Ma Hands

So when I started playing in the ska band I noticed right away that there were going to be issues with my hands. I have some undiagnosed Carpel Tunnel Syndrome...and either the speed or fear or whatever of the ska tunes seemed to aggrivate it.  I mostly sovled the problem by playing sitting down, without the strap pressure on my shoulder, and with the neck at an angle that isn't possible standing up. I also tried to take it slow and build strength. Practice ten minutes...rest...stretch...ice if needed...return to pratice. That worked pretty well and I found myself able to extend the periods of practice longer and longer and reduce the rest periods.

Then, of course, I got comfortable and cocky and kind of stopped practicing. I'd convinced myself that I could play the style and so I layed off a bit. So now I'm back to building up strength and endurance.

But there are complicating factors too.

One issue is that I just can't stand the thought of sitting to play bass at a ska gig. I have to be able to dance...and plus I can't imagine room for a 7 piece band in most venues will allow for me to have a leisurely chair.

The second issue is that, since the band seems to have a habit of transposing into different keys, I've begun to try and reduce the open strings that I play. Open strings make transposing hard because it means you have to change your fingering. If you don't play any open strings, for the most part you just move your hand up or down the prescribed number of frets. That means all the muscle memory stays the same. I'm playing really fast and trying to memorize these ridiculous songs...the last thing I need is change in fingering. The thing is, though, when you don't play open strings you get into stretching or shifting a bit more. I didn't think this was a big deal. My bass instructor had warned me months ago that, while stretching from the 4th (with my first finger) to 7th fret (with my fourth finger) seemed totally reasonable to me...that once I had to play for any length of time like that I'd get really fatigued. I didn't believe her. But yes, I realized this week that the stretches are killing me. And so on the songs that hurt the most, I've rewritten the parts to include open strings.

Kind of reminds me of the old joke about bass players. They start by playing 1 and 5...then they spend the middle part of their career trying to get away from 1 and 5...then they spend the end of their career trying to get back to 1 and 5. Everything comes full circle.  So, yeah, I spent the start of my bass playing career playing lots of open strings...moved into trying to avoid open strings...and now I see that open strings have their place.

I was reading an article about Steve Albini this week and noted that he wears a wasteband guitar strap. I'd never heard of those before. I wonder if it might not be a good option for me. I see that they make hybrid straps that are kind of part wasteband and part shoulder strap. 

It is partialy the strap pressure that is an issue, but more than that it is the need to support the instrument. When I play sitting down I put all the weight of the instrument on my right leg and the neck floats. When I stand with a strap some of the weight is resting on my left hand. This is bad for my hand pain...but also slows down my playing because my hand can't shift as freely and my grip is too tight on the neck. I don't know if a wasteband strap would help with that or not. I suspect not.

When I started playing Pixies I had similiar issues, but most all of them were solved by getting my bass set up well to have lower action. It's interesting how much a playing style makes. I can play Pixies for 3 hours with no problems with my hands. It's weird.