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Strengthing Your Right Hand Fingers?
- Thread starter dbamta
- Start date
I'm not sure if it's of use, but simple piano finger calisthenics are a neat little exercise for independence. Place your hand flat onto a table top, desk, whatever and try lifting different combinations at the same time leaving your other fingers flat. E.g. Mid and ring together, back to flat hand,-index and ring,-mid and pinky, choose different combinations including your thumb too, some combinations are more difficult than others. This is more for independence but has a little exercise value for tendons, do not over-do it, if it twinges in any way, stop.
This will sound trite, but: practice playing the bass. I feel this is the best approach to 'building strength' in either hand, as far it applies to helping your playing. Many will get preoccupied with finger strength and /or speed, when what you really want to build is control...when we first start playing our hands and fingers are all over the place in terms of both accuracy and force, and we exert a lot of energey compensating for it. Our hands become tired and we think we need to build strength or endurance...but it's really Relaxed accuracy and control that experience and practice develops to over come this, not brute strenght or marathon endurance. And the best tool for practing that is your bass.
Don't worry as much about strength, all you need to do is make a clean sounding note. Also, be careful with hand grip strength exercise devices. I would primarily focus on stamina, and the best way to do that is play some bass.
IMO you don't need that much strength to play with a strong attack. What you do need however, is stamina ( quite different ), coordination, and for the hand to be relaxed.
Playing a lot helps. Treating your hand like anyother athlete treats their legs arms etc helps.
Trying to not tense up also helps.
Focusing, being there with your head helps A LOT.
But mostly playing a lot, training your right hand like any other athlete.
One thing i've learned is that the hands have their own memory. Any thechnique or positions that does not goes smooth and automatic is just a matter of hand training. There is no point sweating over movements and positions, you just got to do it repetitively with a comfortable speed and tension and don't force it. So I agree that the bass is the only training 'device' you should use to improve your playing.
I used to play a lot while watching TV in my first bass years. Repetitively doing the same finger movements over and over till it went automatically and effortless.
I used to play a lot while watching TV in my first bass years. Repetitively doing the same finger movements over and over till it went automatically and effortless.
+1 This ; ) +
Another little thing to consider is taking your arm out and away from your side a little, to straighten the arm and wrist allowing the tendons to run in a straighter fashion rather than angling, you'll find the energy will have better transference through straighter tendons maybe. Another 2 cents ; )
I think the sound of a strong attack can be obtained through lots of just playing the bass to understand the nuance of getting sound. It has to do with hand and finger angle, string height, pickup height, bass and amp settings, hand position relative to the fretboard-bridge, among possibly other things. An analogy may be how some well trained drummers get HUGE snare whack from seemingly little effort and awesome technique, while others really use the whole arm in an un-economic, wasteful motion to just bang the crap out of the drum.
+1 mambo4, dpbass66.
You only need so much 'strength' in your fingers to effectively pluck the strings.
It's 'touch' that generates quality articulation. Touch comes from playing a lot and paying close attention to how your fingers literally touch the strings.
But along the lines of 'strength' with regard to muscles - your fingers, like any muscle, should be warmed up, stretched and ready to play to avoid injury.
Stamina, quickness, dexterity, articulation, all of that jazz comes from proper technique, not strength.
You only need so much 'strength' in your fingers to effectively pluck the strings.
It's 'touch' that generates quality articulation. Touch comes from playing a lot and paying close attention to how your fingers literally touch the strings.
But along the lines of 'strength' with regard to muscles - your fingers, like any muscle, should be warmed up, stretched and ready to play to avoid injury.
Stamina, quickness, dexterity, articulation, all of that jazz comes from proper technique, not strength.
+1 to just about all that's been said.
Special exercise to build strength may impair dexterity. Playing too much is harmful as well. If you want to spend a lot of time on the bass, make sure to take breaks an do some stretches. For your info:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Special exercise to build strength may impair dexterity. Playing too much is harmful as well. If you want to spend a lot of time on the bass, make sure to take breaks an do some stretches. For your info:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
There is a fair bit of confusion of what "strength" is.
You can be strong willed. You can have strength in depth, you can have strength of character, a strong cup of coffee and so on.
To play bass you need strength in your hands
Lots of players do not understand what playing strength is, what it involves, what it feels like to try and play with weak or tired hands. Strength in the hands means you can play your bass, function in life, and work doing various strenuous tasks and jobs away from the world of playing. The narrowing down of strength to be about power is where the misunderstandings come from. This leads players to seek some foolish ways that in the end develop muscle bulk in the forearms and leads to problems in the hands. If you understand anatomy at its basics then the forearms bulk will dominate and overpower the hands if they are weak, a bit like putting a glass head on a steel shafted hammer. The opposite is true if you develop the hands and not the forearm then it is like a steel headed hammer on a glass shaft.
The strength you require to have is stamina, dexterity blended in to power. that power can be controlled to look as gentle and a smooth as you want, or as dug in and manic as it needs to be.
When players say you "just need enough to fret the string" is such a ridiculous thing to say. Think about it... you will always have more than enough to fret a string. So the idea you have the choice to "weaken" your hand if it develops beyond "fretting" a string is taken that point to its ridiculous conclusion. Everyday life develops you hands and not always in the way you want or wish so you need strength in them to resist this use and keep them fit to play. You need exercise in the form of a routine to counter, or for the use of a better word "undo" what playing and life does to them.
The word repetitive, as in repetitive strain injury, is because a muscle and joint gets over used in one task in one type of action. Playing bass is such a task it is a repetitive action, so exercise to counter and strengthen the hands against such injuries is desirable. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a problem when the sides of the Carpal tunnel in the hand collapse and the muscle and tendon action leads to compression on the nerve.
The tunnel in the hand surrounds one of the main nerves to the fingers and protects it from the action and force of the muscles and tendons. So if the hand use is not developed safely and the big muscles in the forearms and tendons bring us back to the glass shafted steel hammer analogy again.
We use our hands all the time and in ways we do not even consciously notice. All this use can be taken for granted till you lose it. Hand development for a serious player means many things and takes may forums, the idea of "just playing" will not cover it for many players, many players will do more damage from playing than they would do good. Remember most hand injuries come from miss-use and over -use.
You can be strong willed. You can have strength in depth, you can have strength of character, a strong cup of coffee and so on.
To play bass you need strength in your hands
Lots of players do not understand what playing strength is, what it involves, what it feels like to try and play with weak or tired hands. Strength in the hands means you can play your bass, function in life, and work doing various strenuous tasks and jobs away from the world of playing. The narrowing down of strength to be about power is where the misunderstandings come from. This leads players to seek some foolish ways that in the end develop muscle bulk in the forearms and leads to problems in the hands. If you understand anatomy at its basics then the forearms bulk will dominate and overpower the hands if they are weak, a bit like putting a glass head on a steel shafted hammer. The opposite is true if you develop the hands and not the forearm then it is like a steel headed hammer on a glass shaft.
The strength you require to have is stamina, dexterity blended in to power. that power can be controlled to look as gentle and a smooth as you want, or as dug in and manic as it needs to be.
When players say you "just need enough to fret the string" is such a ridiculous thing to say. Think about it... you will always have more than enough to fret a string. So the idea you have the choice to "weaken" your hand if it develops beyond "fretting" a string is taken that point to its ridiculous conclusion. Everyday life develops you hands and not always in the way you want or wish so you need strength in them to resist this use and keep them fit to play. You need exercise in the form of a routine to counter, or for the use of a better word "undo" what playing and life does to them.
The word repetitive, as in repetitive strain injury, is because a muscle and joint gets over used in one task in one type of action. Playing bass is such a task it is a repetitive action, so exercise to counter and strengthen the hands against such injuries is desirable. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a problem when the sides of the Carpal tunnel in the hand collapse and the muscle and tendon action leads to compression on the nerve.
The tunnel in the hand surrounds one of the main nerves to the fingers and protects it from the action and force of the muscles and tendons. So if the hand use is not developed safely and the big muscles in the forearms and tendons bring us back to the glass shafted steel hammer analogy again.
We use our hands all the time and in ways we do not even consciously notice. All this use can be taken for granted till you lose it. Hand development for a serious player means many things and takes may forums, the idea of "just playing" will not cover it for many players, many players will do more damage from playing than they would do good. Remember most hand injuries come from miss-use and over -use.
Could you explain a little more about this please? It's the first time I've heard this concept in my entire working experience.
As usual Fergie, this is a great and informative post, but like Skitch it, I am a bit confused by this.
Maybe it is just the wording people use. Unless someone is almost paralyzed, everyone knows that the average person possesses more strength in their hands than is needed to fret a string. If we are going to be politically correct in the wording, perhaps it should go something like this ? : "with the strength you have in your hands, you only need to dispense with a minimum amount of it to fret a string".In fairness, I would say that this is what is meant, and interpreted.
You know, this may be very good for me to try. I work a very long night (12 hours) and all to often Monday thru Friday I won't have any or no time at all to practice. Of course that means when I finally do have some time to play on the weekend it takes me quite a while to warm up.
I'm going to try this next week at work. Thanks for the tip!
Any other suggestions to help me stay a bit limber thru the week?
As usual Fergie, this is a great and informative post, but like Skitch it, I am a bit confused by this.
In fairness, I would say that this is what is meant, and interpreted.
Thanks for your interpretation fearceol, appreciated. Hopefully the poster will provide some clarification on this, I find the idea of this whole concept quite interesting ; )
