@#$%! just wrote a long post for the second time only to have it say I must be logged in to post even though I can’t get to the posting box without being logged in.
Anyway, Wilfer carved bass, 50 years old, stays at home now, too risky to tour with it anymore. I now tour with a Chadwick folding bass. Sounds great, Charlie did an awesome setup on it, sounds real even, tone is great. Not as loud as the carved but no plywood bass I’ve tried is. Great tone though. 99.9% of the gigs I do are moderate to loud anyway. And because there is a door in the back for the neck to fold in, I taped some foam to the inside of the f holes and there’s almost no feedback now!
I’ve used lots of different strings. right now I am using Evah Pirrazzi solo gauge. They are a really good hybrid string. Not too bright or dark, not too much or little sustain, great for arco and easy to play.
Another thing I always do, Before you stretch you need to warm up the muscles in your hands. Make a fists with both hands, squeeze tightly for 30 seconds or so, then slowly open them, extend as far as they go and hold for 30 seconds. Now make kind of a “tiger paw” with them, bend the first and second knuckles but keep the 3rd straight, hold for 30 seconds. Then stretch each finger for 30 seconds both ways, including the thumb. Then all of them at once. You can also flex each finger individually, 10-20 reps each.
I figured out this exact technique about 11 years ago on my own. There was no one around where I live that could teach me slap and I didn’t have resources like this back then to research things. I just thought about what other part of my hand I could use. I heard Milt Hinton doing quads but he doesn’t do them like this (I think I figured it out though) and I’d never heard or seen anyone else do it so I thought I had invented it until I discovered you on youtube a couple years ago and then I thought Damn! someone else has discovered my secret technique! There was a part of me that thought that it worked so well that someone else must have thought of it. Lots of bass players I’ve shown it to nearly !@#$ their pants when they saw it! Seems like quite a few people can do it now. I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve though…
Try to concentrate on relaxing. play some things at a real slow tempo at first, try and focus on using speed rather than strength to get the notes out (think Bruce Lee). from a relaxed state, suddenly snap the string as fast as you can without yanking too much, you shouldn’t be pulling and releasing, it just takes a fraction of a second to produce a snap, then as soon as the note sounds, relax you hand and arm again. Then build up some speed. This should also help with timing. If you notice any muscles cramping up, try to focus on them and mentally relax them. Try not to work any harder than you have to. Once you can do this without thinking it should help with the pain and your stamina should increase too.
