Thumb behind the neck.

[DaemonBass]

I had my best practice to date today, actually.

My new strap came. Before, I had a 2" strap that would pinch a nerve or something and my hand would tingle and go numb after like 15-20 minutes of playing. The new strap is 3.5" so it's much wider and more comfortable. My hand started to tingle a bit anyway when I was playing low on the neck (I suspect bad technique), but then I just started doing something else that requried me to play higher up.

Instead of practicing scales as usual, my instructor gave me a jazz/blues piece on CD with charts (I guess that what you call them?) and said "these are the notes that will sound good. Keep with the beat, and have fun." and it was. I can't say I got real creative, but it was cool to experiment and still know what I'm doing (instead of experimenting by playing random notes...)

Cool, is it a Planet Waves strap? If not you should check those out they are nice and comfy. Also the tingling is really not a good sign, I would really examine my playing if I felt any kind of tingling and especially numbness(which can be a early sign of carpal/tendon).

 

[eude]

I was told when I started learning bass that your thumb should basically track your middle finger position through the neck. That's always stuck in my head and seems to have done the trick, well I've never had any problems anyway and I have small(ish) hands and play a 6 string.

On the subject of any tingling, I'd go and see a doc about it before you do yourself any damage, a decent warm up and plenty of steaded practice would probably stop it, but better be on the safe side!

Cheers,
Eude

 

[Seigi]

The first thing that comes to mind is, how is the bass positioned? If you are standing, how low is the bass hanging on your strap? Yeah, I know that many folks may disagree and say it looks cool to hang the bass low, but it's a real killer for left hand technique! If you are in a sitting position, try raising the angle of the neck so that the headstock sits a little higher.

If you think about it, most of the respected players with good technique are those who do not hang the bass too low, and do not rest the left hand thumb on the top (E string or B string) side of the neck.

That's a huge problem for people who are short, however; I'm 5'4", and the higest my strap will go is about 6 inches below where it's positioned when I'm sitting, so I can't play well while standing up.

 

[Poop-Loops]

That's a huge problem for people who are short, however; I'm 5'4", and the higest my strap will go is about 6 inches below where it's positioned when I'm sitting, so I can't play well while standing up.

Haha I had a problem like that with the new strap that came. It was about 2 inches away from where I play sitting, and it was annoying me. So I had to make my own work around.

The tingling is *probably* technique related, as I find myself straining pretty hard to press down the strings lower on the fretboard. Combination of lacking stength and technique, I guess. I'll start playing slower down there and really look at my technique when I do it and see if it helps.