Quick efficient wram up.

[Iritan]

Well, when I play bass at home, I can usualy play to about 100 percent full capacity, and on most gis I come relatively close, but sometimes, my hands are just not tempered and ready for a show and when I start playing, my fingers lock up and can never fully get to a good level of play. What are some good warm up excersizes that I can do fast to get my hands ready?

[Xanthyr]

Put your hands under warm running water for a couple minutes. Sounds like you could be suffering from cold muscles. The reason you do the water thing is it efficiently warms up your entire hand quickly, otherwise you'd have to do many more exercises.

I suggest both, water, and then some runs. Wooten has a video out where he said he used to run the Major scale from fret 1 of the E string all the way up as high as you can go, then go to the A string and start from the neck and work to the head. Try doing this with all of your scales and it'll give you one good warm-up, mean while helping you throw down some quick scales.

[Iritan]

That sounds like it would solve the problem, thanks a lot.

[OtterOnBass]

someone posted this link and I've been using some of the techniques there to warm up. http://ergocise.com/wrists.html

I like to use the techniques that involve flapping my hands back and forth and rolling my fingers open and closed.

[Foxworthy925]

One thing that really helps me when I'm not warmed up and my hands are feeling cold and stiff, is to swing my arm in a circle (entire arm), so all the blood is forced into my hands. Then after a few swings when they're full of blood and feeling swollen, shake it out, do some stretches, and do it again. Forcing all the blood to my hands like that honestly warms me up faster than any actual exercise I've tried.

[crazyguy832]

Do the chromatic scale up and down the strings, moving up one fret each time. Get to the 12th fret (with your pinky) and then work your way back down. Do this as well:

G|------------------------4-5-6-7--------
D|----------------3-4-5-6---------5-6-7-8
A|--------2-3-4-5------------------------
E|1-2-3-4--------------------------------

G|------------------------------------10111213
D|---------------------------9-101112---------
A|-6-7-8-9----------8-9-1011------------------
E|---------7-8-9-10---------------------------


(should be played continously, 123412341234... then repeat backwards: 432143214321... on the fretting hand)

At the very least, that's what I do for my warm-up, and I've always been 100% for a gig. With the water thing... I wouldn't reccomend too much, or at least make sure to dry off afterwards really well (it might just be me, but, umm... playing with wet fingers SUCKS).

[funkydanbass]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't ever feel the need to, nor do I believe in the concept of 'warming up.' With the exception of actually being freezing cold with numb hands, I'm good to play. If I am cold, I always prefer to exercie my whole body, (not just the hands), by jumping around or going for a quick run...

I feel important to mention that I am very concerned with good technique and concious of repetitive strain injuries. I actually think that the concept of 'warming up' is a myth...

[Michael Campbel]

Originally Posted by OtterOnBass

someone posted this link and I've been using some of the techniques there to warm up. http://ergocise.com/wrists.html

I like to use the techniques that involve flapping my hands back and forth and rolling my fingers open and closed.

Careful; "flapping" stuff is one reason Adrian Vandenberg stopped playing guitar - he ended up with nerve damage (as told by Tommy Aldridge in a drum seminar some years ago, anyway...)

[HaVIC5]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't ever feel the need to, nor do I believe in the concept of 'warming up.' With the exception of actually being freezing cold with numb hands, I'm good to play. If I am cold, I always prefer to exercie my whole body, (not just the hands), by jumping around or going for a quick run...

I feel important to mention that I am very concerned with good technique and concious of repetitive strain injuries. I actually think that the concept of 'warming up' is a myth...

Myth? As applied to physical activity in general? Or just bass playing? Because I'm sure there are a lot of professionals who would disagree with you.

[mrkreuzschlitz]

Yeah, my fingers lock up at shows if I don't warm up. My lead guitarist just sweeps a bunch of arpeggios to warm up.

[fishstix]

In addition to running through some scales, I've been using the techniques mentioned in the following article to stretch and align my elbows, wrists, and hands. It has made a huge difference for me and my chiropractor has stated that he's impressed with how well I've started to hold up between visits and we've started to increase the time between them.
http://www.sportstouch.com/ArticleMusicianNightmare.htm
Of course, this is just what I've found to help myself and everyone is going to be different.

[KsToaDangr]

Most of the time, I just run through a couple of scales and then play a few bars of the fastest thing I know how to play, and a few bars of something pretty easy.