Double Bass Left hand thumb and hand cramp

[macaroni21]

Hi guys,


I'm pretty new to double bass and just signed up here!

I was just wondering if I can get some advice on left hand thumb placement.

I've been playing with it locked and I'm finding that after a few minutes of continues play my hand cramps up, usually the first place I get any pain is the large muscle at the bass of the thumb. I have a great teacher who recommends a slight bend in the thumb, but said either bent or straight is okay. When I try to bend my thumb I find this a little more tense and my left hand fingers can't stretch as far. I've done a search on the forum and from previous posts it seems like I might be squeezing too much at the neck? I don't think I am, I can manage a to play notes on the higher strings without my thumb (not on the lower strings). Has anyone faced any similar issues?

I'm not too sure if my technique is off or if my muscles just need to get used to these weird motions!

Thanks

 

[Steve Freides]

Perfectly normal, just back off a bit and ease back into it.

At the risk of stating the obvious, in-person lessons with a teacher would be a very good thing for you at this time. In lieu of that, you could try posting a video of you playing.

-S-

 

[David Potts]

Steve's right. Post pictures or a short video - worth hundreds of words.

Also, for strength and endurance find a soft "stress" ball and put it beside your pillow. Before you go to sleep each night squeeze it, wrapping your fingers and thumb right around it and compressing all towards a central point. This ensures that the big muscle at the base of your thumb gets a workout too. Your palm and fingers are cupped around the ball. Keep your wrist straight to allow the forearm muscles to work safely through to your fingers. Start with only, say, 10 reps and build up to, say, 20 but don't over do. This is only meant to be relatively gentle regular exercise but will make a difference.

Other factors can be checked out with your teacher -
- height of fingerboard nut in relation to your left ear top
- position of the bass body and neck in relation to yours
- placement of your thumb end pad on the center of the back of the bass neck, not wrapped around it, so that your hand and fingers stand back and have plenty of room to work
- straight or slightly bent thumb is good - it keeps the palm open and cupped, and muscles more flexible
- avoiding pronation (bending) of the wrist as much as possible, except on the E string. A relatively flat wrist allows muscles in your forearm the safest, most natural way to work.
- nicely arched fingers for strength and efficiency, rising and falling by keeping their shape and "flapping" from the big knuckles, definitely not bending and straightening within their length (inefficient and very tiring)
- fingers 2, 3 and 4 point across the strings and index finger opening back to form a vee with second finger
- observe where the thumb is placed in relation to the second finger

I try and set up bass height and position so that I both raise my arm from my side and open up my LH to settle on the neck and strings as naturally as possible. My thumb placement is just higher than opposite my second finger. Either higher ( much closer to my index finger) or lower ( below opposite the second finger) will distort muscle use. Especially lower because it compresses the big thumb muscle and causes pain and tiring.

Having said all this you can seen why a short video or some pictures would save hundreds of words!!!!!

Best wishes, DP

 

[Alexis Duntov]

Even if you are doing everything the way you should, as you correctly pointed out, your muscles need to get used to this new thing you are doing. I can't even remember how many weird pains I had in the beginning, which was 2012. Very bad back pain, strangling the neck with my left hand. A teacher will show you the correct way to hold the instrument but it does take some time for it not to feel very foreign. And I have new pains that I'm encountering, like pain in the ball of my right foot from leaning on it too much and not using my left leg enough. It's an extremely physical instrument. But so rewarding once it starts to sound good.