should be able to maintain good hand position with the bass lower than that. However, you mey need to angle the neck upwards somewhat so that the hand angle is more comfortable.

If your palm is touching the neck, it makes it practically impossible to fret cleanly and to play some passaged.

I think that having one of those "once in a while" lessons to get your hand and bass position sorted out would be a good idea - immediately!

[PilbaraBass]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

I respectfully disagree with the advice to raise your bass up. You should be able to maintain good hand position with the bass lower than that. However, you mey need to angle the neck upwards somewhat so that the hand angle is more comfortable.

If your palm is touching the neck, it makes it practically impossible to fret cleanly and to play some passaged.

I think that having one of those "once in a while" lessons to get your hand and bass position sorted out would be a good idea - immediately!

I think that raising the angle of the neck is what he means.
at least I hope so...otherwise, it only makes the right hand position worse.

I agree with a lesson or two...it gets things off on the right foot...

also, I think that relaxation is very important.

new starters tend to get really tense in the fingers and "fight" the instrument...the sooner the player learns to move his fingers in a free relaxed manner, the faster the progress, IMO.

[ThatGermanDude]

Originally Posted by PilbaraBass

I think that raising the angle of the neck is what he means.
at least I hope so...otherwise, it only makes the right hand position worse.

I agree with a lesson or two...it gets things off on the right foot...

also, I think that relaxation is very important.

new starters tend to get really tense in the fingers and "fight" the instrument...the sooner the player learns to move his fingers in a free relaxed manner, the faster the progress, IMO.

relaxation is good


and about the height of the bass: my teacher told me that a good starting point is if the bass is roughtly at the same height sitting and standing, go from there.

[Zebra]

How low is your bass? I don't think it's a critical element to keep your wrist straight, but I actually noticed that my wrist does stay pretty straight when I play. The only way I could see my wrist bending that much is if the bass were down really low. Do you play standing.

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by Zebra

How low is your bass? I don't think it's a critical element to keep your wrist straight, but I actually noticed that my wrist does stay pretty straight when I play.

Actually, that is the critical element, along with not using any thumb pressure.

[Depth_Charge]

I play a low slung metal bass and a high slung fretless, often on the same night. I like to.

The horn on the metal bass sits off my body. The horn on the fretless is on my body, about 1 or 2 inches off the nipple an an inch or 2 under my nipple and.

The metal axe has always hurt more, for longer, hands down, sometimes for days afterwards!

I've always assumed it's strap height and body position. Could build quality contribute as well, the fretless is four times worth the metal??

[xiketero]

I play with my bass hanging in the stomach waist region. The horn is a few inches below my nipple.

I think the problem stemmed from me fretting too hard. I needed to push my palm on the back of the neck to give myself enough resistance to fret as hard as I had been.

Now, I've loosened my grip a bit and I'm keeping my thumb on the back of the neck pointing up. I notice sometimes I revert to putting my palm on the neck or start bending my wrist awkwardly for extended periods of time, but I correct myself and keep practicing.

[Depth_Charge]

Practice is great. It's good you're aware of your technique. Keep it up

What's the action like on your bass? I wrestled with a high action bass for 2 years before playing a low action one and thinking "Wow" and asked why this was easier.

Also, if the string gauge is too large for the nut or the nut's stuffed, the strings may sit higher over the first few frets.

These issues can be resolved by a luthier if you don't know how to do it yourself.

Your local guitar shop may have a luthier on site, or may get you in touch with one.

TB and the net has self help guides too, such as this one:

http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup/



Cheers and good luck!

[bloodline462]

raising your bass wont do too much, i know from experience, because i hang my bass to my knees, its that metal effect