Fretting hand cramps

[brianrost]

You are on point with this tensing up part, I press frets harder, my thum pushes harder against the neck and everything is sloppy... I press harder because I tend to hear my strings buzz, but that might be because of the action and the fact that I get tense when playing.

You have to stop this sort of thing. Relaxation is key. Fretting strings, even with high action, does not require a lot of force. The same goes for the right hand, whether using fingers or a pick, you don't need to pound on it. The tone actually gets better the lighter you play, it chokes up when you use too much force. Less force also makes it easier to play faster. When you feel yourself getting tense, start taking deep breaths to relax yourself.

If your hand is cramping STOP PLAYING. Try some stretching exercises, I'm sure you can google some up quickly enough. When I moved from play bass guitar to double bass I had to do exercises before playing (like before every set of a gig for five minutes!) for months before my muscles were used to it.

Also, don't worry about speed. Practice difficult parts below the real tempo until they are totally effortless before even trying to play at full speed. Remember this: if you can't play it slowly you will never be able to play it fast.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Lots of good suggestions here, playing slowly first among the best. I use an ancient Tascam CD bass trainer to slow tracks down without changing pitch. They have a newer MP3 version, it has a few other nice features like bass isolation. Slowing if down allows you to hear subtleties you might miss otherwise too.

 

[OogieWaWa]

When I was learning I cramped up at a jam night on a new, tough song I was worried about. (Molly Hatchet, Flirtin With Disaster, kick a$$ tune!); the guitar player told me to relax and diaphragm breathe. In about 20 seconds I was fine. Amazing what forgetting to breathe does to you. Breathing not only gets your oxygen back up, but forces you to relax. You can't tense up if you have your diaphragm moving, it has to relax, and your body follows suit. It also works great for panic attacks, when I feel one coming on all I do is diaphragm breathe for a bit and they now go away.

 

[JohnnyBottom]

Playing for over 30 years and started getting cramps. 3 fingers on my fretting hand would just shutdown.
They would close in my palm and I couldnt open them. Finishing the song/set with 1 finger is not fun.
Saw a doctor expecting the worst. He said its just fatigue.
Suggested, less coffee, more water, and also electrolyte drinks like propel and smart water etc.
Also Vitamin B6. To build strength also workout my hands with ProHands by Gripmasters.
Havent had an issue since I took his suggestions.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

Fretting pressure should be 90-100% from your back and arm muscles, not just squeezing with your thumb. How this looks varies from player to player, but one thing you can try is to play something easy for you, without your thumb on the neck at all, to at least get the feel for this concept. Keep your thumb off the neck as gently as possible, unnaturally pulling your thumb back can also lead to issues. If your action is too high to make that possible, that’s your next step. A teacher who has experience with coaching students with these issues may be necessary as well.

 

[CalBuzz51]

I agree with the posts about slowing down.

Two more things that might help:
1) If your strings have a lot of tension, a lighter guage might help. Doesn’t have to be the lightest. I feel like heavy strings plus a mediocre setup
is often what turns people from away from guitar/bass.

2) I spent $65 on a padded leather strap that is very comfortable and super grippy. This really helps any bass with any neck dive, or any bass that’s a bit heavy. I never would have guessed what a great upgrade this was - part of the relaxation equation.

 

[TYoungman]

It sounds like you are wrapping your thumb around the neck like a baseball bat. You need to place your thumb on the center of the neck and keep your wrist straight. With your left hand, make a thumbs up, rotate it to the left and place the thumb on the neck and your wrist straight. You may be pressing a little too hard on the neck which most new bass players tend to do, myself included when I started playing again. Ergonomics are very, very important and an instructor can help you with proper technique. You may be playing your bass a little too high. Try playing it at a 45 degree angle with the right hand down by your waist and your headstock up level with your eyes. Take deep breaths and relax your forearm. You can also try to press closer to the fret. This will also cut down on fret buzz. Good luck.

I'll surely try lowering the bass and will practice pressing frets as light as I can to get normal sound. Thanks

 

[TYoungman]

* Get your bass set-up properly first. Play smarter, not harder.
* Set your strap properly first. Work with that first, then as you grow/learn, you'll find "your" sweet" spot.
* RELAX! Don't worry about almost playing "at tempo" until you can play it all SLOWLY. Gradually increase tempo ONLY as fast as you can ACCURATELY play. Imprinting bad habits early are a mo fo to break after you have done it for long. Just trust me on this one.
* Search the net for proper/acceptable stretches for the entire body IMO, and focuses on hand/arm warm-ups/stretches for playing.
* RELAX!
* Watch your posture as best as possible.
* BREATHE as you play, try NOT to skip breathe or hold your breath. It increases tension throughout the entire body, particularly in the playing hands, and will also decrease blood flow...which can lead to cramping; lessening the exchange of CO2 and Oxygen which leads to increased acidity of and within the muscles...factor in cramping.
* Drink water, or at least try to stay hydrated. Related with ^.
* I learned the hard way when I first started also.
* Did I mention to RELAX?
Have fun, and welcome.

Thank you man for all these great tips. I have found some streching excercises already and I tried some, I'll keep doing it ait and see where it leads. And I will definitely try to relax. Cheers!

 

[TYoungman]

You have to stop this sort of thing. Relaxation is key. Fretting strings, even with high action, does not require a lot of force. The same goes for the right hand, whether using fingers or a pick, you don't need to pound on it. The tone actually gets better the lighter you play, it chokes up when you use too much force. Less force also makes it easier to play faster. When you feel yourself getting tense, start taking deep breaths to relax yourself.

If your hand is cramping STOP PLAYING. Try some stretching exercises, I'm sure you can google some up quickly enough. When I moved from play bass guitar to double bass I had to do exercises before playing (like before every set of a gig for five minutes!) for months before my muscles were used to it.

Also, don't worry about speed. Practice difficult parts below the real tempo until they are totally effortless before even trying to play at full speed. Remember this: if you can't play it slowly you will never be able to play it fast.

I tend to press those strings quite hard, it's just that when I try playing fast, I automatically press strings harder and tense up... But this excercising tip is really useful, thx man

 

[TYoungman]

Lots of good suggestions here, playing slowly first among the best. I use an ancient Tascam CD bass trainer to slow tracks down without changing pitch. They have a newer MP3 version, it has a few other nice features like bass isolation. Slowing if down allows you to hear subtleties you might miss otherwise too.

Hmmm, I'll try it out, thx.

 

[WhenTheDrumsStops]

I assmue your fretting hand is not your dominant hand so it's logical that you start to cramp up after a while. Best muscle training is just to play every day, do scales and all that boring stuff. Just like in the gym when you want to grow muscles you have to push through that pain point and then keep going for a little while longer. You won't build up endurance when you stop at the cramp/pain point, you increase it by pushing through that point for a bit longer (just don't overdo it and risk an injury).

In the first years when I was playing I used a hand muscle trainer a lot that was really helpful to increase my strength and endurance, you might want to try that out aswell.

And if all this does not help and you don't notice an improvement then you might want to look at a different bass to play on. Short scale basses are generally much lighter to play on. Or try playing with a thin set of strings on your current bass.

 

[WhenTheDrumsStops]

If your hand is cramping STOP PLAYING.

I disagree.

 

[TYoungman]

I agree with the posts about slowing down.

Two more things that might help:
1) If your strings have a lot of tension, a lighter guage might help. Doesn’t have to be the lightest. I feel like heavy strings plus a mediocre setup
is often what turns people from away from guitar/bass.

2) I spent $65 on a padded leather strap that is very comfortable and super grippy. This really helps any bass with any neck dive, or any bass that’s a bit heavy. I never would have guessed what a great upgrade this was - part of the relaxation equation.

I use do use heavier gauge, but I think, based on all of the responses here, that the problem is mainly in my mindset. Although I need to work on my technique and setup my action. Also I use a cheap 6-7$ Ernie Ball belt but I didn't notice that the traction is a problem.

 

[TYoungman]

I assmue your fretting hand is not your dominant hand so it's logical that you start to cramp up after a while. Best muscle training is just to play every day, do scales and all that boring stuff. Just like in the gym when you want to grow muscles you have to push through that pain point and then keep going for a little while longer. You won't build up endurance when you stop at the cramp/pain point, you increase it by pushing through that point for a bit longer (just don't overdo it and risk an injury).

In the first years when I was playing I used a hand muscle trainer a lot that was really helpful to increase my strength and endurance, you might want to try that out aswell.
View attachment 3176327

And if all this does not help and you don't notice an improvement then you might want to look at a different bass to play on. Short scale basses are generally much lighter to play on. Or try playing with a thin set of strings on your current bass.

Yea, I've had that kind of intention, play through the pain. But I also need to

I assmue your fretting hand is not your dominant hand so it's logical that you start to cramp up after a while. Best muscle training is just to play every day, do scales and all that boring stuff. Just like in the gym when you want to grow muscles you have to push through that pain point and then keep going for a little while longer. You won't build up endurance when you stop at the cramp/pain point, you increase it by pushing through that point for a bit longer (just don't overdo it and risk an injury).

In the first years when I was playing I used a hand muscle trainer a lot that was really helpful to increase my strength and endurance, you might want to try that out aswell.
View attachment 3176327

And if all this does not help and you don't notice an improvement then you might want to look at a different bass to play on. Short scale basses are generally much lighter to play on. Or try playing with a thin set of strings on your current bass.

Yea, I've had that kind of intention, play through the pain. But I also need to change my technique. I'll start using one of those hand trainers. Thx.

 

[Mushroo]

Yea, I've had that kind of intention, play through the pain. But I also need to

Yea, I've had that kind of intention, play through the pain. But I also need to change my technique. I'll start using one of those hand trainers. Thx.

Never, ever "play through the pain." Terrible advice.
And those hand trainers won't help you become a better bassist (but they might be nice for party tricks, like crushing beer cans).

Did you check out my advice in the other Billie Jean thread? One of the most important things for playing repetitious songs like this, is to mix up your hand position. For example, you could play the first verse in 2nd position, the second verse in 7th position, and maybe even go all the way up to 12th position for the Bmin chord. Moving your hand around will help prevent cramping.

Also unless I missed it, you didn't mention which fretting fingers you are using? I personally would use primarily my 1st and 4th fingers to fret this bass line, but I might mix it up and use different fingers, if I started to feel fatigued.

And please do consider posting a "hand selfie"--a picture is worth a thousand words!

 

[WhenTheDrumsStops]

Never, ever "play through the pain." Terrible advice.
And those hand trainers won't help you become a better bassist (but they might be nice for party tricks, like crushing beer cans).

No pain, no game. It is that simple. You hardly or not at all will increase endurance when you stop at the point you start to struggle. This by the way is good advice for a lot of things in life, not just for training your hand muscles. And those hand trainers do help, I know from personal experience. I am scratching my head as for why you label this as 'terrible advice'.

Do you stop playing on a gig when you cramp up or do you keep playing and just bite through the cramp? 'Sorry folks, our bass player has a bit of cramp, we will stop playing for 30 minutes. Sorry for the inconvenience!'

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Hi, I started playing bass half a year ago and have trouble with my fretting hand. Recently I've been playing Billie Jean bassline a lot, and have trouble keeping the tempo. I play it at regualr tempo and my fretting hand wrist bends when I play it. I start to press really hard against the neck with my thumb, my playing gets sloppy and my fingers get slower and slower. This makes it hard for me to play the bassline longer than a minute at a regular tempo. I realise that my wrist should stay straight throughout the playing but I just can't play at a regular tempo when my wrist is straight because the neck of the bass just falls into my palm and half of my thumb crosses the top of the neck and it can't stay around the middle of the neck. This is a problem because when I practice staying in sync and keeping the tempo with a drummer I cramp up and just can't continue. I would very much appreciate some advice regarding this problem.
Also I am new to this forum and if anything like this was already answered(I didn't notice) I would be grateful if you let me know so I can remove this thread.

As an older player I have to use lighter strings. I use Rotosound Funk Masters. Not for everyone but I love them. Also you might see a doctor if you can before it becomes permanent. Good luck young man.

 

[Mushroo]

No pain, no game. It is that simple. You hardly or not at all will increase endurance when you stop at the point you start to struggle. This by the way is good advice for a lot of things in life, not just for training your hand muscles. And those hand trainers do help, I know from personal experience. I am scratching my head as for why you label this as 'terrible advice'.

Do you stop playing on a gig when you cramp up or do you keep playing and just bite through the cramp? 'Sorry folks, our bass player has a bit of cramp, we will stop playing for 30 minutes. Sorry for the inconvenience!'

Cramping and pain are indicative of poor technique. The hand muscles should not be involved in fretting the notes; the strength should come from the arm and shoulder, while the hand muscles remain soft and relaxed. Practicing "through the pain" reinforces bad habits, instead of teaching good habits.

"No pain no gain" is old-school advice from my grandparents' generation, who bragged about walking uphill both ways in a blizzard to get to school.

A more humane philosophy for the 21st century is, "only perfect practice makes perfect." (Vince Lombardi)

 

[bass12]

Working through some discomfort is one thing, working through pain is another. And you don't need a lot of hand strength to play electric bass well - you need mobility and your body has to get used to the kind of movements your hand is making when you play bass. Unless your objective is to crush your bass neck then I would suggest that those grip strengthening devices won't do you a lot of good.

 

[WhenTheDrumsStops]

Cramping and pain are indicative of poor technique. The hand muscles should not be involved in fretting the notes; the strength should come from the arm and shoulder, while the hand muscles remain soft and relaxed. Practicing "through the pain" reinforces bad habits, instead of teaching good habits.

"No pain no gain" is old-school advice from my grandparents' generation, who bragged about walking uphill both ways in a blizzard to get to school.

A more humane philosophy for the 21st century is, "only perfect practice makes perfect." (Vince Lombardi)

Assuming he uses a proper technique (and from what he told us he uses proper technique and tries to keep his wrist straight) cramp and pain starts when your muscles start to sour, so lack of muscle training and endurance. The strength does not come from your shoulder but your whole arm. I have seen these type of advices many times over the years. People saying that you need to stop when you feel a little ache or cramp, poor technique, everythings comes from the shoulder. I call BS on all of that. Pain is an indicator that your muscles are on the edge of the normal operating window. If you don't push through that and 'teach' your muscles to go beyond that you will hardly improve your endurance and just stay stuck at the level your are at. Advice that I give out is always based on my personal experience, If it did not work for me then I would not write it down as an advice for others.

Just as an example, A bunch of years ago I wanted to learn the live version of the song 'Eyes Waterfalling' from Level 42. That bass line has an insane speed and a million notes per hour. First weeks I was really struggling, feeling my muscles aching and getting sour while trying to keep up the tempo, sweating like a pig trying to keep it up to the end. It was one hell of a workout. A month of practicing that line and biting through the pain I had more speed, more endurance... and guess what, no pain. I have trained my muscles to go beyond the old limit, gained the endurance and was able to play the line fairly comfortable after that. It's a workout, just like in the gym. If you just quit then you won't progress... easily.

Working through some discomfort is one thing, working through pain is another. And you don't need a lot of hand strength to play electric bass well - you need mobility and your body has to get used to the kind of movements your hand is making when you play bass. Unless your objective is to crush your bass neck then I would suggest that those grip strengthening devices won't do you a lot of good.

Part of my advice 'don't overdo it'. But you need to work with the cramp and pain for a bit longer to gain endurance.