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Finger placement question.

T

ThatOneEngineer

Guest
Feb 8, 2015
30
5
35
Albany, NY
#1
Short history; Once upon a time I picked up guitar and got to an intermediate level then decided I wanted to play bass too so I played around a little bit but never got too serious, then life happened and I stopped playing both. Recently I felt it was time to start playing bass again so few days ago I borrowed a bass from my friend( bridgecraft model:POS ;) ). Yesterday I practiced for about two to three hours until I started to feel a pain in mostly my pinky and ring finger. Now today while practicing I can barely use my pinky and when I do it is pretty painful to do so. Does anyone have any idea what this could be from? The action on the bass is pretty high and I want to blame that, but I'm not sure if it's that or technique/finger placement, or even just over-working those fingers/muscles. Is there any training/warmup exercises that could help to strengthen my fingers to where the pain won't happen or at least not as much?
 
#2
I'm thinking it could very well be the action on the bass. Tough to tell without pictures, and seeing what you're doing. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to hold down a note on a bass that's well set up. On a bass with the strings way off the neck, especially for a beginner, you could be putting a lot of unnecessary strain on your fingers. I'd suggest either having the bass professionally set up, or learning to do it yourself (it's not terribly difficult). Then search a bit on proper technique, and work at it until you no longer feel the strain you're feeling.
 
#3
A little more info would be I find myself using the flat of my pinky and ring finger rather than the tip of my fingers, especially when doing scales. I know with guitar that is incorrect, but my fingers aren't exactly long and I find it very hard to stretch my fingers long enough to use the tips of my ring and pinky finger.

Joe Nerve said:
I'm thinking it could very well be the action on the bass. Tough to tell without pictures, and seeing what you're doing. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to hold down a note on a bass that's well set up. On a bass with the strings way off the neck, especially for a beginner, you could be putting a lot of unnecessary strain on your fingers. I'd suggest either having the bass professionally set up, or learning to do it yourself (it's not terribly difficult). Then search a bit on proper technique, and work at it until you no longer feel the strain you're feeling.
Click to expand...
I will look into setting the action as I'm sure that's a good thing to learn whether it's needed or not.
 
#4
eao86s.jpg


This is as straight as I could get of an image of the action, I'm not sure it's very helpful, but if it's more information towards my question it could help.
 
#5
Yeah, getting up on the tips is what it's about, fingers perpendicular, hand strength, etc. Most of us started where you're at. Heard stories from other bass players of taping fingertips, to keep playing. The Beatles famously captured it on an early album..

Keep playing and work on it, there's loads of YouTubes and online stuff.

Have another bass player look at the action, maybe it can be lowered, but in the end, it's about strength and agility in both hands
 
#6
If you were playing between the 1st and 5th for a period of time and you experienced pain I would suspect weak fingers first since even on a bass with higher action, that region of the neck still shouldn't be that high.

Play for short periods at first to build up your muscles again. Since you once had skills your brain thinks you can do it but your body is telling you otherwise (pain). Ease into it and watch some reliable videos about technique and you'll get there. Good luck!
 
#7
You can sometimes play the ring and little fingers together, like the upright players do. If you're trying to stretch you're doing it wrong. You can shift your hand up and down the neck as you need, also. I'd suggest a lesson from a true bass player (not a guy who plays guitar and teaches bass).
 
#8
RustyAxe said:
You can sometimes play the ring and little fingers together, like the upright players do. If you're trying to stretch you're doing it wrong. You can shift your hand up and down the neck as you need, also. I'd suggest a lesson from a true bass player (not a guy who plays guitar and teaches bass).
Click to expand...
Everything I've read has said with scales you don't want to shift your hand, is that incorrect? Comfort and not being in pain is obviously more important than being proper, but I would like to learn to play bass as well and properly as I can.
 
#9
Sounds like you may have 2 problems ... first your action is too high and require more work than it should and second since you haven't played for a very long time and that maybe you around computer ... you may suffer from tendonitist as it is a repetively stress injury.

Also you don't need strengh to play bass or any instrument for that matter, you need dexterity and agility which is only gain by playing the instrument but in smaller increment as playing 3 hours after a few years of brake may be too much for your tendons.
 
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#12
That bass definitely needs a going-over..........strings need to be lowered for sure.......

Got a good luthier/techy in your area nearby?

They will often catch things that the untrained eye doesn't see.........for me it was money well spent ....and it wasn't really very much money at all.

I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did playing strings that high......
 
#13
ZenG said:
That bass definitely needs a going-over..........strings need to be lowered for sure.......

Got a good luthier/techy in your area nearby?

They will often catch things that the untrained eye doesn't see.........for me it was money well spent ....and it wasn't really very much money at all.

I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did playing strings that high......
Click to expand...
I would probably spend more money having the action lowered than my friend spent on the bass. It's not worth it to me. I'm going to try and do it myself, and if I fail then I have an excuse to go buy a bass(which I need to do anyway). Win-Win imo
 
#17
I'm sure finger strength is part of it, but I've never experienced this type of pain from a guitar or bass before. It's not like that pain from my fingers not being used to strings. After a closer looks I have a bruise on my pinky from the tension it takes to hold down a string. Even the G string is a hassle to hold. I'm also sure practicing for three or so hours wasn't very smart and probably part of it because I'm not used to playing anymore. But I think the action is the biggest factor in this and will be fixing that ASAP, whether it be fixing this bass or buying a used one.
 
#18
ThatOneEngineer said:
Short history; Once upon a time I picked up guitar and got to an intermediate level then decided I wanted to play bass too so I played around a little bit but never got too serious, then life happened and I stopped playing both. Recently I felt it was time to start playing bass again so few days ago I borrowed a bass from my friend( bridgecraft model:pOS ;) ). Yesterday I practiced for about two to three hours until I started to feel a pain in mostly my pinky and ring finger. Now today while practicing I can barely use my pinky and when I do it is pretty painful to do so. Does anyone have any idea what this could be from? The action on the bass is pretty high and I want to blame that, but I'm not sure if it's that or technique/finger placement, or even just over-working those fingers/muscles. Is there any training/warmup exercises that could help to strengthen my fingers to where the pain won't happen or at least not as much?
Click to expand...
Yesterday I practiced for about two to three hours until I started to feel a pain in mostly my pinky and ring finger

Practice in 45 minute sessions with 15 minute breaks. Doing it this way you can play all day. You need the 15 minute rest stops.

If there is pain quit. There is no pain in music.

From what everyone said sounds like a set up is called for.
 
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#19
ThatOneEngineer said:
Everything I've read has said with scales you don't want to shift your hand, is that incorrect? Comfort and not being in pain is obviously more important than being proper, but I would like to learn to play bass as well and properly as I can.
Click to expand...
You do what you have to do ... to play the music, and to protect your health. There are no absolute rules. That bass needs a set up ... IMO it's virtually unplayable in that shape.
 

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