Here is a book to look at if you are looking to improve your hands strength/dexterity.
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Strengthing Your Right Hand Fingers?
- Thread starter dbamta
- Start date
As I remember - Clenching your fist/s, holding that position for 10-20 seconds then release and spread your hand, a few repetitions of this.
Another - Span both hands out (full span), bring both hands together 5finger to 5finger, (on the facing pads, not the very tips) when in position, push your palms inwards toward each other (firmish, but not at all hard), don't let the pinky's and thumbs travel up toward the others, keep spanned) your fingers should span out a little more and stretch a little against each other as you apply the palm pressure, release keeping your hands in place, rest a sec, then re-apply.
It's difficult to remember a few of them, I was taught them at the Guitar Institute in London in 1995, a lot's happened since then. But whatever you do, use the appropriate pressure, don't over-do it. If it begins to feel too tense, give it a rest. Practise them for short periods (2-3 mins each) then stop, you don't have to hit them hardcore, their stretch warm-up exercises, first start with once per day sessions and build to twice a day over time, build slowly and carefully.
One more time Mike, do not overdo it, take it steady ; )
fearceol has the point i am making. Sorry for confusion but the web can be hard to explain ideas that need an understanding of more than what we think is going on. so this may seem like a long read but in fact takes minutes to explain and demonstrate.
Yes lighter touch is a very desirable thing and should be embraced in certain situations.
So why then do we have strings of various heights, tensions and thickness? If lighter touch is the answer then all basses and strings would be set up to accommodate this..but they are not.
It is often said,"the only strength needed in the hands and fingers is enough to fret a note". this is a common thing that is said. But that then negates the hands for other things in life, hands are not just for playing bass. I know lots of people who for some reason or another protect their hands to a high degree. The result is they have delicate hands and these hands get injured often. So they cut back even more to protect them and so further weaken them.
When younger, and after becoming famous, Jeff Berlin took up boxing training. He punched and worked out as hard as any one. He never worried about his hands getting damaged, he just used them to do what he wanted to do. I would assume he had healthy powerful hands, but the thing that would separate him from the boxers, is he played bass. So he had a different use for his hands, if you want he has various uses so repetitive motion was not an issue...i would say.
The hands when used in every day life will cope with what they do, they are amazing pieces of human development and UNIQUE to us as a species. When i said earlier that " the web can be hard to explain ideas that need an understanding of more than what we think is going on", what i mean by that is your hands are flesh and bone and therefore subject to the same conditions that apply. So to move you fingers it is the same process to move your arms, legs, to turn, jump etc...it is all muscle movement.
The only thing that differentiates musicians in all this is their brain gets in the way, they see the hands as part of the instrument, not part of their bodies.
So we see questions like "does it matter which finger i start with in a finger technique?" Well does it matter what foot you start off when you walk???? That is the same motion as the fingers as far as body mechanics are concerned, but we never ever worry or even check to see if we always start on the same foot.
So if you have a job that use lots of hand and wrist and then come to play bass then it is your brain that tells you it is a different task, not your muscles, they carry on regardless with the movement. Can you target you hands for exercise...the answer is yes.
You can target any muscle group for exercise or for tone. Some of it to help with your playing and undo the excess of the work day, and after playing to undo the excess of playing.
This is warming up and warming down.
Warming up any muscle group anywhere in the body is getting it ready for what is to come, warming down is a controlled way of seeing the excess in the muscle fibres relax back.
In these points, stretches and flexes will do the job.
To get a muscle ready it needs blood flow, it needs to be warm so when the task is done this needs to be brought back in to line with what the body has to do next, which is function as normal. I have listed some good links in the health sticky at the top of the techniques form to guide anyone to information.
To finish with strength, look at a ballerina dancers, so small so slim, but the possess strength, and it is not about power but control. They can move so slow and hold positions that defy their size and do it with grace. They are not muscle bound or slow lumbering but graceful, fluid and strong because they exercise and target muscle groups.
I have in the past spoken of twitch response ( slow twitch and fast twitch, do a search) in muscles, this determines what kind of muscle you develop and its strength. That's why the ballerina is not only slim, graceful and fluid, and the female weight lifter is bulky, powerful, and muscular, because they target different strength in a muscles capability.
Point of reference, two and a half years ago i was left paralysed in the right upper limbs after a car accident broke my neck at C7. I had muscle wastage and nerve damage which ment my fingers and hand would not move in the right side of my body and weakness in the left side. I used my knowledge of body mechanics (25 years plus) to train my hands and limbs back to where i can play, but not cope with life skills, (i am the steel headed hammer with the glass shaft) such as driving for long, lifting things, even holding my arms up above my head for long. To that end i changed all my bass, my rig, my routine to enable me to function as the player i am now, not what i was. again what i was is the brain getting in the way.
Because i know it is about the body mechanics, not playing bass, that is part of body mechanics because we never evolved to play bass, it is a function some can, not all can cope with, that i have the views and approach to playing bass that i have. In the past it was me helping others that had "mechanical problems" in there playing, now it is me teaching me.
I find that sometimes the efforts of the day take away my ability to play bass to the standard i need as a professional player, so i change and adapt to what is required to function for the whole of life, not just the playing part. The playing part is easy, its all the other stuff that goes with it that drags it down.
Yet another good post Fergie, 99.9% of which I agree with. Maybe I missed it in such a long post, but I still cant see where you defend the statement in your previous post i.e. [" when players say "you just need enough to fret the string" is such a ridiculous thing to say".] Maybe we are making a mountain out of a mole hill here, but I would consider the above advice adequate and constructive, especially when, 99% of the time is is followed by something like "just press down on the string(s) hard enough for the note to sound clearly and cleanly". You refer ( correctly) to the action, string gauge etc. Yes, the amount of strength needed to fret, will depend on these things, but I fail to see where this makes the quote in brackets above, ridiculous. 
I understand what your saying in view of these particular issues that you address, I took your statement to mean that finger pressure and especially left hand finger pressure is not too much an overall concern or consideration, this is where I may have got my lines crossed, my bad. I will say that a commonality in quite a few of the students I have taught over the last 20 years, is that a quite a few overcompensated finger pressure in the left hand maintaining a 'grip', as a result, found it difficult to achieve the fluidity and dexterity they wished to achieve for their particular goals and purpose.
Of course there is no single approach that will satisfy each individuals requirements, teaching different aptitudes will involve tailoring and adjustment for very particular requirements in regards to particular students.
Thankyou for your time in clarification and interesting perspective in this regard
Of course there is no single approach that will satisfy each individuals requirements, teaching different aptitudes will involve tailoring and adjustment for very particular requirements in regards to particular students.
Thankyou for your time in clarification and interesting perspective in this regard
Yet another good post Fergie, 99.9% of which I agree with. Maybe I missed it in such a long post, but I still cant see where you defend the statement in your previous post i.e. [" when players say "you just need enough to fret the string" is such a ridiculous thing to say".] Maybe we are making a mountain out of a mole hill here, but I would consider the above advice adequate and constructive, especially when, 99% of the time is is followed by something like "just press down on the string(s) hard enough for the note to sound clearly and cleanly". You refer ( correctly) to the action, string gauge etc. Yes, the amount of strength needed to fret, will depend on these things, but I fail to see where this makes the quote in brackets above, ridiculous.
LOL i am with you now. It is a quote often used by others to defend using a light action and when ever hand strength come in to the topic. What makes it ridiculous in my eyes is you have no choice not to use your hands in life so they will always develop more than enough strength to fret a string. When you see a player like say Jeff because i mentioned him, it is effortless because he has so much strength, but uses it sparingly. He has control he chooses how much and when. The idea that enough strength to fret a string is ridiculous for that reasons. You do not just fret a note once, it is an ongoing muscular activity. The act of playing will strengthen and tone the muscles, so if when you are playing the idea you stop or restrict your playing so you do not need to develop strength becomes ridiculous. The idea you just need enough to get by is ridiculous in any walk of life or job of work It is that context i use it.
Develop the right kind of strength to be more than a match for the task, then just use enough to do the task, its what all great bass player have that's why it looks effortless because it is.
I have said it before if you want to rock out or show extreme physical use to entertain or be part of a show, then just act the part. We are after all entertainers so if you have a bass part and you want to show how hard it is or highlight it, then act as if it is hard, show the effort but don't actually use it.
I used lean on a singer in a band i played it years ago, i suddenly slip lose balance and slip to the stage on my back while trying to keep playing and not lose control of the song. lying on my back i would play then attempt to get back up a few times, then succeed and finish the song. The singer would apologise, the crowd would roar and laugh thinking they had seen an on stage incident. But it was rehearsed, and vigorously rehearsed, the whole thing was an act, we could do it in our sleep, but we acted out the whole scenario as if it had just happened. I still get people reminding me of the "time i fell over". My point is always have way more than you need and the choice is yours how you use it. Just enough to fret... the idea is still ridiculous in my view..... LOL
Again if you are "over qualified" you use less effort and therefore sustain less fatigue and injuries. Have 100% and use 20% and bank the other 80%. If you have 20% and use 20% then you are on the edge and struggling, because you have nothing in the bank if something goes wrong
OK, fair enough, I see where you are coming from now. However the (now infamous ) quote we are talking about is generally aimed at novices to the bass, who might be holding the neck in a death grip and pressing down too hard on the strings. Armed with the advice in this "ridiculous" statement, the novice eases up on the pressure. He experiments with different pressures until he finds exactly what is needed to play clearly and cleanly. Now he is on the right track and can go on to (in your words) "develop the right kind of strength to be more than a match for the task". So, looking at it this way, do you still maintain that the advice "you just need enough strength to fret a string" is still a ridiculus thing to say ? 
) quote we are talking about is generally aimed at novices to the bass, who might be holding the neck in a death grip and pressing down too hard on the strings. Armed with the advice in this "ridiculous" statement, the novice eases up on the pressure. He experiments with different pressures until he finds exactly what is needed to play clearly and cleanly. Now he is on the right track and can go on to (in your words) "develop the right kind of strength to be more than a match for the task". So, looking at it this way, do you still maintain that the advice "you just need enough strength to fret a string" is still a ridiculus thing to say ?
I understand what your saying in view of these particular issues that you address, I took your statement to mean that finger pressure and especially left hand finger pressure is not too much an overall concern or consideration, this is where I may have got my lines crossed, my bad. I will say that a commonality in quite a few of the students I have taught over the last 20 years, is that a quite a few overcompensated finger pressure in the left hand maintaining a 'grip', as a result, found it difficult to achieve the fluidity and dexterity they wished to achieve for their particular goals and purpose.
Of course there is no single approach that will satisfy each individuals requirements, teaching different aptitudes will involve tailoring and adjustment for very particular requirements in regards to particular students.
Thankyou for your time in clarification and interesting perspective in this regard
No problems i will say this to anyone that has a grip problem, or does not realise they may have one. Grip pressure is an un-seen fault that causes major problems.
You do not play a bass by putting your finger on, you play by lifting them off and lifting them off in a specific way.
Body mechanics again.
Open your hand and spread your fingers, now close then in to a fist, not a tight fist but a relaxed fist.
Point 1 you need to activate muscle groups in the forearm to pull the hand and fingers open, ligaments and muscle processes in the hand will spread them.
Point 2
If you relax the hand, therefore the muscle groups the hand will close the fingers curl back.....to an extent.
Point 3
Then the next muscle group in the opposite side of the forearm and hands will activate to form the fist.
point 4
Relax that fist and the hand returns to a natural curl.
So what we have is three things going on here not two.
If the movement is just muscle group pulling against muscle group then that is a constant state of tension being used to pull the fingers open and closed.
What i describe is tension applied, tension released, tension re-applied. The effect is the same as the hand opens and closes but the use is better because the hand never gets to develop a grip.
Reason for this is the tension is always released and then re-applied, the result is the hand is constantly in use, but not always in tension.
Tension is a must function of certain muscular use, without tension they do not work body lever ( fingers, arms, legs, etc).
So in playing the fretboard the hand has the shape naturally, relax your hand and the bass neck will slot in to it. What you need now is to lift the fingers out of the way to allow the fingers that fret to access. I have seen in learners and player with poor technique who struggle with fingering not realise that they are not getting the fingers out of the way quick enough and the incoming or next finger trips over it. The problem is lifting off of fingers..not putting them on.They wrongly workout that the finger coming down need to be faster coming down, not that the finger lifting has to get out of the way faster.
Tension is the key or rather the control of it.
If you work on lifting the fingers off then a grip cannot develop because you are developing the hand to open not close.
Classic exercise for piano is put your hands flat on the table and lift up the fingers as high as you can and hold...then release. You do not activate another muscle group to return them to the table, the release of tension by relaxing will do this naturally as a response to being relaxed.
Now in this one movement you are targeting the muscle group that we call Extensors and in particular Extensor Carpi Digitorum. That is one muscle group, two movements, lift with them to raise the finger, and relax them to let it return.
If we pull the fingers back to the table without relaxing them, then another muscle group must be used, Flexors and the muscle group we call Flexor Carpi Digitorum/Flexor Digitorum Superficialis.
Now we are using twice the muscles and twice the energy to achieve the same movement. If we used this is playing then we can get a muscle group coming into tension against a muscle group in tension. Result is two muscle groups pulling against each other in tension, the term "pulled a muscle" is rightly named.
In the way i described, because the extensor is in tension to lift the fingers, relaxing it starts the movement and then the flexor completes it if it is needed to extend the range of movement. In this case no need, because the table top stops it, so no need to activate any flexors.
Exercise in this way negates the influence of the flexors to develop power that becomes a grip so lifting off and light touch can develop rather than putting on and gripping. The bass guitar neck should be balanced and supported on a strap, so the need to hold it is not required. Any player developing what i am talking about should be able to play lines without the thumb touching the back of the neck. The thumb is the culprit in all this because it opposes the fingers and will accommodate holding and gripping at a sub concious level if the flexors over develop.
And how can they over develop???
Well just look at modern life, it is about pushing buttons, holding handles, steering wheels, squeezing game controllers, remote controls, even locking and un-locking the car is a push button.
What do we do when all these things don't work or work fast enough?....we squeeze even harder. The flexors in the hand get opportunites from life to over develop compared to the extensors, again another reason why i used ridiculous to the idea of "just enough pressure to fret"
As muscles work in pairs and can only pull never push. So the hand and fingers are all pulled into position after the forearm has rotated it to the correct position,( different muscle group again) the upper arm has lifted and positioned the forearm, ( different muscle group again) shoulder blade has positioned the upper arm ( different muscle group again) and the torso supports the shoulder blade, all done with the eyes and ears guiding the brain to co-ordinate all this with chemical signals, electrical impulse to nerve endings to stimulate a muscle or muscle group at speeds with compensations as it goes along that defy belief. Then there is the energy to sustain the movement, oxygen in the blood, waste product taken away from the muscle (lactic acid) and so on. Moving a finger to play bass requires this and more as minimum standard from the body.
So if you can develop your fingers to use the natural curl (this is a neutral tension in a way) to lift, then relax, then fret, then relax, then lift, then relax, then fret, etc grip should never become an issue. When i am playing fluid it is like i am bouncing along the fretboard with my fingertips. Even if i hold a single note for any length of time, i am still relaxing the finger that is fretting the note, not enough to destroy the note quality or lift off, but fretting a little harder than i need to so i can relax and fret relax and fret...its like a little pulse i can feel but you cannot here...yet another reason why i say ridiculous to the idea of just enough pressure....... The result is that when i have to leave the note or do a run my finger is ready, it has been moving all the time..unseen. Motion to begin motion, and motion in motion are a sportsmans way to react with speed and precision safely and with ease, like a tennis player waiting to receive a serve, a ball kickers run up, a sprinters bouncing in the blocks, etc, it is all about muscle movement.
As musicians it is the same, but our brains justify it as something more...the difference between playing a piano and typing as far as muscles are concerned is the brain, to the muscles its just electrical and chemical signals to move.
OK, fair enough, I see where you are coming from now. However the (now infamous
LOL yes i see and apologise in that context. What i should have said is to understand the correct amount of pressure needed to fret from what you have available to you to handle your instrument.
As usual it seems clear in my mind what i am getting at, but not coming across to cover all situations and skill levels.
This is why this stuff on-line is so hard to put in the right word in the right context.
So the previous mammoth post before i read this one has much more info, and explains why to me it is ridiculous, so again if taken out of context which i may have started anyway, my ridiculous idea is going round in circles.....i'm off out for a beer to contemplate all this.
Any questions welcome on any points made.
Thank you so much!! I am going to put this into practice next week. I've been noticing that my right hand (plucking) is not as limber as it use to be so hopefully this will help.
Much appreciated!!
yeah but sometimes I want to play with a REALLY strong attack!
of course the solution is the same no matter what... practice
If I understand Fergie correctly - I have little doubt I do - he means that all special tasks hands get to perform, either in work, sports, hobbies, music, will put pressure on specific joints and muscles (I would like to add: nerves), compromising the natural balance between them.
To maintain or improve that balance, exercises are advisable.
Any approach leading to 'lightening' your efforts on the bass (less weight of the instrument, better balance, lower action, lighter strings, better posture, better technique, more relaxation), all within reason (of what you want to achieve musically), is an improvement.
+1 I totally agree Chris, this has been clarified by Fergie, and I am corpus mentis with your approach
+1 I totally agree Chris, this has been clarified by Fergie, and I am corpus mentis with your approach
Thanks!
Yes Chris you got it. Performing arts classes in leading schools the UK have Alexander Technique classes to introduce students to the points you have listed, so the idea that "your art" can hurt you is catching on. Dr Ian Winspur a world leading hand surgeon, who gets referrals from the worlds leading orchestra players, can tell from the injuries patients display and their posture what instrument they play before they say a thing
