I have been playing the bass for about 1/2 months, but have a growing pain in my right wrist & fingers (especially the ring finger). This is my plucking hand.
I have looked through several forums & haven’t found this specific problem.
I haven’t been playing a lot daily, probably like 30-45 min max. And since this problem came up even less.
It might have something to do with: having too much pressure/wrong position/maybe overworking it in my daily life? (I type and write a lot).
Could someone give me a little more insights into the possible causes & give me some practical tips so I can continue playing the bass? Because I do not want to give myself an injury.
Writing & typing could have a definite impact. I’m not sure if you’re able, but maybe providing a picture of how your hand is positioned while you’re plucking will help the forum folks in giving you guidance on how to adjust.
For now I would just say to make sure your hand is relaxed and your wrist is as straight as it can be. You may need to adjust how you’re holding the bass also.
I’m interested that you are saying especially the ring finger. It is unusual to pluck with the ring finger, though it’s not fundamentally wrong, there are those that do especially if using the thumb to pluck as well. So classic finger picking guitar style.
If you are just getting started and using the ring finger to pluck then, whilst there’s nothing wrong with doing that I might recommend just using first and middle finger to start with.
Other possibilities include possibly digging in too much for volume. Again there are plenty that do that but when starting out I’d let the amp give you the volume and pluck quite lightly. That will encourage a more relaxed plucking hand which in turn may ease the pain.
The other one is your plucking hand position and, as @Jenn_L suggests, a photo would help with that.
Every hand issue I’ve had regarding playing has been tied back to phone/iPad use. My hand doctor said “your hands aren’t designed to do things all day long, these phones are serious problems”. If you spend a lot of time on devices, you may be maxing out your hands, pulling back iPad games at night fixed me.
Thank you for your reply, I just played a biy and noticed I somehow keep my ring finger en pinky tensed and up, as if afraid to touch the string, haha.
Heyy, thank you for your response, the problem isn’t plucking with the wrong fingers: I pluck with my index and middle finger. After playing just now, I noticed my ring finger and pinky are tensed up and lifted away from the string, as if preventing touching it.
Yes. Don’t do it, it sounds like it feels terrible
Instead, what feels good to me is to just let them hang there relaxed, curled in a little towards the top of the bass. When plucking the E string, they should be hanging down, just “up” towards the top from the string; when plucking other strings, just let them hang or rest on the back of the next lower strings, as feels natural to you. Good for muting too!
It sounds like you are giving yourself a (hopefully mild) RSI. Might want to ask a doctor.
If you use a mouse a lot, have a look at wrist support. I do PCB Layout, so use a mouse almost continuously for 8 hours. I use it in my left (fretting) hand and when I started bass, I had some serious issues, with pain in the wrist. In my case it was trying to follow the silly guideline of having your thumb in line with your middle finger, at the back of the neck. Once I was taught the natural position, the pain went away. The natural position is with your hand relaxed. This rule is the same for your plucking hand, have it relaxed, don’t have any tension in your hand. My ring finger and pinky do what they want when I’m plucking, they hand free, my ring finger moves with my index slightly. I don’t try and hold them in any position these days as I’m 65 and have arthritis starting, so have to be careful. I also don’t anchor my thumb hard, I use a floating thumb, so one the e string it hovers above the string, gently touching the body, D string it touches the E string, A & G string it touches the A string, the operative word is touches, my hand is relaxed and almost floating, the thumb touches the strings or body gently. I then use alternate plucking with my first and index fingers. Everything should be gentle, make sure you have enough volume and gain so a GENTLE pluck creates you normal volume note. Do not dig in all the time, do not play your bass un-amplified (you naturally dig in and get strain), be relaxed and practice gently. To keep my hands supple and joints moving I do the first 24 bars of Vulpecks Dean Town repetitively for 10-12 minutes every day, I started slow and doing 5 mins and built up (I am at 85% now). I also do a couple of string crossing routines that tie fretting hand and plucking hand together for 5 minutes each. Again I started out slowly, finding what was comfortable for me and built up speed and stamina. The most important rule is NO TENSION in you hand, relaxed and natural. Have fun and take care of your joints and tendons.
I think the main thing is to keep relaxed. That’s hard when you’re just starting out but it will become easier fairly naturally as confidence grows. Until then keep trying to relax that hand and don’t play through any pain. Stop and rest.
The guys pretty much covered the most important issues. Very good advice in the posts above!
When I started playing bass, I often had pain in both my fretting and plucking hands. One reason was that I was pressing too hard. And my hands are naturally tense. The most we can relax, the better.
If you have the chance to have a session with a bass teacher in person, he could help to see if there are problems with your technique, and give you suggestions on how to improve it.
For me, whenever I get pain in my wrists or fingers, the best things that work are rest (not playing for a few days) and a pain gel containing some anti-inflammatory ingredient. This really makes a difference and has been helpful to me.
For the plucking hand’s pinky and ring finger, have you tried keeping them softly and gently semi-curled while you pluck? You can also use them to help muting strings. Instead of keeping them tense and straight, see if you can keep them soft and in a natural and comfortable position.
I have the exact same problem! I shouldn’t write messages on my phone (and when I do, I must keep them brief), because my right wrist gets painful. I had tendinitis before, so I have to be careful not to have it again. I find it best to write messages on my computer instead of the phone. Good that you mentioned this here, because not many people are aware of that!
