I had the same problem man when I first started playing also, just take about 5 or 10 minutes before you go to play, and make sure your hands are fully stretched, and worked all round....that way you don't run into this problem....basically just do whatever it takes to get em stretched

Hey Phil and others with hand problems,


I just read your post about sore hands and I must say I'm concerned. In my first year of college (I'm in music school) I practiced fast bass lines and the like far too much until one day my hands went crazy, tingling like when your foot falls asleep. I had to take well over a year off playing. Now don't get too worried, because my injury was somewhat strange, but overworking the muscles past the point where they are sore doesn't do you any good. Whenever you do anything physical (weightlifting, throwing a ball etc.) there is a certain degree of damage to the muscle tissue which is all good and natural. However, when you do something over and over again for long periods with little rest, you do not allow your body to heal this muscular damage, or microtrauma. So your body is in a position where it cannot repair the damage as fast as it is accumulating, so you become sore. What you should do right now is take a few weeks off playing entirely. I know, it sucks but I waited a year! ;) My problem was that with my body being unable to repair itself properly, it just formed a bunch of scar tissue (the easiest form of tissue for the body to create) as an attempt to keep up with my playing damage. The scar tissue was a half assed repair job which caused compression on my nerves and made it painful to play. After taking months off no progress was made until I came across a treatment called ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUES (go to www.activereleasetechniques.com for more info) which actually involved the manual ripping apart of the scar tissue, which was causing my pain. Within only a few treatments I had improved immensly and was playing at least an hour a day about a month afterwards. You should find an A.R.T. (that's the fancy trade name of active release) practitioner in your area to give your hands a look. Chiropractors are the people to talk to about it. Your problem sounds as though this treatment could really fix the problem, and the good thing is that you will find out if it is working almost immeadiatly, unlike those bulls--- therapies out there. But above all else, remember that as a musician you are the same as an ATHLETE and you need to take care of your body or it will fall apart. A baseball pitcher dunks his arm in a bucket of ice after every game, which is what every musician should do after a long day of playing or practicing. Also, you should take a 5 minute break every 20-30 minutes of practicing just to give your hands (and brain) a rest. Do some light stretching and think about something other then music for a bit, say Carmen Electra. Also, you should go out of your way to be AS RELAXED AS POSSIBLE when you are plaing, using as little effort as nescessary to make the desired sound. TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY!!!!!!! Good luck.

Steve makes some really good points and I can tell you all that I had to give up playing the acoustic bass because of the built up of scar tissue in my shoulders from sporting injuries and constant use and abuse. .

...which brings us also to warming up before you practice or play. stretching your hands, fingers, forearms and wrists is important. The same reason athletes do it before they compete and when they practice.

Phil, you're getting excellant advice here. Don't try to play through the pain. Slow it down a bit. Your body's giving you a signal.

Tom

Another huge aspect of avoiding pain and hand problems is to relax. I'm always catching myself tensing up during difficult passages or if I'm playing something on the spot which I haven't done before. I'm working on Kenney Werner's "Effortless Mastery" of just watching your hands fly on the neck with no tension. Man that's a great book.

Steve, I'm a devout believer in that school of thought. I go through the same thing as you and I too catch myself all of the time. I'm trying to get to the point of being 100% relaxed 100% of the time. It's not that easy (for me). I never heard of this book but believe me I'm going to look for it. Thanks!

Tom

Check out this link to norwegian bassist Frode Berg. He has alot of useful tips on preventing injury. I know it`s been said before, but I`ll say it again: Never play through the pain.

i've written this before, but it works. it is advice from my Naprapath (a Chicago-only version of massage therapy).

you must work the muscles opposing the ones you are over-using.

this is easily done by putting a rubber band around the tips of your closed fingers and thumb and opening them against the pressure. 5-10 minutes a day gets fast results. especially good if your are getting a lot of hand cramps.

richc

that's a great exercise. i've seen it somewhere
before, maybe on wholenote, but i'll be putting
it into practice asap.

ta
papadom