Practicing while on vacation/bassless

[Rev J]

I hear ya, OP ... I get separation anxiety when I have to leave my bass (and cat) for a night, let alone a whole week. I used to throw my back up bass in the work truck when I'd do the weekly overnighter, but flying somewhere is another story. If I know somebody in the town in visiting, I try to set up a borrow situation. Had to borrow a cat on my last weekly trip

If you look at the photo book of John Entwistles basses and read the captions a lot of them have the caption (I bought this while on vacation since I can't be away from an instrument for that long).

C/S,
Rev J

 

[Pdaddy1978]

I prefer to use hand grenades

Curious about what this is? (And how it works??)

It's hilariously low-tech, it gives you the last 7 frets of the neck and when you touch one it sounds the note. To play an open string you touch the string at the nut. It even has four different basses, a normal p-bass, a "slap" bass, an acoustic bass and a 5 string. Just go to the app store and search "bass guitar". It's free!

 

[Real Soon]

I'm about to be out of town for 5 full days, and the airbnb host where I'm staying said I can borrow his mandolin to play on if I'm willing to deal with a crappy instrument. There's really no doing fingerstyle on a mandolin, but at least that'll help keep my left hand fingers from softening up too much. Plus, a couple days off isn't the worst thing; all exercised muscles need breaks.

I've also got one of the "pro" light tension gripmaster thingies coming with me.

Hand grips have no use as far as bass playing is concerned. Far better for the OP to do some gentle hand/finger stretches every day while on vacation.

I'd find them having NO use to be a surprise, given that low-resistance, high rep finger exercises are part of what's going on when we fret notes and scales. Obviously it's no substitute for playing the instrument where muscle memory, hand coordination, and a dozen other things are concerned, but surely better than doing nothing strength-related at all for several days.

If you're thinking of the heavy grippers where you do a set of 10 and have to rest, yeah, that's inarguably for overall hand strength, good for opening jars of moonshine maybe. But these low-resistance separate-finger exercisers are a very different sort of beast from that.

 

[tinyd]

I've also got one of the "pro" light tension gripmaster thingies coming with me.

I'd find them having NO use to be a surprise, given that low-resistance, high rep finger exercises are part of what's going on when we fret notes and scales. Obviously it's no substitute for playing the instrument where muscle memory, hand coordination, and a dozen other things are concerned, but surely better than doing nothing strength-related at all for several days.

If you're thinking of the heavy grippers where you do a set of 10 and have to rest, yeah, that's inarguably for overall hand strength, good for opening jars of moonshine maybe. But these low-resistance separate-finger exercisers are a very different sort of beast from that.

My feeling is that most "strength" problems when playing bass are actually technique problems and that exercising your grip isn't going to make any difference. For example, I've been playing mainly double bass for the past few years. Undoubtably it takes far more strength to "fret" a note on DB than BG, so according to the "strength" theory, my fingers should be a lot stronger than they used to be. But I've played a couple of BG gigs recently and my hands still cramped up after a while, so what this tells me is that I've let my BG technique slide a bit over the years, and that it's not a matter of strength.

Of course, this is just opinion/speculation on my part and if gripmasters work for some people who am I to argue?

 

[fearceol]

I'm about to be out of town for 5 full days, and the airbnb host where I'm staying said I can borrow his mandolin to play on if I'm willing to deal with a crappy instrument. There's really no doing fingerstyle on a mandolin, but at least that'll help keep my left hand fingers from softening up too much. Plus, a couple days off isn't the worst thing; all exercised muscles need breaks.

I've also got one of the "pro" light tension gripmaster thingies coming with me.




I'd find them having NO use to be a surprise, given that low-resistance, high rep finger exercises are part of what's going on when we fret notes and scales. Obviously it's no substitute for playing the instrument where muscle memory, hand coordination, and a dozen other things are concerned, but surely better than doing nothing strength-related at all for several days.

If you're thinking of the heavy grippers where you do a set of 10 and have to rest, yeah, that's inarguably for overall hand strength, good for opening jars of moonshine maybe. But these low-resistance separate-finger exercisers are a very different sort of beast from that.

OP, sorry if this slightly hijacks your thread, but IMO it is worth addressing the idea of grip gadgets, seeing as they have been recommended to you.


@Real Soon : I'm sure grip gadgets have their uses, but bass playing is not one of them. Grip has no part in playing the bass. One of the first things a beginner is taught (or should be..) is to keep both hands RELAXED . In this case developing grip strength is obsolete. We have enough strength in our fingers from a very young age to fret a string. Try it yourself. gently fret down on a string until the note rings clear. Minimal strength is required.

Stamina and agility on the other hand (pun intended ) is a different matter altogether. What needs to be developed in place of grip is quite the opposite action, i.e. the lifting of the fingers off of the fretboard quickly and easily without them getting in each others way. If you are away from the bass and want to keep your hands in good condition for bass playing purposes , then throw the grip gadget in the trash can and do some gentle hand/finger stretches. Another good exercise away from the bass is to get a rubber band and wrap it around all the fingers (at the finger nails) and thumb. Keeping the arm straight, expand the hand/elastic band...hold for five seconds...relax for five seconds...repeat. Do this for about five or six minutes say, twice a day. Be sure not to over do it. Ten minutes maximum at a time is all you need. You can vary the strength of the band if you wish. This type of exercise is far more beneficial (for bass playing purposes) than wasting time... and money... on grip gadgets.

Stamina is best built up gradually by simply playing the bass.

 

[PlanetNewJersey]

"OP, sorry if this slightly hijacks your thread, but IMO it is worth addressing the idea of grip gadgets, seeing as they have been recommended to you."
How dare you!
JK, it's all good dude, I'm happy to facilitate some nice discussion, and I appreciate your input.

 

[fingerguy]

Gripmaster when on vacation and/or in transit.

 

[fearceol]

Some more discussion on grip gadgets from TB if anyone is interested.

The gripmaster

 

[twinjet]

Drives my wife nuts LOL.

Mine too. She says I play bass on her arm when we're asleep and it always wakes her up.

 

[mambo4]

What needs to be developed in place of grip is quite the opposite action, i.e. the lifting of the fingers off of the fretboard quickly and easily without them getting in each others way.

bears repeating

 

[Rev J]

OP, sorry if this slightly hijacks your thread, but IMO it is worth addressing the idea of grip gadgets, seeing as they have been recommended to you.


@Real Soon : I'm sure grip gadgets have their uses, but bass playing is not one of them. Grip has no part in playing the bass. One of the first things a beginner is taught (or should be..) is to keep both hands RELAXED . In this case developing grip strength is obsolete. We have enough strength in our fingers from a very young age to fret a string. Try it yourself. gently fret down on a string until the note rings clear. Minimal strength is required.

Stamina and agility on the other hand (pun intended ) is a different matter altogether. What needs to be developed in place of grip is quite the opposite action, i.e. the lifting of the fingers off of the fretboard quickly and easily without them getting in each others way. If you are away from the bass and want to keep your hands in good condition for bass playing purposes , then throw the grip gadget in the trash can and do some gentle hand/finger stretches. Another good exercise away from the bass is to get a rubber band and wrap it around all the fingers (at the finger nails) and thumb. Keeping the arm straight, expand the hand/elastic band...hold for five seconds...relax for five seconds...repeat. Do this for about five or six minutes say, twice a day. Be sure not to over do it. Ten minutes maximum at a time is all you need. You can vary the strength of the band if you wish. This type of exercise is far more beneficial (for bass playing purposes) than wasting time... and money... on grip gadgets.

Stamina is best built up gradually by simply playing the bass.

If you watch Billy Sheehans first of second instructional video (I can't remember which) he shows off some of the hand exercises he does especially ones for developing "Recovery Muscles" (The ones that lift the fingers off the neck as opposed to the ones that hold the strings down) I just tried to find the video but am at work and can't really check it out with sound.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[fearceol]

If you watch Billy Sheehans first of second instructional video (I can't remember which) he shows off some of the hand exercises he does especially ones for developing "Recovery Muscles" (The ones that lift the fingers off the neck as opposed to the ones that hold the strings down) I just tried to find the video but am at work and can't really check it out with sound.

C/S,
Rev J

I have not seen the video. The point he makes i.e... developing the tendons that lift the fingers, rather than the "pressing down" ones is a key one. There are lots of everyday things we do to keep our grip tendons in shape, like holding a cup, turning a door knob, lifting objects etc. However, there are little or no everyday things to develop the tendons that open the hand. This is why we need special exercises to achieve this goal.

 

[Jazz Ad]

The seam line one pants, especially jeans is perfect for right hand warmup and practice.

Technique aside, I practice bass lines in my head, I don't need an instrument.
I roll the chords in my head and build lines, thinking about the possible fingerings and changes.

 

[Rev J]

I have not seen the video. The point he makes i.e... developing the tendons that lift the fingers, rather than the "pressing down" ones is a key one. There are lots of everyday things we do to keep our grip tendons in shape, like holding a cup, turning a door knob, lifting objects etc. However, there are little or no everyday things to develop the tendons that open the hand. This is why we need special exercises to achieve this goal.

If I remember it correctly the exercise is starting with your thumb grab your finger with your opposite hand and pull the finger toward the palm with one hand while trying to pull away with the finger.

I hope I explained that right.

C/S,
Rev J