Breakfast Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 So I'm back to being a bassist after a couple of years out in the wasteland of playing guitar and one of my old bass bugbears has come back to haunt me. I get this real sharp pain in the fingertip of my left hand middle finger when I'm playing. It's a sharp, needly pain, in fact it feels most like a splinter in the tip of my finger, particularly in that once triggered the finger continues to be very pressure sensitive for days afterwards- worst when playing bass but I can feel it now as I type. I know there isn't a splinter there because I went over that fingertip with a fine tooth comb, and when that didn't have any effect I looked at it with a magnifying glass and a bright light. I have got this from time to time over the last five years when I have been playing bass - guitar doesn't seem to trigger it at all - and it doesn't seem to relate to how much I am playing, except that I end up playing less for a few weeks after I trigger it and having to change the fingering on everything I do play because it really fricking hurts. I think I may have asked about this a few years ago in BC days, but we have many new members now, so I'll ask again in the hope that I'm not a sad lonely freak and that someone can explain what is going on, or at least give me a fair guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 i believe it's cause either by pushing down harder than you need to or harder than you're used to -- i get is sometimes, but only when i'm fluffing around and being silly, bending strings ridiculously and such. i could be completely wrong, but from your description it seems like the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breakfast Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Could be that I guess. I do now recall that it was worse when I used heavier-guage strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbloke Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 Go and see your GP. I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but for your finger to hurt like that isn't normal. BTW, I'm writing this as a bloke who never goes to see his GP and has a similar pain in his left index finger after drilling a hole in it some 7 years ago. Clever eh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 It's entirely possible you have got something in there. I had a similar kind of pain in the tip of my ring finger which was caused by an absolutely tiny sliver of glass (I used to work in a pub and would sometimes pick up small shards of glass, so I was fairly certain from the off that this was the cause). It was totally invisible even with a magnifying glass, and only showed up as a glint when I cut away the skin and stuck my finger under a microscope. Though of course it might be better going to the doctor than taking my DIY approach, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golchen Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 I'd definitely go to my GP. Trouble is that a lot of GPs are crap and not interested. I find generally that you need to go OTT on the discomfort and make out that it's so bad you'll have to commit suicide if they don't do something about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 Any possibility that you've got a tiny sliver of metal stuck in that finger? Touching other metal items can be agonising if you have metal splinters in a finger or fingers. It kind of shorts out your nerves like putting aluminium foil across two dental fillings. Not nice at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breakfast Posted April 18, 2009 Author Share Posted April 18, 2009 That's sort of what it feels like, and I wouldn't want to bet cash money that I don't have something in there, though I've only noticed it after playing and I can't recall a time it would have happened. Right, time for Musky's scalpel and microscope experiment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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