Plucking hand/wrist cramp and lock up only for live shows

[tallicabassist0]

This only happens for live shows and never for practice. Has anyone else experienced this while playing bass (without a pick)?

My only ideas would be to strengthen my wrists with a grip sqeezer thing, or it is a psychological thing in which i have no idea how to fix this.

My band played a show last night and this really affected my playing a lot. Any ideas on what the cause can be and how to get rid of it?

[Slax]

I'm thinking you're probably tensing up more at the live shows from nerves or what have you causing extra stress on your hand. See if making a note of playing relaxed and loose for the next gig makes any difference.

From what I've read, the grip squeezers aren't the best idea. Playing shouldn't require jacked hands to play.

[Implosion]

+1 for Slax's post.

I know a drummer that has got a quite physical style to play drums so he tends to sweat a lot at gigs. Therefore he takes magnesium supplement pills before the gig in order to prevent cramps. That might be helpful for you also, but there is also a chance that it will be only money down the drain.

[Randall]

Are you digging in harder than at practice? Do you stretch out your hands before a show/practice?

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Slax

I'm thinking you're probably tensing up more at the live shows from nerves or what have you causing extra stress on your hand. See if making a note of playing relaxed and loose for the next gig makes any difference.

From what I've read, the grip squeezers aren't the best idea. Playing shouldn't require jacked hands to play.

I agree with Slax. Since you dont get tense at practice, the chances are that it is nerves. What you could try is, get yourself to a quiet corner, about five or ten minutes before the show. Then, slowly, breathe in deeply through the nose, and exhale slowly. Do this at least half a dozen times. Combine it with some gentle warm up stretching exercises. Also, while on stage playing, be conscious of your breathing. A lot of times, we are concentrating on the music so much, that we almost "forget" to breathe. Hope this helps... it certainly has for me.

BTW, I also agree 100% with Slax about the grip squeezers.

[Fergie Fulton]

Drink lots of water and try some pasta or eat some bannanas before you play, keep relaxed and breathe deep from the abdominal area, all great things to relieve the physical effects of cramp.

If it is a mental block then thinking it about will encourage it to occur, so prepare with some warm ups and stretches just to releve the tension. Don't put pressure on yourself by believing there is a problem, that will promote anxiety then you're back where you started.

[dmusic148]

I'm willing to bet it's a combination of nerves, and insufficient monitoring (can't hear yourself). If you can't hear yourself well, it's quite natural to try to compensate by playing too hard. And then you're screwed.

[MagicMan_841]

Try to play with your arm and hand in a straight line. Don't bend your wrist, bend your elbow instead. It's a little uncomfortable at first, but it helped me relax my playing a lot.

[EagleMoon]

I agree about the tenseness. When we get a little anxious our muscles tighten up. Stretching has helped a lot for me. Especially wrist and finger stretches. Sometimes my elbow gets involved as well. Keeping your right arm as straight as possible does help.

[Queg]

I know what you're talking about and I hate it.

A few tricks I try to play with:
- During band practice, once in a while try to fake yourself into the feeling that your playing live... hyperventilate.. act nervous, pretend there's an audience.. etc..trick is to familiarize yourself with "that feeling".
- Make sure your stage sound is to your liking.. if it's too quiet or an unfamiliar tone, it could make you play differently and dig in harder then normal.
- As others mention, breathe to relax before the gig. But also try to relax during the songs.. held notes, simple sections or breaks.. relax your hand/wrist, get back in the moment and reconnect with yourself.
- Allow yourself a simplified fall-back for difficult sections.. 8th notes to become quarter notes etc.. sometimes the stress of a fast section is more psychological then physical. Allowing yourself the option to play more simply releases that tension.
- Play more live gigs. Repetition will normalize any physical or psychological issues.

[ga_edwards]

I think an important factor if it's your plucking hand that hurts is to use your amp. Queg notes above to make sure you're happy with your stage sound. I'd also add to make use of any headroom your amp is capable of supplying. Is easy to do, but resist the temptation to dig in if you can't hear yourself or can't be heard, turn the amp up a simdge instead and play lightly.

Also, the thing is with playing gigs compared to rehearsal is your probably playing a couple of sets of an hour straight with about 10 or 20 secs between each song. In rehearsal you probably pause a good 5 mins between songs to talk about them and experiment with sounds and setup.

So there is a question of fatigue. Yes, strength isn't the be all and end all, but building dexterity will help. So I would advise warming up before playing live, both hands and body. Do some body stretches and hand exercises. A Finger exerciser like the gripmaster is handy to keep in your gigbag as a warm up tool if you can't physically play your bass before you get on stage for some reason. But don't use it to build muscle and strength, it's for flexibility.

The problem with these devices though is they only exercise the closing movement of the hand, not the opening movement required in bass playing. I've seen some people put a rubber band around their fingers and stretch it by opening their fingers to put some tension of the tendons that open the hand. If you get pain on the back of your hand, this may help.

The other one I use for wrist dexterity (keep your minds clean) is the Powerball:
http://www.powerballs.com/

I don't want to sound like a salesman, but this has really helped me. It's funny that right handed players do most of the work with our left arm elevated in the air, which is also our weaker arm. 10mins on the powerball everyday really helps exercise the hands, wrist, arms, shoulder. I couldn't believe how weaker my left arm is to my right. Yes it can be used to build strength if you go fast, but go slower and the gentle action and aid your dexterity.

People may stick their noses up at these suggestions of exercisers and toys as gimmicks and say there's no substitute for practice with a real bass, but so what. If it works, it works.