the pain!

project_c · #1 05-09-2008, 06:20 AM

i'm learning the bass and loving every minute of it, it's the only instrument i've ever picked up and felt an immediate connection with. this of course means i've been practicing a lot every day, and i think i may have overdone it a bit yesterday - woke up this morning, picked up the bass and found that the fingertips on my left (fretting) hand hurt so much that i had to stop. from reading a lot of posts here i gather this is a normal part of the learning process, but my questions are:

- are there any good warm-up / stretch excercises for hands i can do before playing? (ie just hands and fingers, no bass guitar)

- how much is too much when it comes to playing every day? i spent about 6 hours practising last night, and i'm wondering whether that may be pushing it a bit. i normally do around 2 hours a day.

- is it best to rest your hands if they hurt, or is it better to put up with the pain and carry on playing to get them used to it? (when i was learning snowboarding, i used to get a lot of pain in my feet, and the only thing that solved it was carrying on regardless, until they got used to being in the correct position. does the same thing apply with hands/fingers too?)

powerbass · #2 05-09-2008, 07:14 AM

It sounds like you over did it by practicing for 6 hours - that's too much for a beginner, 2 hours is better. Pain is a warning sign, like the warning lights in a car, if you don't heed pain it may lead to a serious condition/injury. There are several things you can do to avoid pain.
1. Your a beginner, you don't have the strength or muscle memory in you hands yet. You have to be patient and practice w/out causing pain while your are developing technique, endurance, accuracy etc.
2. The bass has to fit your body - strap length, body and neck angle, the weight of the instrument and scale length are factors. If you play w/your bass low down rock style the left wrist has to bend in a sharp angle to play the EA strings. Search TB and there are many posts by experienced players that suffer from pain while playing they often have to change instruments.
2A. Instrument set up. Heavy strings w/high action will require a lot more force to fret than lighter gauge strings and low action.
3. Your technique which includes Left hand, wrist and finger position when fretting is crucial. Added to that is elbow and shoulder position. Ideal playing position will decrease strain. Relaxed breathing and good technique - light touch is where it's at.
4. Find the best teacher in your area. Look for a teacher that will focus on technique.

project_c · #3 05-09-2008, 10:16 AM

thanks for the advice, some wise words there.

i've done a lot of reading and research about posture and positioning and i think the guitar/strap is pretty much in the right place and height, the thing that's got me suffering most is getting the little finger in the right place, which i notice is a very common problem. my biggest problem is my height, i'm somewhere around 5foot 5 with fairly small hands, (again - i know this is fairy common and a lot of people with small hands play without problems) but apart from having to work a bit harder to reach certain spots, i'm pretty happy with the way things are going.

i guess if there's no improvement in a while i'll look into getting a smaller bass, but for now i'll try to stick with it and just practise sensibly.

IAmTheDood · #4 05-09-2008, 10:56 AM

also one thing I've noticed is that I don't need to fret as hard as I used to think I did.

Make sure your bass is properly setup with nice low action and you'll realize that you don't have to fret very hard at all, which makes moving around the neck much easier.

i play a few hours a night, have been doing so for about a year and a half and have only calloused over a few times.

alexei · #5 05-09-2008, 11:06 AM

you know that you played too much for today, when you see blood in the strings. Well... i tend to stop there most of the time

ErebusBass · #6 05-13-2008, 08:42 AM

There are no stretches or anything you can do to prevent fingertip pain, that's just because your fingers are starting to form caluses. Every time my band has recorded, we've practiced so much in the weeks prior that i've gotten blisters on my fingertips, and it's quite painful so i wouldn't recommend it. The only thing you can do is play through the pain, but if it gets to be too much, wait until tomorrow. In no time your fingers will be as hard as rocks and wont hurt anymore.