Left hand cramping when playing near nut

[EricOnTheBass]

This sounds all to familiar. I had a 35" scale wide neck 5 string as my only instrument. It hurt my L hand to play, especially near the nut. The pain was at the base of the thumb. The cause? Arthritis. This was over 20 years ago and the issue is still there.

My solution was to quit playing 5 stringers and to quit playing scale lengths above 34". I'm fine with a Jazz bass. 3 of my 4 instruments are 32" scale.

The benefits of an extra-long scale are not worth playing through pain.

Sorry to hear about your arthritis. I'm 52, so it could be something like that as well, but it hasn't been an issue until I started playing this song.

 

[Drop1]

I'm returning to bass playing after taking about 10 years off to focus on drums. I've been back at it for a couple of months and it's all coming back to me pretty quickly.

I have an audition with a band this weekend and I've been learning Love Shack by the B-52's. Nearly the entire song is played on the first 3 frets of the E and A strings. About half way through, my left hand starts getting a feeling of cramping or muscle fatigue, particularly around the base of my thumb, from continuously pressing down on the strings. I'm using a Dingwall NG-3 5 string. It's a bit more comfortable if I play on frets 6-8 on the B and E string, but it doesn't sound as good.

Is this a case where I just need to build up strength in my left hand? Or is there something I can do with technique to improve the situation? I'd thought of lowering the action, but I don't know if it will help much near the nut where the height is not adjustable.

It's probably a little bit of everything.

Firstly, are you practicing standing? Sitting can put your wrist at a weird angle.
Short arms can do it too sitting or standing. There is no way for me to play the first few frets without a bent wrist. It's impossible for me on a 34" scale bass.

Stamina. I went though the same thing. Quit for years and came back. Trying to play sucked my kiss killed me. First 3 frets with frequent ghost notes. The repetitive squeezing, relaxing , squeezing, relaxing was brutal. It took a little time to be able to play the whole song without pain.

Next. How high is you nut? Mine was a bit high. Lowering it helped.

Hydration matters and as other people have mentioned, nutrition can matter too.

It could be any or all all of these things. My issue was stamina. I'm fine now that I've been back a few months.

 

[EricOnTheBass]

Setup - Dingwall

Thank you Here's the video where he talks about nut height.

1. Hold 1st and 4th position, check string gap at 2nd fret. Clicks when I touch it, but hardly see any string movement, seems ideal.
2. Hold at 3rd position and check string gap at 1st fret, should be the same as above. In my case, there is a larger gap, I can see the string moving to touch the fret.

So it seems like the nut could be a bit too high. I'll take it to a tech for adjustment.

 

[Vincent Van Low]

I'm returning to bass playing after taking about 10 years off to focus on drums. I've been back at it for a couple of months and it's all coming back to me pretty quickly.

I have an audition with a band this weekend and I've been learning Love Shack by the B-52's. Nearly the entire song is played on the first 3 frets of the E and A strings. About half way through, my left hand starts getting a feeling of cramping or muscle fatigue, particularly around the base of my thumb, from continuously pressing down on the strings. I'm using a Dingwall NG-3 5 string. It's a bit more comfortable if I play on frets 6-8 on the B and E string, but it doesn't sound as good.

Is this a case where I just need to build up strength in my left hand? Or is there something I can do with technique to improve the situation? I'd thought of lowering the action, but I don't know if it will help much near the nut where the height is not adjustable.

stretch your hands before you play for about 5 minutes...

 

[FrenchBassQC]

Thank you Here's the video where he talks about nut height.

1. Hold 1st and 4th position, check string gap at 2nd fret. Clicks when I touch it, but hardly see any string movement, seems ideal.
2. Hold at 3rd position and check string gap at 1st fret, should be the same as above. In my case, there is a larger gap, I can see the string moving to touch the fret.

So it seems like the nut could be a bit too high. I'll take it to a tech for adjustment.

And the link I sent you also covers other setups that might be required on a Dingwall over time and explained by Sheldon.

 

[Groove Doctor]

You should be able to play without pressing on the back of the neck with your thumb. You might be squeezing the neck tighter than needed. (just an addition to the aforementioned suggestions).

This. Press your right forearm against the body of the bass so the body holds firmly against your body.

It should make the neck move forwards if your left hand fingers aren’t on the neck. Balance the pressure between left fingers and right forearm so the bass doesn’t move about.

You SHOULD be able to Play the whole song without using the thumb in your left hand. Takes a lot of practice. This’ll break your bad habit of squeezing the neck more as you fatigue thru the song.

Also-
I slide the bass to my right so as the reach to the nut is less, then use right forearm quite firmly to hold bass in place. Shortens the reach by about 2-3”.

We play the song Never Can Say Goodbye in my disco band. Written in C, we do it in Bb so constant Bb Bb F G repeated 8th notes throughout the song. Brutal.

 

[Blackflag]

That's what she said.

 

[berticus]

Just found this thread - and appears to be exactly what I need! I've been noticing tightness/stress lately in my left hand - will try all the suggestions made here. Thanks for all the helpful information!