It may make your bass playing less painful and more enjoyable

By Jon Liebman
September 16, 2022

Has your bass playing been hampered by arthritis, sore joints, or some other physical malady that’s made it difficult if not downright painful to lay down even a simple groove?

There may be a solution.

Chances are your bass has got a 34” scale length, referring to the distance between the nut and the bridge. That’s pretty much the standard of your basic P and J basses. 

If you’re hurting, though, a bass with a shorter scale length may solve your problem, or at least make playing bass less painful.

Shorter may be better

A lot of my students who have pain when they play the bass have tried switching to short-scale basses. Generally, they find a huge improvement in their comfort level, making the pain more manageable.

Short-scale basses typically have scale lengths less than 31”, a significant reduction in size. 

With the frets being smaller and closer together, short-scale basses are not only easier on the hands, they’re also more easily navigable, especially if your hands are small.

Short-scale basses naturally have shorter strings, which bring out a distinctive tone a lot of bass players just love.

Who plays a short-scale bass?

Among the better known short-scale bass players are Mike Watt, Tina Weymouth, and Owen Biddle. Perhaps the biggest short-scale proponent of them all is Jack Bruce (watch some YouTube videos of Cream and you’ll see Jack in action with his prized Gibson EB-3).

The subject came up in a recent conversation I had with Buckcherry bassist Kelly LeMieux, published as this week’s FBPO interview. 

“I recently got a little short-scale Gibson Tribute bass,” Kelly says. “I think Spector makes a short-scale also. It’s 30 or 31.”

Don’t lose the “fun factor”

I always say playing bass is not supposed to hurt. Kelly agrees, saying the “fun factor” needs to be front and center.

“Learn songs that you like, that are not too complicated,” he says, “cuz if you get hooked into it, you’re like, ‘This is fun! I can jam with my bros!’”

Kelly suggests that people dealing with certain physical challenges may want to give short-scale basses a try.

“Those are really cool if you’ve got issues with hands, arthritis, all that fun stuff,” he says. “Surprisingly, you can get a nice little thump out of those bad boys too!”

Here’s another option

If going from a standard 34” to a sub-31” is too dramatic a leap for you and you’d rather ease into it, you can try a medium-scale bass instead. Those are generally in the 31”-33”-inch range.

Either way, all hope is not necessarily lost if you love playing the bass but are discouraged because it’s become difficult or painful. Consider trying a smaller bass and see if it makes a difference. Hopefully you’ll find it helpful.

Your turn. Have you found that a short-scale or medium-scale bass has made it easier for you to deal with arthritis, tendonitis, or some other physical woe? Leave a comment below and let me know your story. And be sure to watch my interview with Kelly here.