Hold your cello bow the ergonomic way!

The zombie bow hand

11/25/2014

Keep the natural shape

For eight years of my cello life, I was plagued with cramps in the thumb muscle of my palm. I couldn't play for more than a half an hour. Then I met Martha and she showed me a much less taxing way to hold my bow.

The key component of this new way of interacting with the bow is to keep the natural shape of your hand--and keeping the natural shape can be easier said than done! When your hand is relaxed, the bow feels as though it might fall--and our natural reaction is to grab at it.

We have to learn to let go!

There are two basic guideposts to help you achieve this easy bow hold:

1) The ZOMBIE drape

2) SIDEWAYS thumb

Zombify your fingers!

AAAAAAArgh....No paaaaaaaaaains!

Cultivating a zombie finger drape is easy:

With your bow stick held in your LEFT hand, stretch both arms out in front of you with the hands dangling from the end of your straight arms and wrists (like a zombie).

Deactivate every muscle in your right hand so it feels completely dead. Shake it out and try again if you feel any tension in the hand.

Once you have a "dead" hand, bring your hands/arms together so that the fingers of your right hand fall in front of the bow's frog like a curtain.

For now, let your thumb hang out behind the bow without touching it. We'll deal with him in the next section.

The spacing of the fingers can be confusing, so I found a video that I really like that can help guide you in this process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNgo_wjhlo4

Thumb moves sideways

Now to the real troublemaker of the bow hand: the thumb. That guy was the reason my hand felt so bad when I was a youngster. To understand the power that your thumb has to make your life miserable, I will walk you through a little demonstration that blew my mind when Martha did it for me.

Oh, Kermie!

The first step in this helpful comparison is to make your (empty) right hand act as though it is controlling Kermit the Frog's face--and he is not a happy camper. Press your thumb against your fingers like Kermit's lips are pursed together in exasperation. Place your bow between the fingers and thumb (in Kermit's mouth).

Now turn your hand upside down and use your left hand to touch the muscle at the base of your palm (that connects to your thumb). Feel how tense it is?

Okay, good. Now, that's what you DON'T want in a bow hand (as much as I love Kermit, he's just no good for the cello bow... although we do hold the "frog." Hmmm).

Now take the bow away and revert to the "zombie" hand for a moment--just let everything go dead. Observe the natural attitude of the thumb.

Sideways thumb

The nail of the thumb faces outward when it is in this relaxed state.

Now drape the zombie fingers on the front of the bow and swing the thumb sideways back and forth freely (like Tarzan!) until it finds the part of the frog that attaches to the stick. Let the back of your thumb rest lightly against that bump of the frog. In this position, the top corner of the thumb (the * in the picture to the right) will lightly touch the stick of the bow at the convergence of the frog and the stick.

Balance the bow between your zombie fingers in front and the inactive, sideways-facing thumb behind and turn your hand upside down again. Use the left hand to feel the tension level of that thumb muscle.

It should be smooshy feeling, not hard and flexed.

That is the difference that blew my mind (and still does to this day). It's physically comfortable and easy to hold the bow this way!

So why do we try to hold the bow ther other way, pinching it with the thumb and fingers? WHY?! It hurts! Why would we want to hurt ourselves?!

(This is a massive question that extends way beyond the boundaries of this little cello blog, so for now we will just let that hang there and ponder it as we navigate our lives.)

Whatever the answer is, I think part of the reason we don't naturally use the thumb in this sideways manner is that it is pychologically hard because it feels as though you will drop the bow. A sideways thumb is too easy. We naturally desire control, so we desperately grab the bow to protect it from the force of gravity.

But gravity is something you will need to harness for maximum sound production, so don't fight the force of it. Let it affect your bow. If your bow ends up on the floor, be happy and celebrate the fact that you are playing the cello without tension in your bow hand! (And if you don't have one of those indestructible carbon fiber bows, be sure to pratice over a nice and cushy carpet.)

In the next blog post, I will show you some modifications you can make to your bow to assist you in feeling comfortable with this new and easy bow interface.

Stay tuned!

25 Comments

Julie

11/5/2015 04:55:28 pm

very helpful. I have been struggling with the bow hold.

Aubree

1/9/2017 12:07:06 pm

thanks for the tips

Susan

2/27/2017 10:09:26 am

Hello Nan, Thanks so much for this.
I'm a classically trained pianist, now learning the cello, as an adult. I've been struggling with the bow hold...this really helps! Thank you!

Enrico

7/27/2017 03:54:50 pm

Thank you for sharing your interesting thoughts and advice. Could you please post a picture of a bow hold that shows the position of the thumb you describe?

nan link

7/29/2017 11:42:06 am

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WjltsYkK0BoT2Ka42

Enrico,

You should be able to see the pic using the above link, but I am going to email it to you as well!

Laura Bantz link

9/5/2017 12:10:46 pm

Thank you for this interactive, informative, and amusing article! I literally couldn't play for the last two days due to bow hold cramping (and I DO know better! Don't tell my teacher!) To excel, I must overcome and this really helps!

Bruce Lorenzana

11/15/2017 10:24:23 am

Thank you for this post!

I'm having extremely frustrating problems with my bow hold when I have to play loud and fast. My hand tightens around the bow to make sure that I don't drop it, and then my the thumb muscle starts hurting like crazy. My cello instructor told me to keep a relaxed hand and put more pressure on my index finger to make a louder sound than tightening my grip, but then my index finger starts hurting. Any help?

Nan link

11/15/2017 12:09:26 pm

I think it is crucial to get the thumb to move sideways so that is doesn't revert to pinching the bow between the fingers and the thumb. If you don't know what I am referring to, hold a pencil in your bow hand (with your normal grip) and feel the thumb muscle that ends up hurting. It is tight in this position even before you squeeze! If you modify the grip on the pencil to have the bow thumb nail facing the tip of the pencil/bow as opposed to facing the ground, it will alleviate much of the pressure. You will feel like you will drop the bow, but the strings will hold it up!

The best thing you can do to get used to it is to practice playing slow open strings for 5 minutes everyday where you focus on this new and weird-feeling bow interface. It is normal for it to revert back to the old way if you play a piece. Just keep up the exercises and it will soon start to feel like a normal thing for you.

To experiment with the idea that the thumb squeezing is unnecessary, put your bow on the string as normal, then swing your pinky around to the back of the frog. This will stabilize the bow enough that you can play without the thumb touching the bow at all! Feel how you can make sound without it... it is a powerful feeling!

Anna

11/19/2017 05:49:04 pm

So recently I've started playing and my right arm and shoulder started hurting (a lot!) and I would usually wake up to feel my whole arm and shoulders hurting. When I practice my pinky finger just can't relax and go onto the eye of the frog. Also my pinky keeps going up onto the top of the stick (same with my pointing finger) but when I place it in the normal position and play, my whole thumb just flops right through between the stick and hair. Sometimes I just can't even hold it any longer and naturally my hand would try to grip it and that would leave me using my left arm to try to fix my hold like every 2 notes -_- (I also used to play viola so possibly it could be that or something) plz help me

Nan R Kemberling link

11/21/2017 10:42:41 am

Try TAPPING and RICOCHET to have tons of time holding the bow without the pressure of making a good sound (see below). These exercises are crucial in converting your bow hand to this new ergonomic way!

RICOCHET BOW
Holding the bow the new way, place it on a middle string about 3/4 the way to the tip (in the upper part of the bow)
Grab the bow stick about 1/4 of the bow length from the tip with your LEFT hand (both hands are on the bow now)
Use the left hand as a stabilizer while you set your bow hand.
Let go with your left hand and twist your forearm outward (keeping wrist rigid) to lift the tip of the bow off the string
Let the bow fall back down and bounce on the string like a ball until it stops on its own (repeat, since it will not work well at first)
"Fix" your bow hand (as in Steps 1-3) as often as possible, since the bow will feel like sliding out of the hand
Keep in mind this will not sound good at all!

TAPPING BOW
This will be the same as RICOCHET, except you will control the bow with your bow hand in between bounces to make specific rhythm patterns with the hits (do not try to make this sound good!)

This is going to give you lots of training time with an ergonomic bow hand, so it should soon become more comfortable. Usually when we are converting to a new bow hand the old way wins out because our body is used to it and we end up sacrificing ergonomics for a good sound (the way we know how to make it already). These exercises give you time with the bow when good sound isn't the point!

Soon all the time you are spending with the new bow hold will make it become the more comfortable and familiar one. But this takes time--and you have to let go of making a big sound for a while. It won't be long before you are making a sound that is even bigger than before because it is strain-free!

Also try to add comfortable grips to your bow (see http://www.nancello.com/blog/dress-up-your-frog). This really helps me feel less of a need to hold my bow tightly.

rohit aggarwal link

1/14/2019 04:21:31 am

Thanks for the information

Lily Weber

7/31/2019 09:24:10 pm

Hi, so I took up cello in my late 40s, weekly lessons for 4 years. Then my mother moved in and I stopped playing for 7 years during which time my hand arthritis accelerated. My hands are misshapen, my right shoulder needs a replacement, my neck and great toes are also degenerated from arthritis. Very painful life. Mom now stays in assisted living, and I would love to resume playing. Today, for the heck of it, I played with my thumb supporting the bow from the bottom. It was a lot more comfortable. With my hand at rest, the thumb resides under the pointing finger and has no strength. I am never going to be a concert player, and I wonder whether anyone knows of cellists that have played like this? Thanks

8/2/2019 06:15:45 pm

Hi Lily,
I work with a lot of adults who have various issues with their hands, and we end up making up our own fingering or bowing techniques sometimes in order to minimize pain and maximize cello enjoyment. In my opinion, it doesn't matter if anyone else has played the cello the exact same way that you do. All that matters is that it works for you! The only goal we have is to be pain-free when we play, and sometimes we have to break rules to achieve that. I wish you the best of luck with your work, forging new paths in cello technique!

Carrie Rodgers-O'Neal

4/10/2020 12:47:26 am

This is soooo good. As an older beginner with a bit of ARTHRITIS (OH NO!) IN MY HAND. Learning to relax my thumb and my hold is enabled me to keep going! I'm still have to stop often and re-relax as my hand starts to sneak back in to its old habits as I go. Thanks for help!

Ariadna Escamilla

4/19/2020 12:33:07 pm

Nan, thank you so much for this funny and informative article. I wonder if you give online private lessons?
I’ve been playing cello for 14 years and I still can’t hold the bow! My thumb slips between the hair and wood. It is preventing me from playing advanced pieces.
I have never been able to play one single piece in one hand position and I’m loosing hope.

4/25/2020 05:46:44 pm

Hi Ariadna,
Please go to the CONTACT tab (http://www.nancello.com/contact.html) and send me your email address. I would be glad to provide you some information about my online lessons. Please don't lose hope. Thanks for getting in touch!

Jennifer Murrey

5/24/2020 05:25:46 pm

Thank you for the information. I was a violinist as a child into high school, then switched to cello. I'm late forties now and have been playing off and on over the years. However, the wrist of my bow hand has been "popping" and of course the thumb cramps up, so I can't play for as long as I would like. I assume the wrist issue is attached to the bow hold in general. If you have any insight on that, I would surely welcome it. But, regardless, I loved your insight on a previous post that sometimes we have to break the rules in order to enjoy playing the cello. My hands are relatively small - so I have been told - for a cellist. But I do love it. I would just like for it not to hurt! Thank you for the information.

5/29/2020 06:20:09 pm

It is absolutely crucial to get the thumb to move sideways so that is doesn't revert to pinching the bow between the fingers and the thumb. Try holding a pencil in your bow hand (with your normal grip) and feel the thumb muscle that ends up hurting. It is tight in this position even before squeezing! If you modify the grip on the pencil so that the side (and not the pad) of your thumb touches the pencil itself, it will alleviate much of the pressure. You will feel like you will drop the bow, but the strings will hold it off the ground for you.

The best exercise you can do to get used to it is to practice playing a slow bow on open strings for 5 minutes everyday. This way you can focus on this new and weird-feeling bow interface. It is normal for your right hand to revert back to the old way if you play notes with the left hand. So don't use the left hand for this short amount of time everyday. Soon it will soon start to feel like a normal thing for you.

To experiment with the idea that the thumb squeezing is unnecessary, check this out: http://www.nancello.com/blog/tell-thumb-tension-to-take-a-hike

Stephanie

9/14/2020 11:01:31 pm

Hi Nan,
What is the orange-colored material you are using in the last picture under your thumb? My son's thumb slips though at this spot, and I am looking for something that would help him grip it at the right angle.
Thank you!
Stephanie

Nan Kemberling link

9/16/2020 11:22:20 am

Hi Stephanie,

I was using a cheap pencil grip there, but I can no longer find a brand that works well. I myself have switched to industrial latex tubing (product #b038116-001 at www.latex-tubing.com), but I have found that many of my students benefit from using the String Visions bow grip (find them at https://stringvision.com/products/stringvision-bowgrip). It's much easier to get on the bow and has a nice indentation for the thumb that keeps it from slipping between the wood of the frog and the stick.

Hope this info helps your son. Good luck!

judith amster

8/29/2023 09:39:56 pm

Purchased a SV thumb accessory. Can't get it on frog and into proper position, Is there one made large enough for cello bow? What else might you suggest? Many Thanks.

8/31/2023 12:37:19 pm

Try this video about how to get the Stringvision bow grip on your bow successfully: https://youtu.be/OrSu4xGMAjA?si=HRkRnmB82K8pQHcs

Gary Lee link

9/19/2020 03:55:44 pm

I've been teaching this for years but call it neutral joint position, the muscles are neither extending not contracting. Drop the hand to your side, shake it loose and let go of the muscles. Wrist falls straight and fingers/thumb very gently curved. Calling it the zombie hand is kind of fun.

Tim Brown

11/16/2020 09:00:58 am

For the old, wounded or lame among us who refuse to stop.....try an underhanded grip on the bow similar to that used by viol players, Requires less pronation and stress. This grip will reduce the quality of a master player's sound and the ultimate range of motion and technical capability, but will let the you continue to play and make a perfectly acceptable sound to the audience's ear. For the record I play both ways.......have a look here for an example of the grip: (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Forpheon.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F09%2FBowErhu.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Forpheon.org%2Feducational%2Fthe-bow-the-soul-of-the-instrument%2Fdrawing-your-viola-da-gamba-bow%2F&tbnid=C9bS0Yv9whOR6M&vet=12ahUKEwiDpf32m4ftAhUBI98KHXoDB6UQMygDegUIARDxAQ..i&docid=5Tj0ukZG56SxYM&w=489&h=410&q=viola%20da%20gamba%20bow%20hold&ved=2ahUKEwiDpf32m4ftAhUBI98KHXoDB6UQMygDegUIARDxAQ).

Annie

3/10/2022 01:05:47 pm

OH wow! What a difference! I have been struggling with this for so long and wondering why I feel like I have no control over my bow. Now the rest of the process falls into place. Thank you so much.

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The zombie bow hand

Zombify your fingers!

Thumb moves sideways

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