Eliminate acute angles on your fret-hand wrist to avoid pain from carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, and thoracic outlet syndrome!
Symptoms may include numbness and tingling of the fingers (thumb, pointer, middle, and sometimes the ring finger), a weak grip, and even pain while playing the bass.
This bass lesson teaches you how to avoid creating acute angles on the fret-hand wrist, allowing you to play comfortably while playing the bass.
Nerve Damage
For several years, I have battled with a nerve injury that affects my pinky finger and ring finger in my left hand.
Although I have not experienced loss in strength with those digits, I do sometimes feel excruciating pain.
It all started during a swing dance gig.
I was the bass player in the hired band for the night. People were dancing all night and we barely had any breaks.
The gig lasted for about 5 hours!
It was during the first hour I noticed something wrong.
I began to feel numbness on my left shoulder and I found myself lifting up my bass often to give my shoulder a quick break from carrying the weight.
Later on, during the gig, my fingers received a sharp electric feeling that zapped the finger tips of my left hand!
My fingers quickly became numb and could no longer move.
For several months I could not play my bass without experiencing serious pain.
I became depressed and doctors told me to stop playing the bass.
But, before I was going to make any drastic decisions, such as quit playing my bass, I decided to dive deep and examine why I was feeling such pain and how to stop it.
The Journey
I researched the mechanics of the human body, particularly the spine, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, and fingers.
I learned about carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, and thoracic outlet syndrome.
I sought therapists and even acupuncture.
I read The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart by Madeline Bruser.
I carefully studied Gary Willis’s effortless technique on his instructional video.
I did whatever I could to understand my problem.
Coping with Injury
Fast forwarding to the present, I have learned to cope with my injury.
I’ve tweaked my technique and can last many hours without experiencing any complications.
However, the injury is still there.
If I wear my bass on my shoulder for more than 10 minutes, all of my symptoms come back!
But… If I sit, while I play the bass, and hold my bass a certain way and my pain is gone.
The Shotgun Method
I do not apply classical guitar handling to hold my bass.
This method has a tendency to lift up my left shoulder, making my arm tired!
I found that to feel awkward for my body.
Instead, I apply what I call is The Shotgun Method.
By sitting down, and holding my bass like a shotgun, I find that my fret-hand wrist becomes neutral and no sharp angles are formed.
How to Hold the Bass Like a Shotgun
The bass should not be flat with your body.
When the bass is flat with the body the arm that is fretting the bass is forced to be pulled back.
This creates tension in the shoulder and affects a major nerve located there.
When standing, this tension is exaggerated by the weight of the bass pressing on the shoulder.
Angle the bass to point forward as if you are about to fire a shotgun.
If the fretting hand wrist is still bent, then point your bass forward more until the bend of the wrist is gone!
If done right, the position will look like this:
You are sitting and your fret-hand is DIRECTLY ABOVE YOUR KNEE.
Having your fret-hand away from your body, DIRECTLY ABOVE YOUR KNEE, makes the bass point forward quite a bit, but at the same time will drastically reduce the angle in the fretting-hand’s wrist!
The closer your fretting hand is to your body, the more acute of an angle becomes formed on the wrist.
Conversely, the farther your fretting hand is from your body, the angle in that wrist becomes practically non-existent.
This is my method for holding my bass guitar.
