Does anyone play bass guitar?

[chhite]

A strap is a must to obtain the optimal playing position and to avoid odd wrist angles. I wear my basses very high and that allows my fretting hand's wrist to be as flat as possible. I have found that the flatter the wrist and the more I can keep the fingers relaxed(flat), instead of curved and tense, the easier, and faster I can play. Finding your optimal playing position to avoid pain and gain comfort is like finding the right mouthpiece for your horn; it's very player-specific and subject to your preferences. Also, do some research on carpal-tunnel and musicians, and look at some pictures on those web sites. They can offer some visual cues for what to avoid and potentially save you from more pain or injury. Have fun!

[pulseczar]

All the other suggestions have been great and here's my .02 cents.

Keep your thumb and only your thumb on the backside of the neck. If you relax your hands and let it curl naturally, that's how your hands should be on the neck. The thumb pushes the neck up while the other fingers push the strings down onto the fretboard. The curled fingers are important as they allow you to play better and actually get better tone.

There shouldn't be any weird twists or angles in your hand anywhere. It should feel as natural as if the bass wasn't there. Think like playing on a tuba. Whether rotary or piston, the hand is not angled in an awkward position.

Search Youtube or GoogleVideo for clips of Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, or other bass virtuosos and look at their hand position. It's very relaxed and comfortable looking.

[ArnoldGottlieb]

Problems can't be addressed so easily without a visual. It would be money well spent to find a teacher even for once in a while lessons. The you tuba marcus and jaco videos are good ideas, however we've already read conflicting answers for your problems (i.e. flat fingers vs. curved fingers) so please find someone who can watch you play.
Peace.
ASG

[chhite]

I guess I can clarify what I meant by flat fingers. I avoid using only the tips of the fingers and that comes from curving my fingers too much. I try to get more meat of the fingers on the strings and that can only be accomplished by "flattening" the curvature. The natural "fall" of the fingers is best, but, as was mentioned, check out several pros and maybe even a teacher for guidance.

[iiipopes]

There is no reason for any instrument to hurt while playing. Tired, yes. Sore, yes, if you have played too long without being used to it. But outright pain, no. A reexamination of technique is in order. Especially on bass guitar, everything should be relaxed. The thumb should be in roughly the center of the back of the neck, (NOT with the left thumb over the top or E string edge of the fingerboard fencepost or ham-handed rhythm guitar chord style!), with each finger free to move independently. As far as what point on your fingertip, it can vary, but most generally somewhere between the absolute tip, where your fingernails would get in the way, and completely flat. Keep the left wrist slightly flexed, not pronated backwards, flexing a little more as you come up the neck. If your left hand and wrist are relaxed in this manner, then you should be able to hold your hand up and in sequence touch the point you would fret the string down to your thumb in rapid succession.

Because of the limited technology of the time regarding tuners, most Fender basses and their "offspring" tend to be neck heavy. It is always a good idea to replace the tuners with aftermarket lightweight ones. When I put my custom bass together, Fender standards weighed 4 ounces each - a full pound of steel at the peghead. Hipshot machined alloy aluminum with a steel cog weigh only 2 ounces each -- a savings of 1/2 pound weight in the headstock alone, and they fit inside the stock ferrells of a vintage style P or J bass headstock. This one detail alone can make a difference in playability or not.

The best way to build endurance is like everything else: play, and practice properly.

[tubatooter1940]

All of the above. Once your guitar is properly set up, the strings will be as low as possible, there will be no rough or bulging frets, and an adjustable bridge will be calibrated to give you best possible intonation on each string.
All you have to do is pick on that guitar 3-4 sessions a week to get sufficient callouses to fret comfortably and you can go all night every night.
Most people don't want to bother, but learning to sing and pick at the same time takes much less time than learning to do both separately.

[iiipopes]

Indeed. I learned to play electric guitar first: $56.95 + tax and shipping in the spring of 1974 from a Sears catalog. I remember after learning some basic first position chords trying the big boy's barre chords. I literally put my left hand in the proper position, used my right hand to push the strings down with my fingers, then strum as hard and quickly as I could before my left hand gave out! Oh, the days! The problem with a lot of guitar players is that they're still doing that, instead of moving on like most musicians do!

[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.