If you’re dealing with bass shoulder pain, numb fingers while playing bass, or discomfort caused by a guitar strap pressing on a sensitive area of your shoulder, this may be worth experimenting with.
For more than 20 years, I’ve lived with a pinched nerve that causes my fingers to gradually go numb whenever weight sits on a specific spot on my shoulder.
As a bass player, that’s been a problem.
A bass guitar isn’t exactly lightweight, and the traditional way of wearing a strap places the instrument’s weight directly on the area that triggers my symptoms. Within a short period of time, numbness would travel down my arm, my fingers begin to go numb and tingle, followed by increasing discomfort and eventually shooting pain.
Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of things.
I’ve seen chiropractors.
I’ve worked with multiple physical therapists.
I’ve tried acupuncture.
I’ve spent hundreds of dollars experimenting with different guitar and bass straps, including wider straps designed to improve comfort and distribute weight more evenly.
Nothing solved the problem.
Because the issue wasn’t the strap itself.
The issue was pressure on a specific area where the pinched nerve was being irritated.
As a result, I gradually accepted something I didn’t particularly like:
I’d probably spend the rest of my life playing bass while sitting down.
Then I accidentally discovered a workaround.
The Bass Strap Experiment
A few days ago, I decided to see if anything had changed.
Not because I expected a breakthrough.
Mostly because enough time had passed that I figured it was worth trying again.
While adjusting my bass strap, I noticed something I had never paid much attention to before.
Like many nylon guitar straps, mine has two layers because the strap loops back on itself to allow for length adjustment.
Normally, those two layers sit together and function like a single strap.
But while adjusting it, the layers separated.
And I ended up with a very wide guitar strap. But while there was a space in the middle, I immediately felt my symptoms resurfacing.
So then it got me curious.
What would happen if I intentionally separated them even further?
Instead of placing both layers on the same shoulder, I placed one layer on my right shoulder and the other on my left shoulder.
It looked funny.
But the weight distribution of the bass immediately felt different.
Instead of concentrating the instrument’s weight on one shoulder, the load was spread across both shoulders.
And something surprising happened.
For the first time in more than two decades, I was standing with a bass guitar and not immediately experiencing numbness in my fingers.
Why This Might Help
To be clear, I’m not a doctor, physical therapist, or medical professional.
I’m simply sharing an experiment that helped me.
In my particular situation, the problem wasn’t necessarily the total weight of the bass.
The problem was where that weight was being applied.
By changing the way the bass strap distributed the load, I was able to reduce pressure on the area that typically triggers my symptoms.
If your shoulder pain while playing bass is caused by a similar pressure point issue, changing the weight distribution may be worth exploring.
Not a Cure. A Workaround.
I want to be careful not to overstate this.
This isn’t a cure. My pinched nerve is still there.
And I’ve only tested this setup for relatively short periods of time—about fifteen minutes at a stretch.
I’m intentionally taking things slowly because the last thing I want to do is aggravate an old injury.
But what I can say is this:
For the first time in more than 20 years, standing while playing bass feels possible again.
And that’s something I had almost given up on.
Watch the Video
I recorded a short video demonstrating the bass strap setup and explaining the story behind it.
The Bigger Lesson
One reason I wanted to document this experience is because the lesson extends beyond bass guitar, shoulder pain, or guitar straps.
For years, I approached the problem by trying to fix the problem directly.
Maybe I needed a different treatment.
Maybe I needed a different exercise.
Maybe I needed a different specialist.
Maybe I needed a different strap.
Those were all reasonable things to try.
And to be clear, I’m not giving up on solving the actual root cause. The real solution would be finding a way to finally release the pinched nerve that’s causing the problem in the first place.
If I could permanently solve that issue, I absolutely would.
But while continuing to search for that solution, I accidentally discovered something that changed my experience in the meantime.
The thing that helped wasn’t fixing the underlying issue.
It was changing the system around it.
My pinched nerve is still there.
The symptoms may still return.
This experiment may or may not continue working over longer periods of time.
I honestly don’t know yet.
What I do know is that for the first time in more than 20 years, standing and playing bass feels possible again.
And that’s something I never expected to say.
Sometimes the breakthrough isn’t solving the problem.
Sometimes it’s finding another option.
If you’ve experienced bass shoulder pain, numb fingers while playing, nerve-related discomfort, or have discovered your own workaround for a long-standing playing problem, I’d love to hear about it.
From practice experiments to creative projects, here’s what I’m working on.
