Hi guys!
I have an issue that’s challenging my playing.
So when I play the lower strings (e and a) , my left wrist keeps bending. It’s like my wrist is bending because my left hand feels so strained when trying to hit notes on the thicker strings.
Does anybody have any advice on how to deal with this?
TYSM!!!
lower your action so you don’t have to press so hard. play your scales while watching Netflix to build hand strength.
I developed tendonitis in my left wrist after having long practice sessions after a few consecutive days. I found that I was bending my wrist too much, which really was limiting the movement in my fingers in addition to causing pain in my wrist and forearm. I made things worse by pressing hard with the back of my thumb while fretting with my fingers. I found I had to raise my bass strap a bit (I like to play standing up), I had to pull my left elbow back while I was playing to straighten out the wrist while fretting, I started micro shifting more instead of trying to stretch my fingers a finger per fret low on the neck. This video helped me out a lot, I have seen it posted in other parts of this forum.
So for me, fretting with bent wrist is bad, squeezing neck with my thumb bad, bass too low bad, straight wrist good, bass higher on body good, light thumb on the back of the neck. Hope this helps.
And what @Vegaswizzle said, lower action is easier to fret, takes less finger strength
Can you post a photo of your hand posture fretting the 1st fret of the E string?
Edit: I am below average height with short fingers but can still get a pretty comfortable hand position on the bass.
Well you can do one of 2 things to start or both. Bring up the neck to about 45* it would straighten up both your wrists playing angles and action. Then buildup strength on your wrist.
I love the look of the neck in almost horizontal position so I’m constantly fighting extra strain on my left wrist when I strap up my bass. That said on my six string I tilt it up a bit.
Check out these videos on left hand position by Adam Neely.
Ha, I forgot to attach the video, but this was the one I was going to attach! Thanks @RuknRole, getting old stinks!
I had this, my wrist was bent so far. Playing shouldn’t hurt. Lots of good advice from these folks here. For me, it was resolved by bringing the neck up
TYSM!!!
Great advice on the left hand placement, how how about the right arm and hand placement?
Thanks
Rich
Here you go 
Thank you very much for that.
Rich
I did a YouTube search for wrist stretches and found a bunch that helped (no specific suggestions because you really need to be the judge of what works best for you).
Doing them throughout the day makes a huge difference pretty quickly.
