Wrist problems with pick..help

[beezelbubba]

when was Iron Maiden's hayday again? I can't remember... good bass player though...

if it's modern metal keep playing with a pick for god's sake!!!!! pick attack is crucial to metal IMO..

I know what you're saying.20 years ago i used my fingers exclusively.It can be done.Now I use a pick most of the time.Either will work.Using your fingers seems more ergonomically correct,though.

 

[sweetpeee]

only attack the strings as hard as you need to produce a sound....unless the sound of the attack is majorly important, you will be saving yourself a lot of agravation....


J.P.

 

[Dumby]

Warming up!

Cyrokk's advice on warming up is probably the smartest bit of info this thread has provided. I hear that runners stretch their legs and that pitchers stretch their arms too...

 

[TheRockDoc]

www.musicianshealth.com

not that I would know anything about this , but your welcome to personal me and I'll be glad to help you...

 

[ibanezrocks]

I got that awhile back when I was playing for a few hours a day and was starting to play standing up more. It turns out that when you play your guitar/bass lower down your picking wrist is put at an awkward angle which overstresses the tendons. You will have to wear the bass higher up or play sitting down more eventually. What you should do right now is simply rest it as much as possible. Even while not playing be careful about how you pick things up, you want to ensure that from your forearm to wrist to the back of your hand makes as straight of a line as possible as well as keeping the bone extending wristward from the middle knuckle as parallel as possible with your forearm. In english, keep the wrist in the most relaxed position as much as possible until it gets better. BE PATIENT.

 

[legionserial]

Hmmm....sounds pretty familiar.
I developed tendonitis in my picking hand wrist about 5 or 6 years ago. I used to play death metal at insane tempos with lots of tremelo picking. That is hell on your wrist and I would do it for hours on end..

Seeing as you brough that up, thats something I have had a few troubles with. Basically with tremelo picking, I can tell its going to fuck my wrist up because of the tension, so generally I don't do it too much. So how do you go about picking at speeds like that without fucking your wrist up? Is there a specific technique for tremelo picking or is it just practice and building up speed without getting all tense? Should it come more from the arm or the wrist? These are things I have always wondered...

 

[Jouni]

Man..REALLY gotta appreciate the amount of feedback on this, thanks. There's been lots of info, I'll try those weird picks as I get hold of them. Also gotta check my posture as I get to rehealsals, after resting a couple of days. Now come to think of it, my wrist goes into an angle as I start picking faster, gotta get rid of that..
Another thing straining the hand is that I'm a tattooist, so when not picking like a lunatick I'm holding a vibrating piece of cast iron between thumb and indexfinger, and after an hour or two it too makes my thumb ache and the vibration enduces a tingling sensation to palm and fingers. Lines and shades are done by bending the wrist.. ..and i've made some three to four appointments for tomorrow, that'll be some 8-10 hours of work.
Right now the wrist isn't painful, but feels stiff and noisy when bending. (snap, crackle & pop)

 

[Cyrokk]

Basically with tremelo picking, I can tell its going to fuck my wrist up because of the tension, so generally I don't do it too much. So how do you go about picking at speeds like that without fucking your wrist up? Is there a specific technique for tremelo picking or is it just practice and building up speed without getting all tense? Should it come more from the arm or the wrist? These are things I have always wondered...

See my previous post. Tremelo picking requires a change in technique which involves locking the wrist and using the rapid up and down strokes to pivot the movement of your arm.

I once thought it was the building up of speed in your wrist until I saw an old 80's video of Roth-era Van Halen where Eddie was soloing. His wrist did not move when picking, except in parallel motion with the rest of his arm. Once you see how it's done, then you should practice and build up speed on the technique. You should feel very little tension when picking this way, and should strive to have no tension whatsoever in your pick hand when you play.

 

[metalhead28]

Cyrokk is right. It's simple, but it's kind of hard to explain. I think EVH looks kinda funny when tremelo picking, it looks a little exaggerated sometimes.

For me, I used to tense up my wrist and sort of flutter my hand in a really tight, short, controlled motion. Nowadays, I try to keep my wrist really loose and sort of pivot my arm and let my wrist follow and sort of react to that. You can't really see my arm moving up and down or anything like that, it's more like it's rotating a little. I still tense up a little for short, quick bursts of fast picking, but I also move my fingers for that a little as well.

I don't know if that's the best technique for everybody but it works for me. No more wrist problems.

 

[punkin]

I like to keep my mind on staying as loose and relaxed with the lightest necessary tension to get good control and tone. It's hard to remember when playing live...but good practice habbits tend to run into performances.

 

[Jouni]

Good news.

It's a bother to dig a thread this old from the grave, I know, but I wanted to pass out the good news.

The wrist problem seems to surrender, I gave it some 3weeks rest, and played recently two 4-hour rehealsals in two days.

The problem manifested itself when I was playing, but nomore pains the day after, well small.. the kind you get from working out. But nothing severe, and in no comparison to earlier pain.

I'll still be wearing support on the wrist just to be safe, at least while practicing. But THINGS ARE LOOKING GOOD.

 

[punkin]

stretch, warm up stay loose and watch your form! Glad to hear you're recovering but if you're still getting "some" discomfort after practice, it will come back. Listen to the body...it knows best.

Good luck

 

[myhatbroke]

I went like 3 months ago because of wrist pain and it was tendonitis too. I got some swelling reducing stuff and a splint. I didnt play for about 2 weeks and it felt alot better. I fell on my wrist skating and the pain came back just a wekk ago but i rested it and now its back to normal. So my guess is... rest!

 

[ez_willis]

This is really bumming me out.


I play bass in a metalband and a hard-rock type of a group, also acoustic in a folk-sort of a thing.

I play with a pick, its just easier in terms of speed, attack and precision.

But now my wrist is getting pains after and during every practice-sessions, can hardly lift a coffeemug the next morning, and it seems to get worse. Day before yesterday we had sessions with both metal-and heavyband, some three-four hours alltogether, and still can't squeeze a pick in my fingers without a pain in the wrist.

I've played for some six years, but just lately this hard, so could it be that it goes away with practice?

should I try some wristbands?.. Or just duct-tape the damn thing into a boxing-glove with a pick in it?

Is there any numbing, or tingling sensations? If so, it's tendonitis. Same thing happened to me.

Let me guess, you hang your bass real low when you play?

I had to raise my strap up and learn to live with looking like one of those totally NON-rockin' bass players, AND learn to play with my fingers. Added benefit, I got waaay better quickly.

 

[solo.guitar]

I'm not sure if you've taken lessons or not, but I think it would be worth it to go see a teacher, even for just one session, and have him tell you if there's something 'wrong' with the way you're playing...