thumb pain

[Left Foot]

So anyone else get thumb pain whilst playing technical rifts that require a large left hand stretch? Whats wrong withv my technique, it just aches like a biotch.

[Coilte]

It is hard to say exactly what is wrong, without seeing you play. Two things come to mind that might be contributing to the problem :

1. You may be gripping the neck too tight.

2. Where you place your thumb, when you are playing these technical riffs. Try using the thumb as a pivot to move the hand, instead of stretching the fingers ? You should notice a difference. The clip below deals with where to put (or not to..) the thumb of the fretting hand.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-rkoy2H8I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-rkoy2H8I[/url]

[Left Foot]

Dude, cheers. I'd not thought of hittting yt for this.

I tend to grip too hard and adjust after Ive moved elbow. Ive also got a different bass now with a far greater C shape nek which helps force my thumb over/on the top edge of the neck, I was dropping wrist alot (which pushes thumb into neck) because of thin neck.

[Left Foot]

Maybe, but Ive been playing an Ibenez which is soo thin the thumb tends to wonder into a position where it is forced againsted the neck, almost positioned in a constant pushing position and tensity. Im loving the big C shape to wrap the thumb around.

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1366900898' post='2058781']
It is hard to say exactly what is wrong, without seeing you play. Two things come to mind that might be contributing to the problem :

1. You may be gripping the neck too tight.

2. Where you place your thumb, when you are playing these technical riffs. Try using the thumb as a pivot to move the hand, instead of stretching the fingers ? You should notice a difference. The clip below deals with where to put (or not to..) the thumb of the fretting hand.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM-rkoy2H8I[/media]
[/quote]

The first part of the clip is the most interesting bit in my opinion, where he's playing without the thumb touching the back of the neck at all. I use a similar hand position but lightly rest the thumb on the back of the neck so it's pointing up the neck towards the headstock. This takes a lot of the angle out of the wrist that he warns about later in the clip and allows pretty good access to all the notes unlike hooking the thumb over.

The only downside to having the thumb pointing up the neck is that some intricate playing needs a little extra pressure to play cleanly, if so I'll hop the thumb up into a more traditional position behind the fingers just to play that part. If you check that you're fretting the notes close to the frets (and not halfway between them) you'll need very little pressure to play cleanly and can take a lot of pressure off your thumb, and also a lot less tension in your hand generally.

To illustrate, shake your hand out and let it relax with your thumb sticking out the side, then waggle your fingers. It should feel pretty comfortable. Then try bringing your thumb back in over your palm between the 2nd and ring finger and waggle them again, it'll probably feel a lot tighter round the back of your hand so try and avoid this.

Hope that helps!

Edited May 7, 2013 by Fat Rich

[JamesBass]

If you are gripping too tight and forcing the pressure through the strings and in to the back of the neck, then maybe a lower action is needed? I used to have my fair share of thumb issues, the amount of tension in my hands especially around the back of my hand near the thumb could get excruciating, once I got my bass setup the tension went away!

[MiltyG565]

[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1366899783' post='2058761']
So anyone else get thumb pain whilst playing technical rifts that require a large left hand stretch? Whats wrong withv my technique, it just aches like a biotch.
[/quote]

I don't play much at the minute, but nope, never had thumb pain in my left hand. Had a muscle cramp at eh bass of the thumb in my right hand before.

[charic]

Am I reading this right that you're now wrapping your thumb over the top of the neck? If so, there's your cause I reckon!

[Coilte]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1368014969' post='2072015']
Am I reading this right that you're now wrapping your thumb over the top of the neck? If so, there's your cause I reckon!
[/quote]


Wrapping the thumb over the neck is very restrictive, but it wont cause pain or injury, as explained in the link I posted in post #2.

[Left Foot]

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/thumbsyxt.jpg/][IMG]http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8489/thumbsyxt.jpg[/IMG][/URL]


Basically, I am in the habit of doing image 1. This means I plant my thumb print on the neck and use it as a pivot point for positioning fingers to navigate the thret board. it stabilises the neck but forces pressure points that build up etc. it also means the wrist drops as elbow not moving much etc.


Im doing image 2 at the moment with a p-bass (I got this habit from using thin Ibenez neck). However Im obviously not getting the usual finger spread doing this but I could play all night etc.

Image three is bassically good practice from what ive looked into, have the thumb nail pointing down the neck to the head. This means you can rest the neck in the palm whilst freeing up fingers for playing, moving elbow for position etc.


This seems really obvious but my habit is basically a mixture of being lazy and wanting to get speedy without good technique, I also really held the neck like my life depended on it, as if the fecker would turn into a snake or something, which really I dont need to do. etc.

Just weird how ive been playing 10+ years and only now starting to pick apart the bad techniques and habits I have. Cheers bc'ers