Activities that make bass more difficult

[NKBassman]

I find having a few drinks helps me loosen up and makes my playing more fluid, but a few more drinks and everything goes to poopie pretty quickly. It's a very fine line for me these days.
I occasionally go for acupuncture treatments and have them avoid my hands if I have any practices or gigs in the following few days.
My hands are also very sensitive to cold too and turn into claws if the temperature is too low or I haven't warmed up enough.

 

[shawshank72]

Making love to my wife on the day of a show.
Such a good idea that went very bad.

 

[hintz]

If I use a gas-powered weed eater for much longer than 10-15 minutes, it will set my hands to shaking so bad I can't play for hours, sometimes for the rest of the day!

I used to work in a cabinet shop(kitchen cabs, drawers, etc), id often be in the "sanding line", I think they were called"DA" sanders(round handheld), anyways, by the end of the day, my hands were toast, and that vibration feeling would linger, not fun

I only kept this job long enough to buy some nice gear BTW, lately I've had thumb problems, namely pinched nerve on my left hand wrist, but it was messed up from before by doing too much "thumb position" playing on double bass, so I don't play up high on upright anymore

 

[cyclopsbookworm]

For me it isn't so much of a pain issue. I play with general pain all the time and can still achieve some nuance. Its more getting my brain and muscles on the same page to get that delicate touch. I stretch and warmup prior to heavy exercise or work, but sometimes the magic just isn't there.

 

[hintz]

For me it isn't so much of a pain issue. I play with general pain all the time and can still achieve some nuance. Its more getting my brain and muscles on the same page to get that delicate touch. I stretch and warmup prior to heavy exercise or work, but sometimes the magic just isn't there.

yeah, the average person doesn't realize how physically demanding bass can be, I always go out of my way to have a good warm up, but sometimes that's just not enough

 

[mikefromchurch]

I've always been in the trades, and like to tinker at home. My problem is not so much in the fatigue, but in the little minor injuries. right now I have a small nick right on the tip of my left index finger, and a minor burn on my right palm where I rest my hand on the bass. I'm lucky I was off last week for church band, or I would have been bad off. One time I had a chissel slip and go into the side of my index finger and had to play 2 sets with my finger wrapped and taped.

 

[cyclopsbookworm]

Ye minor injuries suck. Smashed my fingernail a few months back and played with a bruised index for several weeks. Not fun.

 

[wideload]

I raced Hobie Cats back in the day, so Saturdays I was either racing or just sailing all day. After 6 hours clutching the mainsheet on Monterey Bay, it would be well into the second set before my fingers relaxed enough to really play. Yeah, I know, first world problem...

 

[baceface]

Oh yeah, tile is a nightmare for that. Especially doing a 2000 sf floor with 24x24 travertine.

Commercial tile is the worst.. I did a DSW with 2 other guys before. 2k square feet of 24's, 1k square feet of bathrooms and other areas and then 18k square feet of carpet tile. Everything hurts after that but our hands would be dried up, cracked and super glued together.

 

[Sixgunn]

Sobriety always messes with my playing.

I avoid it at all costs.

With every year that passes, I love sobriety more and more!!!

 

[Sixgunn]

I got a fretless just to try it out, never intending to be a fretless player. Tried a fender fretless first but it was too different from what I'm used to to learn fretless on. Then I got a Warwick Streamer fretless, which is the specs I'm used to, and ended up loving it so much that fretless now gets 90% of my playing time.

I kinda did the same thing. Got a fretless just for some specialized songs and ended up really loving it. I play it a good 50% of the time.

 

[volerium]

If I use a gas-powered weed eater for much longer than 10-15 minutes, it will set my hands to shaking so bad I can't play for hours, sometimes for the rest of the day!

This. In the summers I do both yards fairly often and then my arms and hands are a shaking clenched up mess.
Also, my smart phone really kills my hands bad. My hands hurt often and its from this phone that's so locked in as part of my life. I'm typing this on it right now...

 

[David Jayne]

Anything that vibrates is bad. Trimmers, leaf blowers, even riding my motorcycle messes up my right hand. Can't ride the day of or even day before a gig. I've had CTS surgery and I think this time it's my elbow. Sucks not being able to ride.

 

[greenduke]

Any repetitive use activity related to the nervous and muscular skeletal system that's involved directly or antagonistically can effect playing ability.
The best way to get better at any activity is to practice that "specific" particular activity. Then, keep the rest of your body and mind healthy. Unfortunately, most of us can't afford to make a decent living just at playing bass!
First, it's all about neuropaths, they control the muscle activity. Then make sure you have an instrument that accommodates you as best as possible ergonomically and don't caught-up in the instruments brand name or aesthetics.

 

[hsech]

Seems like having a day job and work in general seem to mess it up. Before I became an engineer I was a pipe fitter. Pipe fitting really messed it up because your hands were always tired at the end of the day.

 

[Jughead6]

I used to work as a chef, and had cuts and/or burns on my fingers all the time. That was definitely bad for bass.

Lately I have been doing a lot of home maintenance and guitar building, both involving a lot of manual sanding. My plucking and fretting fingers are dry and calloused to hell. Also bad for bass.

Maybe we should start a "what is your favorite moisturizer" thread?

 

[Jughead6]

I suffer(not really) from chronic masturbation. I try to sleep with my hands above the covers but that dog won't hunt. I'm just sayin

Try handcuffing your hands to the bed frame. Works for me.

 

[Hues]

I worked on some large cabinets for my mother Sunday....Made in central America out of some crazy hard wood,part of it was to drill some new shelf holes.

I had to use so much pressure,for so long, to make these four 1/2" inch deep holes that I couldn't play for almost two days.

 

[Slevage]

If I use a gas-powered weed eater for much longer than 10-15 minutes, it will set my hands to shaking so bad I can't play for hours, sometimes for the rest of the day!

You should invest in anti-vibration gloves----OSHA required for some jobs---- hammer drilling, power sanding, etc

 

[PJFlatts]

I dug 135ft of trench by hand through clay in 1 week. I cancelled all gigs for that weekend as I could not open my hands. Plumbing sucks

Once I met I guy who dug, by hand, the entire drain field for the septic system for the house he and his wife were building. He'd been in trouble earlier in life which made for hurdles in getting jobs and loans and the like. I was impressed. I've dug trenches by hand for electrical lines and holes to get to and fix a sewer pipe from a house, but these two folks had about 400 feet of deep (like grave deep) trench.

Don't know if he played a guitar or anything, but I'll bet he didn't on the days he was digging trench!