Is there such a thing as "bass thumb"?

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm a rookie. Been playing about six months.

Last week, I had the house all to myself for a few hours, so I jammed away. (I rarely get more than 45 minutes, if that.) The next day, my right thumb (and that fat, fleshy part of your hand right below the thumb) hurt like hell. It even hurt to raise my right arm over my head. Couldn't bend my wrist backwards or hardly move my thumb.

Then it went away almost as fast as it came.

Is this somehow related to the bass? Has anybody had this experience before?

You may want to revisit your technique.

Seriously, I’m about to turn 71, and have been a working bassist since the mid 1960s. My basal thumb joint on my right hand is bone on bone due to the lack of strength of a tendon. It’s is common in older (ok call me elderly LOL!!). I’ve been getting by with cortisone shots, but usually most people opt for a surgical solution, and I may have to suck it up and have done eventually.

I’m not sure how old you are or what shape you are in. I’m also not qualified to offer medical advice. For all I know this episode you went through was just a one off. I will suggest that when you experience pain something is not right. Either something broke or some part of your anatomy was overly abused.

My long term experience playing bass largely has been free of discomfort other than blisters. Even after playing hours playing for hours on end. Even at my age with a looming 3 hour gig this NYE.

My thought is take it easy when you are playing but stop at the first bit of discomfort. Don’t try to play through it, take a break. But if you experience anything like what you just did, a consult with a medical professional maybe in order.

Best wishes.

 

[Geogio]

The only things I know about string instruments is posture and keep your wrists as physically straight as you possibly can.

I've observed quite a few people with low-hanging instruments and their wrists are bent at angles close to 90° and that causes tension, which reduces effective and efficient movement, which will lead to physical difficulties.

There are these physician's called hand specialists, they work in Orthopedic departments or practices and if you have a primary care physician you should might give a thought to scheduling an appointment with a hand specialist.

There are also physical therapists and then there are physical therapists that specialize in hand therapy. I've been to both hand specialists and hand therapists during my recovery related to a severely shattered wrist from falling off of a ladder. After pain, suffering, surgery and a couple of years worth of intesive (painful) physical therapy... I will be doing my at home PT for the rest of my life. That event almost ended my playing and reduced my fretboard efficiency to around ~80% (c'est la vie) and some days are better than others. I still play, but I also had to develop work arounds for some articulation difficulties. Trust me, you don't want to go there.

BTW, no physical therapist is going to see you until an orthopedic hand specialist checks you out and prescribes physical therapy, with frequent check ups as the PT progresses.

Pain in butt? It's your hands... they're important.

 

[Killing Floor]

Have a local teacher check your technique

100%
Any time you start a new activity there might be discomfort, that’s different from injury.

See a teacher. Best way to make sure your technique is not the problem.

 

[staccatogrowl]

@Greenman72 : See a hand specialist. You might learn that the concept of "trigger finger" (pain, locking, etc) also applies to the thumb. If that's it, a shot of cortisone cures it over 95% of the time. Then one can go back to living their life without all of the rules commanded by many above. That's been my experience with it, anyway : )

 

[KenD]

Good technique? What's technique?

Many bass players, including me, want to run before we can crawl when we first get into the instrument. That's completely understandable but ultimately self-defeating. Slooow down, get some quality instruction (preferably in person) and spend countless boring hours practising proper technique and getting it so firmly in place that it becomes completely subconcious.

 

[Number179]

This is my picking/strumming hand.

Once, I said, “my picking hand” when talking technique in a half crowded bar with Mike Watt. He stopped the conversation to correct me: “you mean your plucking hand”. He wasn’t asking; and I’ve never met a stranger more genuine.

 

[2tonic]

If you were playing finger style, then you've received plenty of good advice, in this thread, already. Stamina is slowly developed, a bit at a time, along with the calluses you'll need to gig. The best method for accomplishing this growth is gigging 4 to 5 sets a night, 6 nights a week. Seems like the days of gigs like that are long gone (hopefully one day to return).

However if you were slapping, all bets are off. After years of playing (back in my day), I could easily slap for hours on end, with no ill effects. Yet in the excitement of performing, I have broken my right thumb four times, and split it open more times than I can count (kinda the Pete Townshend syndrome).
Over-attacking, jumping around, just plain exuberance has gotten the better of me. Most times it happened on a Jazz bass due to striking the top edge of the pickup, hard,, so a word of warning.
As far as string abrasion, caused by banging on roundwounds, a good callus usually handles that, and will let you employ the technique with no lasting pain, or ill effects.
Some well known players have adopted other means of protection, such as Mark King, who wraps his thumb in black pvc electrical tape.
Your resilience will build over time, so don't push it.

.......Go easy on slapping Flea style for four hours at a time- his terrible way of dealing with the open wounds it caused was to cover his fingers in not-healthy super glue.

While I wholeheartedly agree with the gist of your post, I couldn't resist addressing this.
Superglue (cyoanacrylate) was actually developed by the military specifically for the purpose of quickly closing battlefield wounds, and incisions, without the need for sutures. Mostly used on closures that would need to be reopened, for follow-up or more advanced surgery at a field hospital or surgical center. It was an expedient way to get casualties off the battlefield, or out of the aid station, as quickly as possible. It helped get them stabilized and on their way to more advanced care, and reduced their recovery time.

Sorry for the thread jack, but superglue is not "unhealthy", unless you eat it.

 

[Barticus]

I have bass thumb… er um a Thumb bass rather

 

[Rib 13]

I’m not a doctor but…

Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor.... not a bass player

 

[MattZilla]

but superglue is not "unhealthy", unless you eat it.

CyanoAcrylate.

one occasional deep cut, as a fast stitch is one thing.

Please get a doctor to put their name and face publicly attached to verifying this notion that sealing open sores on a weekly basis is “not unhealthy”.

Nobody is cutting or slicing their fingers on bass strings, so the military doctors’ application is completely irrelevant here. It’s a different injury requiring a different solution. They’d have used something else for abrasions, or missing skin, as Flea had and many new bassists are prone to.

 

[Paul New]

No, bass thumb is not a thing. Get rid of the b , now you got a thing.

 

[2tonic]

CyanoAcrylate.

one occasional deep cut, as a fast stitch is one thing.

Please get a doctor to put their name and face publicly attached to verifying this notion that sealing open sores on a weekly basis is “not unhealthy”.

Nobody is cutting or slicing their fingers on bass strings, so the military doctors’ application is completely irrelevant here. It’s a different injury requiring a different solution. They’d have used something else for abrasions, or missing skin, as Flea had and many new bassists are prone to.

OK, I didn't realize the use you were referring to...(covering open sores). Yeah, you're right, that sounds pretty bad.
I was only trying to say it wasn't poisonous when used as intended.
I've never abraded the skin, rather I have split my thumb open, and superglue was most helpful as far as being able to continue playing.
But sealing up an open, or weeping, sore doesn't sound like good ju-ju.

 

[Leigh Semmens]

The only pain I ever get is the deep blister on the index finger of my left hand. Even that is finally stating to callous up. That'll teach me not to practice as much as I should. As for the poll, I didn't vote because I wanted Carrots.

 

[eddododo]

I… don’t resonate with any phrasing in the poll.

You went a little too hard too fast, and possibly need to look at your technique. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.



Now if one continues to overdo it, and/or continues to keep using their hand in a manner that is prone to injury, they may indeed injure themselves or develop a chronic condition.

none of us can say what is happening with you, but I’d say you should be paying attention to your technique, being really intentional (and researched) about the technique you want to use, and exercising common sense about pain and the way it relates to how you are treating your hands. There will be some discomfort learning bass, but what you described is not typical of a well laid path of improvement. If you’re using bad technique, and feeling what you felt, then yes you’re hurting yourself. If you’re being reasonably careful and using a technique that is likely healthy, then you GREATLY overdid it with the playing load. It happens, and all of us overdid it at some point, but it sounds likely that you overdid it WHILE using some bad posture and technique.

Particularly with the loss of comfortable mobility of the upper arm, you likely need to holistically analyze (video helps) your greater posture while you play, including your neck and back and shoulders. If you’re slapping or using a pick especially, there are suboptimal ways our body can compensate for the new strange motion. This is where intentionality and restraint come in.

also if not primarily: get a teacher. Particularly one who addresses how you play, and not just what you play

 

[antfarm]

Were you slapping or does your thumb hurt from anchoring it on the pickup playing fingerstyle?

 

[MattZilla]

OK, I didn't realize the use you were referring to...(covering open sores). Yeah, you're right, that sounds pretty bad.
I was only trying to say it wasn't poisonous when used as intended.
I've never abraded the skin, rather I have split my thumb open, and superglue was most helpful as far as being able to continue playing.
But sealing up an open, or weeping, sore doesn't sound like good ju-ju.

It was the only reason to bring it up in this thread and Flea was pretty well known for it.
It’s ok. Have a great day/night & holidays!

 

[Greenman72]

Were you slapping or does your thumb hurt from anchoring it on the pickup playing fingerstyle?

Mostly thumb anchoring. I think that’s part of the problem. I need to learn to do the “floating thumb” instead of the “anchor”. I think that will solve a lot of problems. (And not just thumb pain.).

 

[Lobster11]

Mostly thumb anchoring. I think that’s part of the problem. I need to learn to do the “floating thumb” instead of the “anchor”. I think that will solve a lot of problems. (And not just thumb pain.).

My guess is that when you anchor your thumb -- on a pickup or wherever -- you are pressing down on it much harder than necessary. It only needs to rest against the anchoring spot; your hand should otherwise be relaxed.

That said, I'm a big fan of the floating-thumb technique and highly recommend it. Here's the short video I learned it from:



Just be aware that you'll need to be patient: You won't master this in a day, but in the long run it's worth it.

 

[micguy]

Our thumbs (in particular the one on your dominant hand) have the joints that wear out first in most cases - a natural result of the fact that the thumb is outnumbered 4 to 1 when they're in opposition, ,and we've taken a bit too much advantage of our opposable thumbs in modern life - tools and such. As such, using your thumb for things that you don't have to (texting) is not a wise move. I've also always thought the thumb is the wrong digit to use when trying to do precision striking - slap using the thumb never made sense to me for both reasons. I do my "clink and clank" with my index finger - granted it sounds a bit different than true slap, and I'm not as fast (that could just be that I don't practice that a lot), but it works well for me.

 

[ahbradot]

Those crusty cuticles would be a red flag for me.
Perhaps a nutrient deficiency.
I used to have inflammation and arthritis for many years from overuse and poor diet.
I have corrected the overuse and poor diet and now living pain free.
I wish you the best in your resolve.