Does anyone play bass guitar?

[Tom Mason]

Many players encounter pain in the wrists because the body of the bass is too low in relationship to the player's body. Many of us have seen the guitar and bass players that keep the instrument around the waist area. When this occurs, you usually have to bend the fingerboard wrist and twist it to reach the first four to five frets.

More flexibility and speed is gained by raising the body of the bass upward toward the upper stomache area. Centered in the rib area may be going too far, but the idea is to get the nech and body up enough to eliminate as much of the rotate and twist as possible.

Experiment with the height of the bass on your body. Do not let the feel of the body of the bass be as much of a determining factor as your wrist comfort. Unless you are in a metal band or some other group that demands a visual effect of thumping your bass in the private areas of your body, your wrists will thank you later in life.

This helps me, and I don't know what your hand size is. For comparison, I have a ring finger size 14 to 15, depending on the day and work that I do.

Tom Mason

[tubatooter1940]

The only chords I can play on guitar are C major, and then E major and e minor. Anything involving barring results in a dead thump.



Is it okay to move my hand a bit on the first four frets, or do I need to keep still?

I'm not sure about how low or high the strings should be, but I just measured, and at the end of the fret board, it's about 7 mm to the string. At the top it's a lot lower.

1. Your fingers should be just below the fret so you are bending the string over the metal fret-giving you max sustain.
2. Move your hand as you must but try to keep your thumb on the backside of the neck and have your fingers come straight down on the strings like hammers.
3. You can set the string height yourself if your bridge is adjustable or if each string has an adjustment. When any string starts buzzing, raise the bridge until it stops.

Learn alternate fingerings (inversions) for chords to use when your frettin' hand starts to cramp.