Ever wondered why bass guitar players wear gloves? There are many reasons.
Bass players wear gloves to protect their hands from blisters, protect them from sweaty hands and dampen the strings for a better grip.
They also wear them to avoid wearing out the strings too quickly and for other reasons as well!
In this blog post, we explore 8 of these reasons in-depth, so you can understand why it is important that bassists take care of their instruments by using gloves.
8 Reasons Why Bassists Wear Gloves
There may be many reasons why bass guitarists wear gloves, but we will pick out only the most common among them in this article.
Gloves protect your hands from blisters.
The first reason for bass players wearing gloves is to avoid blistering their fingers while playing the instrument, especially during long shows or rehearsals where they play continuously for hours on end without a break.
Blistering can occur when there is excess friction between the hand and strings. This friction can cause a painful burning sensation on your fingers during play, which is why bass guitar players wear gloves to make sure they don’t suffer from this.
Gloves protect hands from sweaty palms.
Another reason that musicians choose to wear gloves when playing their instruments, especially for long periods of time, is to protect their hands from sweaty palms.
This can occur when bass players play continuously for a long time without taking a break and the sweat accumulates on your fingers while you continue playing.
This causes discomfort or even pain in some cases since it’s difficult to grip the strings properly with wet hands.
There are people who naturally have sweaty hands and this can be a problem when they play instruments like the bass guitar.
If you are one of those people, then wearing gloves is an ideal solution to protect your palms and maintain a proper grip on your strings at all times, thus avoiding discomfort and pain as well as unpleasant sounds due to poor gripping while playing.
Gloves dampen string noise for better sound quality.
One of the other reasons why bass players wear gloves is because it helps in reducing string noise, which could affect the overall sound produced when they play their instrument.
This also contributes towards improving the quality of their performance since there will be fewer unwanted noises coming from their instrument, such as rattling or sliding noises between fingers and strings that would otherwise ruin its tone if it wasn’t for the gloves.
It is important to note that even though this isn’t a very common reason why bass players wear gloves it can still come in handy and make a difference to your sound quality, particularly if you play at high volumes or with distortion since string noise will be amplified by these means.
This may seem like something unimportant, but once you experience playing without those irritating noises coming from your instrument, then there really is no going back!
Gloves reduce hand fatigue as well as pain when gripping strings
Another reason bass guitarists tend to use gloves is that they help them avoid experiencing unnecessary strain on their hands during long performances where they continue playing all throughout without taking breaks between songs.
When we play the bass guitar, we tend to exert a lot of pressure and strain on our fingers and hands as well as use them for prolonged periods of time.
Wearing gloves helps reduce this fatigue by acting as shock absorbers between your body weight pressing down on the strings, thus distributing it throughout the entire glove instead of putting all that stress directly onto your hand, which can cause pain after long hours spent playing.
Gloves Help In Some Medical Conditions
Gloves are also worn by bass players due to some medical conditions that affect the hands. The most common of those are:
Nickel Allergy
If you are allergic to nickel, then using gloves while playing your bass guitar can help avoid any discomfort or pain in the hands.
Nickel Allergy is an allergic reaction when you touch any material which contains nickel. This allergy can cause an itchy rash and can be very irritating.
As bass strings are usually made of a coil of nickel and stainless steel, those who have nickel allergies need to wear gloves if they want to prevent themselves from getting rashes caused by touching the strings.
Focal Dystonia
If you are a bass player, you probably know of Scott Devine, but if you don’t, then you should check out his youtube channel. There you can find hundreds of bass lessons for beginners, intermediates, and advanced bassists. He also has an entire online bass lesson course with thousands of bass players enrolled. In short, he is an expert at teaching bass guitar.
Scott explained that he wears gloves whenever he plays bass because he has a medical condition. He said that he had ignored comments about his gloves for many years, but now that he knows that people are concerned about his health, he wants to explain why he wears them.
According to Scott, he has focal dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes involuntary finger movements. When something touches the surface of the hands, it stops the movements of the fingers. He wears gloves to prevent this involuntary movement.
So, if you are a bass player or want to become one but have this rare condition, you can just wear gloves and all your problems will be solved.
Eczema
Some people suffer from eczema, which is a skin disease characterized by redness, itching, dryness, and inflammation.
If you are one of those who have these medical conditions, then you need a glove. Wearing a glove can help reduce the itchiness and will let your hands dry.
Gloves Help To Play Smoother
There are times in our playing when we feel that our fingers are too tired to press the strings, or it is difficult for us to play if there is any sweat on our hands.
Using gloves can help you play smoother because they make your fingers glide easily over the strings. They will also reduce strain if you have arthritis or another condition that makes it hard for you to grip your instrument tightly.
Gloves Protect Bass Strings From Wearing Out
When playing the bass guitar, our fingers press down on the strings each time they need to produce a note.
After many repetitions of this movement, it’s not unusual for the strings to wear out most especially if you are just starting out and do not know how often you should change them yet.
If your gloves have leather palms or fingertips like those found in driving gloves, then your bass strings will wear out less because they protect them from all that constant pressure you exert on the fretboard.
Gloves Protect Our Fingers From Cold
The last but not the least reason bass players wear gloves is to protect their fingers from the cold temperature.
Bass guitars are usually played outside during concerts and other shows, so it’s no wonder that our hands get exposed to all sorts of weather conditions, which include cold temperatures as well.
In order for your fingers to be able to perform at their best when playing an instrument, whether it’s a guitar or a percussion one, you need to keep them warm in order for blood flow throughout your body to remain normal while doing so.
When this blood flow decreases due to exposure of the skin to extreme temperatures, then there will be less oxygen being transported, resulting in slower reaction time, which can affect both the speed and precision of your playing.
So, wearing gloves is definitely a good idea if you want your fingers to perform well on stage or even in the studio.
Popular Bassists Who Wear Gloves
There are many popular bassists who wear gloves.
Étienne Mbappé
Bassist Étienne Mbappé is known for wearing black leather gloves because he says his sweaty hands wear out the strings. He said: “I wear them, so my fingers don’t get sweaty and make the strings squeak.” They helped him stand out too. People would say: “Oh yes… the bass player with the gloves”.
Scott Devine
Scott Devine, as I have mentioned him already, is a popular bassist who owns a YouTube channel with almost a million subscribers. He wears gloves too and said that it’s not a style statement or attracting fans, but because of his condition.
You can watch his statement about why he wears gloves during his performances.
Nathan Navarro
Nathan Navarro wears gloves when he plays fretless. He said that gloves helped him to move around the strings easier.
My Recommended Gloves For Bass Players
Here is my recommended glove for bass players. They are affordable and durable.
1) Guitar Glove Bass Glove -M- 1 Glove — Finger issues
The Guitar Glove is the perfect practice tool for guitarists, bass players, and other musicians. The fingertip protection glove helps your hands when you play through cuts, medical issues, blisters, and sore fingertips.
It fits either hand. Washable for long life. Slightly wet fingertips for touchscreen use. It includes 2 gloves.
Features:
• Made from premium leather
• Soft, supple leather
• Moisture wicking
• Water repellent
• Anti-microbial
• Can be worn on either hand
• Great for musicians who need to protect their hands during performance.
2) Achiou Winter Knit Gloves
The Achiou winter knit gloves are designed to keep your hands warm and comfortable. It is made of high-quality material, which makes it very soft and breathable.
The glove has a touch-sensitive palm that allows you to use your phone or other devices without having to expose your hands.
It is good for bassists to keep their fingers warm during cold weather.
Features:
• Made of soft and breathable material, so you won’t get cold hands even when you are working hard.
• Soft and comfortable, so you will enjoy wearing them all day long.
• Easy to wash, just wipe them off with a damp cloth.
• Perfect for both men and women.
• Can be worn during winter activities.
• Great choice for both autumn and winter outdoor activities.
Conclusion
Finger issues are a common complaint among bass players. That’s why it is so important to find gloves that protect your fingers from the cold and other weather conditions, which include extreme temperatures as well.
Bassists like Étienne Mbappé, Scott Devine, Nathan Navarro all wear gloves because they know how much it helps their performance on stage or in the studio.
If you want to make sure your hands perform at their best when playing an instrument, don’t hesitate to pick up some good-quality leather gloves for yourself today!
