Posted by jeff miller on January 13, 2004 at 20:25:17:
In Reply to: Wrist Pain posted by Joey on January 13, 2004 at 00:16:22:
Hi,
I had to quit playing bass for 10 years because of hand and wrist problems. It's better now; here's a few tips that worked for me:
Try to keep your wrist straight. Most tubas are horrible for this - the Yamaha 822 series and old Marzans being two exceptions.
I removed the thumbring from my Yamaha and that helped my wrist position a lot.
Also, as soon as you feel any pain, tingling, or numbness, stop playing immediately until it feels better.
When you feel "the wrong thing" in your hands, have a good feel along the muscles of your upper forearm. Try palpating the muscles, searching for muscles that feel very tight or corded. When I find one of these and really dig my thumb back and forth over it, my fingers move, indicating that the muscle is over-stressed. Massage any of these overly tight muscles for a few minutes, then shake it out to loosen it up.
I'm no doctor or physio, but these tips have helped me tremendously.
Also, once you have found out what you are doing wrong, you need to slowly develop your strength and endurance over a long period of time. Just like developing a good high register, your finer muscle functioning needs to be addressed a little every day.
I hope this helps. Whatever you do, don't try to be some kind of macho guy and play through prolonged pain; I did that and it nearly cost me my career.
Good luck,
Jeff Miller
London