Aching wrist - Bad technique?

[Geoff]

I have been playing bass for 7-8 years now and for the last 4 years I have been playing a Sandberg Bullet, which has a single Bartolini set half way between the bridge and neck. I have never had any major issues with my hands or wrists hurting, but recently I bought a Sandberg California (PM config) and every so often I am finding that my right wrist is aching quite badly.

Now I dont know whether this is because of the layout of the pickups and the way the bass sits when I am playing, as I have noticed my fingers are splayed out quite a bit, rather than being parallel to my thumb as they do when I was playing the Bullet. I love the sound of this bass and the feel of the neck, I just dont know whether it is going to be too much of a pain to play, or whether a simple change in technique will help.

Anyone else had trouble like this and managed to sort it? Are P basses harder to play with fingers than J basses, or am I just more rubbish then I think?

[chris_b]

I wouldn't expect the pickup placement to have much of an influence on wrist pain. The length of the strap might be a problem, if it is too short. Is that you in your avatar? If so it looks like you have a pretty straight wrist when you are playing. Can you play with a lighter touch? Do you do exercises and warm up before playing?

[mcgraham]

Firstly, which wrist - left or right?

Secondly, regardless of which one it is, exercising a straighter wrist and a relaxing more will relief strain and prevent aching, particularly in combination with stretching and minimising movement.
- If it's your right, ensure you keep a straighter wrist when plucking, try not to anchor your thumb as this introduces bending and tension; check out the floating thumb technique for tips on how to mute better and counter this issue.
- If it's your left (and it may well be judging from the position of your wrist in your avatar), raise the height of your bass, keep your thumb behind the neck and bring the neck in closer to your body. If you feel tension or bending, relax and try to find ways to mitigate these problems.

Make sense?

Mark

[Geoff]

Hi,

Yeah that is me in the avatar and its my right wrist that is aching.

I have been messing around with the height of my bass, I now have it set at a height that is about the same as when I am sitting down, which has improved my left hand placement, but my right seems to still get some grief.

Im guessing I have got into bad habits whilst playing over the years and maybe it is just a coincidence this has happened since my new bass arrived. I will check out the floating thumb technique, as I do anchor my thumb on the pickup pretty hard, especially when Im playing live.

[mcgraham]

It's great that you are willing to assess your technique and are also looking to improve it

Try checking out an old Gary Willis or a more recent Todd Johnson vid on floating thumb. In particular, they both advocate having the bass slung more central to your body, ala classical guitar positioning of the instrument, resting off the inside of the left thigh. This helped me a huge amount in getting my ergonomics right and getting a more symmetrical approach to playing the instrument.

Bad examples: Look at Hadrien Feraud, or Michael Manring when they play sitting down. Look at how twisted their posture is in an effort to reach the neck of the bass (particularly the low frets), and how crooked their plucking hand/arm is. Is this how you play? They are practically leaning on their left knee with their left arm and leaning off to the right. I don't know how they can cope like that. They are great players, but I would say they'd be even better if they went for a more ergonomic approach to playing.

Mark

[Geoff]

Thanks McGraham, I will check out those vids!

I do need to assess my technique, as its so easy to become complacent. Im at a level where I am comfortable playing what I do, but I wont be improving anytime soon unless I take a step back and look into the things like posture/bass height etc, which are so easy to forget about!

And yeah my plucking hand does get pretty crooked I guess when im playing...just ashame I cant play like Micheal Manring!

[chris_b]

[quote name='Geoff' post='395541' date='Jan 30 2009, 04:49 PM']....And yeah my plucking hand does get pretty crooked I guess when im playing....[/quote]
You could still develop a lighter touch but definitely warm up properly before playing.

[leschirons]

Had this problem myself and it took a while to get out of bad habits. Now I keep my fore-arm and wrist on the same plane and the pain has gone.

[Mr Fudge]

Glad to see you were talking about your bass playing.

[doctor_of_the_bass]

Geoff!!

Will be in touch this week m8!

Cheers!

Nick

[Geoff]

Cheers Nick!

I have been trying to sort my technique out which has been helping, but I think ive traced my wrist ache down to working in IT. Ive been getting pains in my shoulder as well and I think its down to having to sit at my desk all day. I noticed that after doing rock climbing (or other exercise) the pain subsides for a couple of days, so I guess a big part of the problems I was having with my playing was down to this.