Please Help (pain)

[Wharl]

I own a fender deluxe p bass and when i play at a faster paces on the e string i get really bad hand cramps/pain to were i literally cant play mid song. i use floating thumb technique. what am i doing wrong? i need to fix this problem.

Ive tried wresting my thumb on different pickups and different techniques. what am i doing wrong? any other string i have superb stamina. ive played on other basses and this does not happen.

the pain is in my right hand i play right handed please and advice?

[fearceol]

Do you warm up before you play ? It is important to do some gentle stretches to get the hand(s) ready for the task ahead. Also, don't dive headlong into fast complex playing from the very start. Do slow chromatic scales etc. Take things gently and slowly for about ten minutes, much like an athlete warming up before a race. Keeping well hydrated is important in preventing cramps. I doubt very much that the bass itself is your problem.

Here is a link from the site of a fellow TB'r. Lots of practical information here on the physical side to playing the bass.

Chris K | Shakin' the grounds

[Wharl]

Thanks but i dont know that is has to do with the bass but i think its the way i naturally position myself with this bass cause it does not happen with other basses ive played with.

maybe its cuz my strings are really loose and sloppy and it takes more effort to move the string. idk. other basses ive played the strings seem tighter, if you will. I just really need to get past this cuz my bands getting to the point where were gonna start playing gigs. would changing the strings do anything? I just started playing bass like 6 months ago.

[WPW]

Take your bass for a proper set up. Your saddle, action, intonation etc can all have an effect on your hands and wrists. Once you have to start compensating for bad setup, you will feel it in your muscles, tendons, wrists. I had the same problem a couple of years ago, and once i had my bass tuned to perfection, my pain was gone. Good luck. Werner P. Cape Town, South Africa

[Wharl]

thanks for the tips. just tries the exercised fearceol posted and they seemed to help a little ill try these before our next practice session and see if they make a diffrence.

[bassybill]

Try experimenting with the height of your bass (up/down) by adjusting the strap if this only happens on the one string.

[fearceol]

If you combine the advice given about the bass itself with a good warm up regime, you should notice a difference.

[BassNeo]

make sure you are drinking enough water. your hands are powered with muscles just like your arms and legs. Being semi-dehydrated is a major cause of cramps.

Now bad rhythm on the other hand, that just cramps your style...

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by Wharl

I own a fender deluxe p bass and when i play at a faster paces on the e string i get really bad hand cramps/pain to were i literally cant play mid song. i use floating thumb technique. what am i doing wrong? i need to fix this problem.

Ive tried wresting my thumb on different pickups and different techniques. what am i doing wrong? any other string i have superb stamina. ive played on other basses and this does not happen.

the pain is in my right hand i play right handed please and advice?

Without any pictures of your setup, and the limited info you supplied,( you do not say if it is the whole hand or just in certain areas) i would say that it is most likley how your forearm contacts the instrument. If the forearm sits ontop of the instrument, rather then running down along the front, then the pressure of the arm an the edge will result in problems for some players. This is most noticable when the forearm is held in a bad position to play the E string. This depends on the height of the bass and the design of the bass. Basses that have no contour around the edges where the forearm meets the bass will dig in to the forearm and can effect blood flow and nerve impingement. P basses have a good design in this area, but a player can still put excessive pressure on the forearm due to posture and instrument height.

The wrist should be straight as it can to the forearm, no excessive bend in it and should run along and down the front of the bass with the least amount contact to the top of the bass. This position will be in part be controlled by the elbow. the closer to the body, the more tendency there is to exaggerate the wrist angle in relation to the instrument height. So look to this area as a posible related problem to your symptoms.

To understand this better hold your right forearm in the fingers of your left, in the exact position that the bass and forearm meet. Hold them up in front of you, with the forearm on top, move the right fingers and feel the muscle movement in the fingers of the left hand holding it. Now add more pressure and feel how the right forearm muscles react in the left fingers holding it. The rippling you feel is the muscle groups working the fingers. Now imagine that movement being restricted by the hard edge of a bass, or excess pressure on the instrument????

This is why i would ask you to follow all the great advice so far and be aware of excess pressure to the forearm. Sometimes those that use a floating thumb technique will use excess pressure because the tend to anchor the forearm to allow the thumb to float. This is a gradual thing that can just develop in through time so may be un-noticed by the player.

[Russell L]

I don't warm up or do anything special, just play, and I never have my picking hand hurt. Sounds like you have an ergonimic problem, like maybe your wrist is too bent?

[mambo4]

I assume you are talking about you right hand, since you mention floating thumb....
Keep your wrist straight, lower your bass and move your elbow around to accommodate if you have to.

Also, pluck lightly, relax, and practice e everything slowly and accurately first, gradually increasing your speed. Playing faster comes form comfort and accuracy, not increased tension in your plucking
hand.

TB's HAVIC5 has two excellent videos on safe technique:

Safe Left HandTechnique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkSsapYYsA

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

[Chris K]

Fergie already put you on the right track. Moving up the hand to the lower strings changes the contact of the forearm with the bass' body. A common flaw with floating thumb technique is to drop the elbow. Remember to bring the elbow a bit forward and to not rest the arm on, but against the body, carrying it with the shoulder only (see Todd Johnson's video on floating thumb). I beg to differ with Fergie here since with correct floating thumb technique the body contour does not play any role whatsoever, because the arm is supposed to move along the front of the body only.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by Chris K

I beg to differ with Fergie here since with correct floating thumb technique the body contour does not play any role whatsoever, because the arm is supposed to move along the front of the body only.

Sorry for any mis-understanding here. I mention the contours on basses only in the context that they encourage the forearm to lean on the bass, rather than along the front of it. Basses with straighter edges, like semi acoustic archtops, will let the player know if they lean on the instrument, especially if the arm is bare. As you mention it is a "watch point" in a floating thumb technique that the forearm remains more to the front to allow the elbow to move the hand.

For anyone confused about this position let me explain.
The hands ability to move up and down gives the fingers the ability to access all the strings. This action is controlled by the elbow, it is the hinge in the elbow that allows the forearm to move up and down, and by virtue of body mechanics, the hand being connected to the end of the forearm, after the wrist joint, must move up and down with it as well. The fact the fingers are on the end of the hand, they also must move up and down as well. All this action is positioned by the upper arm and shoulder, even though many don't think it features in the action, the shoulder is the main support for any action that the hands supply.

The fingers can be interfered/inhibited with in relation to power and movement anywhere along the pathline from the neck through the shoulder-upper arm-forearm-hand-fingers. The fingers are an easy target to mis-diagnose problems because any problems along the pathline will show in the fingers. So a problem in the forearm can show symptoms in the fingers, as can a problem in the neck show symptoms in the fingers.
Think of it as a hose conected to a tap, if the water flow is disrupted it shows at the end in the hose nozzle depending on what the disruption is. It may be reduced flow, spurting flow, no flow etc. But looking at the hose nozzle for the problem may not be the answer, unless it is a obvious fault in the nozzle. The problem can be anywhere along the pathline from the tap to the hose nozzle.
The nozzle only shows the effect of the fault, it may have nothing to do with the fault.

This is also true in the body and is called a reffered symptom or pain, the area of problem is highlighting a problem from somewhere different. Because the fingertips have concentrated nerve endings to sense touch, cold, heat, pressure etc, they will pick up on any nerve problems along the pathway from the brain.
It is a complicated and facinating subject how body mechanics work in relation to ones playing, this is just a small part of it.