So when I’m fretting notes with the left hand, I kind of “counter balance” the force of my left hand pressing down the strings, with my right hand pressing down on the body of the bass. I know some people say the thumb has to do that counter balance, but when I try that, my thumb is pressed pretty hard against the neck and not at all relaxed. This technique is explained here more thoroughly in Adam Neely’s video: “Developing Safe Left Hand Technique for Bass Guitar”.
The problem is, even though my left hand is all relaxed now, the part of my right hand that is doing the counter balance and pressing against the body definitely isn’t. So when I play for even just three minutes uninterrupted, the pressing-down leaves a red mark on my forearm and just feels a lot more tense compared to my left forearm, which, you know, probably isn’t good xd.
But I don’t know how else to counter balance the force of my left hand on the fretboard in a different way.
Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this? Thanks in advance!
Do you play a bass that is known for (excessive) head dive?
You might want to experiment with how you hold the bass and how you pluck the strings, using a position where you lower arm does not touch the body of the bass at all. Something like this perhaps:
Or just moving your elbow away from your body deliberately, which should also move the lower arm from touching the body. The only connection with the body of the bass (anchoring point) is then your (plucking hand) thumb.
Yes, I do play with a strap. It’s just that it’s kind of loose, so when I’m sitting, it just hangs there without supporting the bass. That’s why I practice mostly standing up, where that isn’t an issue. But maybe I should get a strap that can be more tightly adjusted.
I don’t really know what a head dive is. The bass is from a company called Chevy, and the knowledge of what exact model this is, got lost over time.
So when trying the position you recommended, with or without a strap, the bass just does not want to stay in place. It kind of just “slides” away.
When I try to play with only my anchor touching the bass, it somewhat works, but now my thumb isn’t really relaxed and the neck is also moving backwards a little (the direction I’m pressing on the fingerboard). I’m not really sure how I can support the neck.
You might be fretting too hard. Try varying the pressure of your left hand until you just don’t quite get any fret rattle, and then get a feel for how much effort/pressure that takes… It’s very easy to press too hard on the string on the finger board.
I have my strap set to a length such that it is just on the strap when I’m sitting. This way I have pretty much the same bass position when sitting or standing. for some that can be a little high.
Neck dive is where, if you let go of the bass with both hands the neck tends to swing downwards. My bass has it a little and it is annoying, when I have time I shall do some experimentation. There are various ways for fixing or at least lessening it. Just search these pages for “neck dive”
When I play sitting down the body rest on my lap (right thigh) and my right forearm rest gently on the top of the body which allow my wrist to hang over the strings for relax plugging action. The weight of the bass rest on the lap. If there’s any natural counter balance happening it’s on autopilot and I’m not consciously thinking about it.
I think you maybe too conscious about each aspect of playing which is the last thing you want to do. Imagine consciously analyzing/ monitoring each aspect of driving a manual/ stick shift car. Many things happening instantaneously, clutching, shifting, gassing, steering, scanning and direction. Then it’s negotiating with other motorists on the streets. These are things that you do subconsciously.
My best advice is to pick your favorite song, then sit or stand and not thinking about anything else and just play, see how it goes. Playing alone requires so many task the brain has to execute less than half a milliseconds thinking hearing the music breaking it down to instruments that you want to latch on as your cue, timing, notation, fretting, plugging, muting, visualizing your up coming fills and transitions and groove so you don’t sound like robots. Plus many, many more aspect of playing and the last thing you want to think about is how to counter balance your bass.
Don’t overthink it, find a comfortable position and settle in to play. I have a feeling that the term counter balance just throws you off.
I play acoustic guitar (no strap) with the instrument sitting on my right thigh.
For bass, I can play the same way, strap or not. But the most solid way of positioning the bass for me when seated is by using a strap that’s adjusted short enough to hold the instrument hanging just above my left thigh, in a classical guitar position, like this:
This allows both hands to fret and pluck without needing to press into either the neck or body. Also, this position works equally well for playing sitting or standing.
Yeah that position feels so “professional”
I like the opposite of that almost flat but almost impossible to do sitting down it puts too much strain on the wrist.
I don’t how professional it feels, but it sure is solid to me.
Yep, when sitting down, the more parallel to the ground the neck gets, the more it kills my wrist. With my digits, I already have to bend my wrist over the neck more than the average bear, so finding a neck position that gives me access to the fretboard and keeps my wrist relaxed is the ticket.
To be honest when I see a lot of bass players’ sitting position I’m left wondering how on earth they get to the higher frets at all! But maybe that’s just me. I’m close to that players position though maybe just a little less upright, and I mostly sit on a guitarist’s stool which puts me closer to a standing position anyway.
Yeah it’s a bit of a pain either way but it looks so cool. All my favorite bassists is doing that Nathan, Pino, Sonny T. I just try to emulate my inner … fill in the blank,
That’s kind of the position I adopt on a chair as opposed to a stool though I tend to tuck my right leg back out of the way so it sits on my strap more and maybe a little easier to get at my preferred plucking position closer to the neck, though maybe I should try and get a bit more comfortable with plucking at the bridge. I just find the tightness of the strings there a little harder on my fingertips.
Edit: so I got curious as to whether I was being truthful! And thought I’d photo my two sitting positions and actually I have the bass far more upright than I thought I do :
Can you get someone to take a photo of you holding it?
Sounds like your fretting hand grip needs modifying or something is wrong with your setup - eg your strings are too high off the fretboard.
You definitely need to use your thumb otherwise your just going to move the neck. If your strings are too high you have to push harder. You might also just be pressing down too hard when fretting notes. Your finger should be as close to the fret wire as possible and lift you finger until you no longer get a clean sound, then just press best down a little bit.
I can fret notes and completely remove my plucking arm away from the bass and it doesn’t move.
Hmm, I see. But just how much do you actually press against the neck to support it? I heard some people say the thumb should just rest on the neck (like in the BtB course), but now I don’t know what I should believe anymore xd. Your explanation does make a lot of sense, though.
I think my fretting hand is pretty relaxed; as I said, the main tension is in the right hand pressing against the body. But now that you mention it, my setup is pretty high, and I’ve been wanting to lower it for some time now. Maybe I should get around to that. (When turning the screws on the bridge, the strings don’t actually change their height, and I have no idea why.)
Looking at that photo I would say the action does look high and that can make a huge difference to the comfort of playing. My EB bass had a similar action and it was pretty horrible to play, and it’s a bit harder to adjust on acoustics, but a luthier had a go at it and the improvement was massive!
Might be worth a photo of your bridge as well. There are people here much better qualified than me to answer that question though!
The others have explained it perfectly.
