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Double Bass Help with blister's on my fingers.

D

deadhead

Apr 21, 2009
19
0
Southern California
#1
So, I'm just beginning to rehearse more heavily on an upright for jazz stuff. I'm starting to get blisters on my right pointer finger, which I normally the finger I play with on an upright. I need any advice anyone could give me with handling the pain or helping it heal faster. I have to play at least six times a week for rehearsal's and recording, so I can't just take a break. I just got rid of my last blister and now this new one has popped up. Eh....

I'm trying to play with my middle finger more but the tone isn't as strong as with the pointer finger, ya know?
 
#3
Here's what I do:
Pretty much as soon as I feel a blister coming on, I go get a needle (sterilized with alcohol) and I drain the fluid off of it. If you don't then the skin underneath gets really soft due to the fluid. Then I keep playing on it carefully. With any luck the dead skin on top of where the blister was will turn hard and eventually into a callous.
 
#4
I also do the needle draining thing when I have a blister.

If you have to play a gig with blisters you can use sportstape on your fingers. In the beginning I have played several gigs with the tape on my fingers. After a few months you don't need the tape anymore.
 
#5
I guess I'm gonna be the asshat here. Take an Aspirin and tough it out.

You can do the draining thing. I'm not sure it really does anything to speed healing or relieve pain. For that matter I think it probably risks infection and hurts more. The main thing is it just gets rid of the pillow of fluid on your finger that might hurt your tone. Sports tape or bandaids will hurt you tone too. Some people use liquid bandage or superglue. Never worked for me. Maybe for a 30 min gig or something but most of the stuff I have are of the 3 to 4+ hour variety and glue just doesn't cut it.

Unfortunately the best thing you can do is just play and tough it out.
 
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#7
fingers said:
I guess I'm gonna be the asshat here. Take an Aspirin and tough it out.

You can do the draining thing. I'm not sure it really does anything to speed healing or relieve pain. For that matter I think it probably risks infection and hurts more. The main thing is it just gets rid of the pillow of fluid on your finger that might hurt your tone. Sports tape or bandaids will hurt you tone too. Some people use liquid bandage or superglue. Never worked for me. Maybe for a 30 min gig or something but most of the stuff I have are of the 3 to 4+ hour variety and glue just doesn't cut it.

Unfortunately the best thing you can do is just play and tough it out.
Click to expand...

Massive +1. This is about the only thing you can do until your fingers build a resistance. I couldn't ever use the superglue thing either, I just had to get the blisters, deal with it, then keep playing.
 
#8
First remove the apostrophe and the blister will go by itself.

Sorry about that. Now seriously, I support the 'tough it out' camp. I got blisters when I first started, I alternated the two fingers to even out the load and in time everything was fine. You mention rehearsal; well I find that I hit the strings a lot harder when I'm playing without an amp - it's surprising how well an amp 'rests' the fingers without you realising it. So try to go for the amp option. In time you'll wonder what all the worry was about. - Trust me. Oh, while you're still a bit blistery and your fingers are a bit rough and scrappy don't go near any young ladies' stockings. They won't thank you for it, as I remember; but that was a long time ago.
 
#11
My trick is to wait a day after the blister forms, or doing something else that doesn't require you pull with that finger. Doing so lets the hand reabsorb the fluid and turn that blister into a nice callous. I'm doing it all over again myself as I'm introducing my ring finger to pizz. I don't pop anything. Playing on it once the blister has formed usually will force the blister to remain and the fluid won't reabsorb.

Of course it's only good if you have the luxury to not pizz with that finger for a day or so.
 
#12
Well, as far as the "tough it out" philosophy goes, popping the blister doesn't keep it from hurting. In my experience, it just facilitates the forming of a callous. It's gonna hurt just the same for all of you gluttons for punishment and you still just have to play through it.
 
#15
when you feel a blister coming (the pain in your finger, kind of a hot feeling) press down on your bass, a table, any sort of hard surface. My teacher told me this will help the fluid inside the blister reabsorb into your finger. I would say don't go the popping route. Just press down when you feel them coming and although it wont get rid of them, it will help, and shorten their life span.


and, show the blisters to the ladies. they dig it.
 
#16
Put superglue on the blister before it takes hold. You can play naturally through the superglue and the blister doesn't develop any further.

The superglue is watery and applying it neatly can be hard, but once you have a nice little pad over the (not yet fully formed) blister you can play normally without care.
 
#18
One of my Treasured Memories was doing the Elvin Jones masterclass at Atlantic Center for the Arts in (I think) '83. I wasn't practicing much or playing that hard, but suddenly here I was in the last week of his 3 week residency ( buddy of mine called me and said Elvin was looking for rhythm section players for the last week) and suddenly I go from taking the instrument out of the bag occasionally to playing 4 hours, taking a lunch break and then playing another 4 or 5 hours. The second day I get back from lunch and Elvin comes up to me. I hadn't said anything, but he must have noticed; he's got this big jar of mentholatum and grabs my right hand and starts rubbing this stuff on my blood blisters. He says that it's gonna keep the skin from drying up and will keep it flexible and will help with the pain. He says that when the quartet was on the road sometimes they'd play so long and so hard that even Jimmy would get blisters and that's what he did.

I miss Elvin every ****ing day.
 
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