I get you. I was a music conference 15 years ago and attended a lecture by an orthopedic surgeon once. The big takeaways for me were: 1) DON’T get injured, and 2) there are anatomical differences between people. His specialty was hands, pointed out that not everyone has the same number of ligaments in the hand and fingers.
Getting back to what you said, in my case, I have shorter legs and and longer middle for a 6 foot man, so to say to me, “when you sit down with your bass, it should rest on your right leg,” is just not right for my body. Once I adjusted the strap to lift the bass up a bit, then I found I could access the those upper frets for melodic bass. I just forget from time to time about those anatomical differences.
Now the issue is my strap,which is really a guitar stap–it hurts my shoulder.
Yeah, the Amazon reviews had many reviews that said as much. Is just hard to change, or hard to get what you need as far as adjustment, or what specifically is bad about it?
They have various types, the Neo has the “slide lock”. It’s a plastic thing made of two parts: one side is the slide lock that you need to pop off with your fingers (top picture), and the other side is the thing that goes into the holes in the strap (bottom picture). Remove slide lock, remove other side, move it to desired length, reinsert slide lock.
Unfortunately the “remove slide lock” and “reinsert slide lock” parts (in my case at least) took around 5-10 minutes each, because they’re so hard to slide in and out. My fingers were hurting and had cuts on them by the time I finished. (I didn’t want to use a plier, because I’m certain it would break the plastic.) Then a couple of days later I noticed that one of the slide locks was missing, and found it lying on the floor… I assume I was not able to fully slide it back the first time.
Check out the below video where they show how it works. You can see him adjusting a slide lock at 3:20, and another one at 6:20. The one at 3:20 works easily, but at 6:30 you can see him starting to struggle with the 2nd lock, and then the video cuts to the future where the lock is magically open. That’s the part where you spend minutes trying to get the f.ing thing off.
@akos Thank you for taking the time to write this up. I can imagine how that could be hard to get clicked into place…especially if the strap is a bit thick. You might find yourself pushing down and over at the same time, and you’re right I did see him struggling a bit with the 2nd strap; obviously he’s practiced!
(I probably should have started a new thread, but…)
Some people invest in basses, I guess I’ll invest in straps; I ordered both to see which I liked best.
The Levy came in first. It fits very well, and I had no problems with getting it fit to the Schaller S-Locks. One of the big knocks against it in the reviews was packaging; too tight, creasing the strap. Looks like “they” listened. Mine came in a VERY oversized box, and was wrapped with a very light rubber band. The adjustment system is the same as my old Perri’s 2" guitar strip it replaced. The thing fits great! I was concerned it would crawl up my neck, but it’s no problem at all. It rests comfortably on my shoulder; very comfortably.
Gruv-Gear is on its way; we’ll see how it stacks up.
Listen to your body. There is a bit of soreness, which is normal when learning the bass and then there is pain. If you ever start feeling pain, stop playing immediately and don’t play again until there is no pain. Obviously if the pain isn’t going away then see a doctor.
Your hands want to be in a particular position. I wouldn’t fight this as it can lead to injuries. Of course, if you are holding the instrument incorrectly that can also cause issues. There is a good video about this I’ll put at the bottom of this.
Relax and breathe. You don’t need much force at all in your hands for basic playing. Do a test. Start with a hard grip, play notes and loosen your hands gradually and you’ll see that you don’t need much pressure at all. However, the higher your action on your bass, the more pressure you’ll need.
Hope that helps. Never nice when pain stops you from doing what you want to do.
Here’s the video I mentioned. It’s old, but it’s good advice.
Good you have a hypothesis to test. Like others have eluded to, if you are using a strap, you won’t need to hold the neck as much as it supports itself then. Not sure if you are already using a strap though. I always play with one and make it so the bass is in the same position whether I’m standing or sitting.
After watching the video my eft thumb is way to far over towards my pinking. By moving my thumb over towards y index could be a game changer. Thanks again!
I was having some pain in my fretting hand when I first started playing. I couldn’t figure it out either… thought that it was something that I needed to get used to. Then I discovered that it was my technique. I was holding the instrument all wrong and that was causing me to contort my arm and wrist. I have since learned to shift the bass more towards my side and let my fretting hand just hang, and voila’, no more wrist pain.
I am really curious about the rehabilitation process in case of an injury. My fretting hand is a cute puzzle atm. bolted together by the number of bolts that would give the space shuttle run for its money. The doctor said that I had good fractures and I should be able to use the hand like before if I decide to live with a metal detector beeping because of some metal for life in my elbow. But 8 months without using the hand will be like starting over again on bass. Looks like a challenge to beat!
