Double Bass Middle finger locking in thumb position

[musicman1586]

So before I ask my question, I do have a teacher but unfortunately I haven't been able to see him in about a month because of scheduling conflicts, so I do intend to seek his advice on the matter, but want to get some info before I see him next.

So I've been having an intermittent problem lately, occasionally when I am playing in thumb position my middle finger will lock up and I will have to snap it back out. This is not a constant occurrence and when I am just playing scales I don't ever notice it happen. Tonight when it happened I was working on an idea I've been messing around with where I start holding a C chord (thumb on g harmonic, e on D string, c on A string) and then shift the various notes around to form different arpeggios/inversions while keeping a constant string crossing pattern going. So my left hand was more or less holding the same notes for a while and when I would go to change shapes my middle finger would be locked up.

I've tried to do my research but search didn't turn up much. I either have signs of carpal tunnel syndrome according to one thread, or my hands are just weak right now and not staying perfectly curved. If I had to take a guess my hand shape is just not where it should be yet, but I do pay a lot of attention to what is going on with it and tonight I could not isolate what it was that made my hand lock up, tried quite a few things too. My guess is that my hand is still catching up to what my mind thinks it can do. I've played string instruments all my life and I think what is going on is that I wasn't actually "fit" enough to play what I was trying to play tonight. This has been something that I have found all over my playing so far. I can "think" a movement because I can visualize the fingerboard and the way I would make it happen, but physically I just haven't developed the musculature to pull it off yet. I'm continually ahead of myself because the bass doesn't really seem foreign to me like it might to someone who has never played an instrument before.

Also I have only had this problem while playing in thumb position, don't have any issues in the lower positions, and in truth I only seem to experience this when playing around the octave harmonic area of thumb position, I don't think I've had it happen at or beyond the d harmonic area (of the g string). The other thing I could think of is that perhaps it has something to do with the shoulders on my bass and the fact that I have short arms and short fingers for my body. I really focus on the shape my left hand takes, but whenever I watch videos of other people play I never seem to be able to get my fingers as "beautifully" curved as it seems most players can. So Talkbass, what do you think my problem is, do I just need to practice more, just keep focusing on keeping those curved fingers? Or do I need to take some time off? Something else going on here perhaps?

Oh also, I experience no pain when my finger locks up or after I snap it back out, and I never experience this weird occurrence in my day to day life. I don't feel my hands to be super tense when it happens either.

 

[Andrew McGregor]

That really sounds like you need to take the time to develop the fitness and physical aspects of playing. In other words, build up the strength and control physically. I suspect this is more control than strength, but it is hard to know.

I would suggest not allowing that collapse to keep happening... you may not have any pain now, but if you keep doing that, you are gradually going to make it impossible to avoid it, and then you will have the pain. Once that happens, it's very very hard to come back from there.

Short fingers is GOOD for the bass... I have quite small hands for a guy my size (179cm or 5'10", and yet I wear euro 43 shoes and medium gloves); I can comfortably play an octave on a piano, but no more. However, you need the muscles and especially hand strength to back that up.

One aspect of bass playing that is quite different to the other strings is this: you cannot use your finger muscles alone on the bass. Instead, you shape your whole body to focus weight through your hands. Which means your shoulder should be free and allowing your arm to rotate in the plane through your shoulder and fingertip... only it can't because there's a bass string in the way. All your finger has to do is hold correct form underneath that arm weight and focus it on the string(s)... which is considerable force to control with one finger, but it shouldn't be impossible.

That physical approach, of allowing your body's biggest muscles to do most of the work and just using hands for fine control, is certainly possible and advantageous even with the violin or guitar... but it isn't totally necessary, whereas with the bass it is.

 

[ThomClaire]

If this starts happening elsewhere at all, I would see a doctor. My father had a similar problem that started when he still played trumpet (though when his finger locked up, it was bent, it seems that your finger is locking up when it is straight). It got worse and worse, and finally he went to the doctor, and eventually to a hand doctor to find out that it had something to do with the tendon (I can't remember exactly but basically, there is a tiny tunnell where the tendon, or something, moves inside it allow the finger to bend and straighten out. This has become swollen and was not allowing the room for the tendon to move). Of course, that's not something to worry about if it is only happening in thumb position. But I thought I would cut in, and say, that if it starts happening elsewhere in your playing, or while you are doing something else entirely, get it checked out, if only just to be safe.

 

[musicman1586]

If this starts happening elsewhere at all, I would see a doctor. My father had a similar problem that started when he still played trumpet (though when his finger locked up, it was bent, it seems that your finger is locking up when it is straight). It got worse and worse, and finally he went to the doctor, and eventually to a hand doctor to find out that it had something to do with the tendon (I can't remember exactly but basically, there is a tiny tunnell where the tendon, or something, moves inside it allow the finger to bend and straighten out. This has become swollen and was not allowing the room for the tendon to move). Of course, that's not something to worry about if it is only happening in thumb position. But I thought I would cut in, and say, that if it starts happening elsewhere in your playing, or while you are doing something else entirely, get it checked out, if only just to be safe.

Yeah my father has the exact same problem and that is kind of why I posted up because it scared me for a second because he has a lot of trouble playing these days and surgery is the only solution. My finger kind of seemed like it was doing what his does, except that I could never get it "stuck" in any other situation except playing things like what I was.

I was practicing the same musical idea today and I think I may have figured a few more things out (finger didn't lock up today, btw). I think it is the combination of me getting ahead of myself and also the particularities of my hand and the "triple stop" I was holding. Like I said, I don't ever have this problem when just playing scales, so when I'm just playing C above the octave A harmonic my finger stays curved just fine, it is when I reach with my first finger and thumb for those other notes that my middle finger gets pulled backwards and that subtle change puts it into a position where it wants to collapse down if I'm not hypervigilant about it. Really think I am just getting ahead of myself, just because I can pull some lick off doesn't really mean my body is actually ready to. Also I was playing after a 9 hour work day and while I'm no laborer or mechanic, I do work with my hands all day, so that probably contributed.

 

[sibass89]

I agree that it is most likely a conditioning problem and you need to work up the strength. Holding chords on the bass is very taxing on your fingers in thumb position. The other issue, though, maybe that your bass is either too high or at an angle that prevents you from letting the weight of your arm do all the work. Locking up like this leads me to believe that you're pressing the strings down, which is straining your fingers, instead of letting your arm hang and allowing the weight of your arm to hold the string down.

Whatever you do, take it easy and wait until you see your teacher. It is impossible to know for certain what is going wrong unless somebody sees you playing.